This past Friday was a momentous occasion. We as a nation commemorated the 70th anniversary of D-Day. In reality very little was written about this momentous, sacred occasion  in the mainstream media. Yes, President Obama went to France and gave a speech. But the more impressive story about that event was that an 89-year-old World War II vet named George Ciampa exercised one of his rights for which he fought on the beaches of Normandy 70 years ago — the Constitutional right to free association. In fact, Mr. Ciampa chose not to associate with someone with whose policies he disagrees — President Obama.

The White extended an invitation to Mr. Ciampa when they found out that he would be in France for the 70th anniversary. It was to be a private meeting with the President. Mr. Ciampa gave the invitaiton a great deal of thought, and he graciously declined. It was his right. He fought for it.

Sadly, one liberal blogger (whose name is given only as “Alan”) at Liberaland distorts the story (polite way of saying he outright lies) this way:

Hatred of President Obama extends to an 89-year-old veteran who declined an invitation to meet with him during D-Day festivities in France, according to John Fund.

Two things immediately jump out as lies in this one sentence. First is the lie that Mr. Ciampa hates Mr. Obama. This is the liberal line, according to the methodology of Saul Alinsky. Second is the attribution of that assertion to John Fund, a distinguished, respected writer for the National Review. Fund makes no such assertion whatsoever about Mr. Ciampa’s motivation for declining the President’s invitation. But since Mr. Alan is a liberal, he does not care about writing what is true. Rather, he distorts reality to fit his own agenda — that of causing division. After all, when your leader sets that example, his loyal subjects will follow his lead.

On a more patriotic note, for the second Saturday in a row, my husband and I assisted at a lunch that our Knights of Columbus Council provided for an Honor Flight that was visiting Washington, D.C. This flight was unique since it was from Florida and was made up solely of veterans who were in service on D-Day — June 6, 1944. Not all of the veterans in this group were in France on that historic day, but all of them were serving somewhere in the world. Four busloads of these amazing men and their guardians graced us with their presence. It was an honor and a privilege to be in their presence and to have the chance to shake their hands and serve them a meal.

What really struck me today was that many of these men have probably never had the chance to tell their stories to anyone. Whether by choice or by chance, the stories of many of these selfless men are likely to go with them to their graves. Their stories need to be told, heard, and immortalized. That is why I was thrilled last week and again today to see a number of young people at the lunch services. Their parents brought them along to allow them to learn from these amazing men and women first-hand.

All of us who are old enough to remember the disgraceful actions of people like Jane Fonda, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, and others whose actions should have been prosecuted as treasonous owe it to our children to make them learn about the past. I told all of the youngsters whose ears I could catch last week and today that by the time they are my age there will be no World War II, Korean, or (most likely) Vietnam War veterans alive. We cannot rely on “history books” alone to tell the story. Too many text books are written with a liberal slant that indoctrinates our children with unpatriotic bias.

It is up to conservative, patriotic, freedom-loving parents to give their children opportunities to meet these men and women who bravely served our country. Their stories must be told, and our children must listen. I encourage parents to seek out the veterans in local nursing homes and to visit them with their children. I applaud the young people who serve at the Honor Flight luncheons in Arlington. I commend their parents also. We must remember the Past and preserve the Truth. Otherwise, our hard-fought freedoms will be lost. And so will our beloved Country.