Townie Tidbits

July 25, 2014


Austin, Texas over 1,500 miles away from Boston and Charlestown shares the same pride in American history. As I turned the State Capitol in Austin, I saw countless monuments to those who fought and died for their families, homes and nation.

Eighty-five miles away in San Antonio, you can visit what is left of the Alamo mission where a few brave Americans stood up to over 5,000 Mexican soldiers. What they did was not unlike June 17, 1775 when a small band of American rebels toe to toe with an overwhelming number of Red Coats from the most powerful nation in the world at that time.

In both cases, the other side won the battle but in the final analysis, America won the war and both the fight at the Alamo and the Battle of Bunker Hill remain proud moments in American history.

However, as a history buff, I took note of the impressive monument at the State Capitol building to the Confederate War Dead in America’s costliest war, the American Civil War where nearly 700,00 died all told. Back here 1,500 miles east; in Charlestown we have our own impressive Civil War Monument at the Training Field honoring all the Union War Dead.

America is a vast land but we share in the one idea that here we are a free people who live in a country guided by the principles laid out for us by our founders. We are one nation where the people are the government and rule through their elected leaders. It will be as good as we want it or as bad as we allow. As Lee Greenwood sings, “God Bless the U.S.A.!