President Ronald Reagan's health declining

[cj]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121875,00.html

[chickenhead]

just announced..past away.

[cj]

Very sad day for America in my humble opinion.

[JustRalph]

CJ

I joined the Air Force a year after Reagan was elected, I saw his first Military budgets come to be. We went from begging for equipment to being able to get pretty much what we needed when we needed it. I also had the honor of working with his flying guard unit for a few days in California. Security for Air Force one. I never got closer than 50-75 yards of him, but every person that worked the detail loved the guy. While guarding the Presidents plane we got a nice tour of the aircraft. When one of my Senior NCO's wondered out loud if "we should be on the plane" one of Reagan's staff told him "if the old man was here he would do the tour for me"...............

I have a picture of him at the Berlin Wall hanging here in my office. There are a bunch of former Warsaw pact citizens that are just as sad as I am today. They know better than anyone what a great man he was. He set them free...........


This is from a post I made on 11-14-03

Let me tell you about something that happen to me a month ago when I moved from California to Ohio. I have a picture of President Reagan hanging in my home office. It is a photo from the speech he gave that led to the Berlin Wall being torn down. It also has a second typical official photo of Ron and Nancy. The caption is from the Speech, "Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall" etc. The truck driver who was driving the moving truck was walking through my house speaking with me and with a light accent I might add. As we surveyed my home for packing he saw the picture of Reagan. He walked over to the picture and lit up. He told me that he has the same picture in his living room at home in Chicago. He began to tell me about attending that speech and driving for some hours to see Ronald Reagan. He was a Polish Banker living under the communist system. He also has a piece of the Berlin Wall (he helped tear it down) in his living room. He spoke about Reagan as if he was speaking of God himself. He told me about how after the wall fell and the Banking system became a semi capitalist system, Poland changed. He told me how slowly the system changed. He told me about how it changed and allowed his family to grow, through hard work. He told me how the communist mafia lost control of the everyday system in Poland. He was teary eyed as he talked. He explained to me that he still has two grown children in Poland and thanks to Ronald Reagan they have a great life under a fully capitalist system. One is in college and his ex wife has a very good job and a nice home. He visits twice a year. He was able to leave and come to the United States thanks to a program that Reagan set up with the Polish President. He raved about how Reagan propped their President up and made him brave. He has been here 11 years now and owns "several trucks" and is a prosperous business man in the "Land of the Free" as he put it. He told me that few people in the U.S. understand the good that Reagan did for countries like his. He shook his head and told me how brave Reagan was. He said he wore a scarf over his face during the speech that Reagan gave. He was afraid that the government would be taking pictures of those supporting Reagan. He told me that he doesn't have to wear a scarf over his face anymore, and neither do his children. This he said is what Reagan did for Poland and many others.

[Tom]

A true Americaan hero is gone.
God Bless Ronald Reagan and a thank you to him for he did for the world.:(

[so.cal.fan]

Did anyone see Tom Brokaw speaking from Normandy?
He recalled his years of knowing Ron and Nancy and was near tears talking about the speech Reagan made at Normandy on D-Day 20 years ago.
Pat Buchanan recalled how he was such an affable guy, he got along with everyone, even political opponents.
I live pretty close to Simi Valley, where he will be buried at the Reagan library......perhaps I'll journey up there.
Goodbye, Gipper:(

[Richard]

There's no shortage of persons I know who consider President Reagan to had been a liar and someone who somehow betrayed this country because of Iran-Contra(I live in a very Democratic county).I am not one of these.There's no doubt that the leadership provided by President Reagan inspired genuine confidence in America in the post-Vietnam era and following the Presidencies of Johnson,Nixon,Ford,and Carter.I think one of the main reasons Democrats hated Ronald Reagan so much was that he was able to do at the ballot box what they could only wish they could do.Had we re-elected President Carter and after him elected a President Mondale,there would,IMHO,still be a Berlin Wall,a Soviet Union and a Warsaw Pact block of countries.My condolances to Mrs. Reagan and te Reagan family.May Ronald Reagan go to a better place.

[lsbets]

I turned ten the year Reagan took office. My memories of the Carter administration are of me sleeping in the backseat of my Dad's old car while we waited on line to get gas. Sometime during the Reagan administration things started to go really well for my family and there was no more old car, there was a new one every couple of years. I know many people my age who have similar memories, and just as FDR's figure lead many, many people to vote Democrat for a long time, Reagan's influence has caused many people of my generation to vote Republican. No matter what spin anyone else put on his administation, you cannot convince someone who watched his family go from the school lunch program to prosperity that the man was not a great President.

I remember watching his speeches on TV. I remember him talking about the Evil Empire, missile defense, the Challenger astronauts and the Berlin Wall. His belief in defense was one of the factors that lead me to the military. His belief in America was another one.

My grandmother died of Alzheimers when I was 15. She had deteriorated so far that we were relieved when she passed because we knew she was no longer suffering. I would imagine that Reagan's family might share some of that sentiment.

I would like to end by simply saying:

Thank you Mr. President. Thank you for your service to this nation.

[Tom]

I wonder if there are any more real leaders out there? We could sure use another RR today. Since he left office, the leadership of America has been pathetic.

[superfecta]

Originally posted by Tom
I wonder if there are any more real leaders out there? We could sure use another RR today. Since he left office, the leadership of America has been pathetic. not so fast there cowboy.Reagan was a decent President,mainly of his public relations and restoring pride in this country and his Peace thru Strength policy.but his domestic policy bout ruined my part of the country.Want another strong leader(Bush isn't so bad but he could be better)but without the selling out of the integrity of self sufficient energy policies and under the table dealings with countries deemed our enemies.But nobodys perfect.May the best part of his legacy be the fact we are the best country in the world and he did his part to tell us that.

[Tom]

Super, if Reagan was only a good prez, then when you compare him to Bush-Bill-Bush, that's when he looks outstanding:D

[Buckeye]

Don't forget Carter. :D