DWCAce 19 Posted September 21, 2009 Not meant to be political... Jim C posted this email over at the F-14 Sunset Forum... Thought I'd post it here. I'm not anti-French, just anti-morons JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when President de Gaulle decided to pull out of NATO. De Gaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible. Rusk responded "does that include those who are buried here? De Gaulle did not respond. You could have heard a pin drop When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.' You could have heard a pin drop. There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?' A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?' You could have heard a pin drop. A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?' Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.' You could have heard a pin drop. AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE... Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. "You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. "Then you should know enough to have your passport ready." The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." "Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !" The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to." You could have heard a pin drop. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Jarhead1 27 Posted September 21, 2009 My granddad before he passed away, when he heard they were trying to find the right name for Euro Disney, which is in france, my granddad, being the smartass he is, said, WELL, HELL, WHY DONT WE CALL IT "WE BAILED UR ASSES OUT IN WORLD WAR TWO LAND". I gotta admit, this was pretty funny, and I still remember that to this day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted September 21, 2009 (edited) And thank you for not typing "could of", that really irritates me. Edited September 21, 2009 by JediMaster Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firehawkordy 34 Posted September 21, 2009 While I am not a Franco-phobe I have never been impressed by them either. I had a lot of bad encounters during my MED Cruise,both with civilian and military, in 1980 to ever want to socialize with them. That said I have met Legionaries who I hold in high regard. I found that to get a good fight going in a bar with the French all you need to say is this.... The French military is only as good as it's worst German, now probably Russian, Legionarie! And there is a grain of truth to that statement. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Derk 265 Posted September 22, 2009 (edited) Nothing much against the French or the English (they both fought for our country and I love to go there) or whatever other country , but the "pin drop" stories are beautiful !!!!!!!! Hou doe, Derk Edited September 22, 2009 by Derk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TX3RN0BILL 3 Posted September 22, 2009 (edited) Being part-german I bet that there weren't any german admirals present at the time where these statements were made - I sure hope the americans would be respectful enough to only state such opinions when germans wouldn't be put down by such statements. But the stifling of such french arrogancy in that manner is indeed priceless!!! Edited September 22, 2009 by TX3RN0BILL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nesher 629 Posted September 22, 2009 great stories.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coot 1 Posted September 22, 2009 Thanks for sharing those. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
