 USS Yorktown sunk by the Japanese 1942 |
Roger Spooner, the farmer who appeared today on news shows backing up Shirley Sherrod’s story, and who was accused by Andrew Breitbart of being a liar and a “plant,” is not just a lifelong friend of Sherrod; he’s also a veteran of the Battle of Midway.
It’s been more than 67 years since Roger Spooner stood on the deck of the U.S.S. Yorktown, watching an air parade of kamikaze pilots dive into the carrier while he loaded 54-pound shells to fire at circling Japanese planes in a frantic attempt to keep the ship from sinking at the Battle of Midway.
While 165 men on the Yorktown died that day, 85 survived. Some of them remember portions of that day in June. Others remember most of what happened.
“I remember all of it,” Spooner said.
Spooner can almost smell the sea water mixed with oil when he talks about the day the Yorktown was sunk. Spooner and many of his mates spent about 10 hours bobbing up and down in the Pacific in nothing more than their skivvies and a life jacket…
That’s a long time to be alone with your thoughts.
“I thought about Iron City,” said Spooner, who joined the Navy in late October, 1941. Two weeks later, Pearl Harbor was bombed and Spooner was thrust straight into the war with no time to go home. “I didn’t think I was ever going to get back.”
I thought this might be the case the first time I saw Roger Spooner and his wife Eloise on TV. Not too many folks get to walk around with that Yorktown hat.
Not too many left.
#12 Mr Ed. sez “Andrew Breitbart is a racist just like most teabaggers who are just the Klan in better clothes.”
You’re wrong! Haven’t you seen those fox news clips of them? I haven’t seen so many short-short jean cut-offs since Daisy Duke. That would have been ok but they were being worn by pot-bellied toothless gentlemen wearing confederate flag shirts with the sleeves ripped off.
Whoops, my post #20 bad typo should add the word NOT: “why is what you admit the Tea Party allows NOT your definition of a racist?”
Sorry.
#6 Now Dallas, stop your inane rant and go calm yourself playing a bit with my donkey. I’ve seen he has grown very fond of you.
I hope it turns out this guy was indeed on the Yorktown, and that his story is accurate. Because that would suck if he was a storyteller who tries to impress others.
smartalix is 100% correct, the people who run the tea party have not discouraged that racist element in any obvious way. Just look back to Tancredo’s speech to the tea bagger convention…his implied racism and comments about reviving old policies designed to eliminate black votes received huge applause.
And he wasn’t the only speaker with the same problem…so cut the “there’s no racism in the TEA party” crap, it’s everywhere and all over the place.
It was not uncommon for Japanese pilots that planes were hit and damaged, or were wounded, to fly into a ship. This is completely different from Kamikaze, it was Bushido. I do agree with others that being a survival of a battle doesn’t grant you a life pass. You’ll find prisons well populated with veterans.
If I was Mr Spooner I would demand an apology. Not just for what happened 24 years ago, but this year. Sherrod outed him as a racist in front of the naacp. She mocked him, saying he talked “a longggg time” and thought he was superior. His secret that he almost lost his farm is now out in the open and probably hurt his pride. Sherrod goes on to still refer to whites as being an “own kind”.
Sherrod din’t get over her racism. She’s proud of it as displayed by her current gestures. And when you are a public servant the client is ALWAYS superior to you and your job demands you listen in detail no matter how “longgggg” he’s talking so you will know how to help.
326–PBC whatever: Somehow I think if you were Mr Spooner, you would have died on the Yorktown.
Andrew Breitbart stepped into a steaming pile with this one, he’d best take a vacation.
He made the pile himself.
Did Breitbart complain she was a plant, or was he responding to criticisms from the media, and asking them back did YOU verify your story 100% before you went on air?
Mike…Breitbart doesn’t care. He saw the tea party taking deserved criticism and did something to change the top story of the week. He really doesn’t care who he hurts, that’s the kind of guy is.
#31 Is really news to me that the USDA is controlled by the teabaggers. Is it?
Pedro,
Breitbart created an issue by misrepresenting a video that, when viewed in its entirety, demonstrates that the woman is not only not racist, she is educating her audience that racism is wrong.
Even his lame excuse about crowd reaction is a misrepresentation, as if he had shown the entire video you would see the crowd later applaud the uplifing anti-racism message wehen Sherrod makes her point about race and class.
#33 I got that when I first saw the whole thing. Still, there’s people creating a false pretense here.
I’m still baffled that people can react in a knee-jerk fashion to a “notitia criminis” without further investigation, specially the head of a US dependency like the USDA. Is the equivalent of acting on an office gossip.
Jump 5 minutes forward from that spot in the video and we can see that she hasn’t fully overcome racism.
There are some videos out there of Sherrod and the Spooners reuniting. It’s a gem for those who study body language and human behavior. I can’t see an ounce of racism in Mr Spooner. Notice the way he hugged her and continued to put his hand on her shoulder. How Sherrod could ever believe he acts SUPERIOR is beyond me. The Spooners even mention how they had tried to contact Sherrod throughout the years and could never get in touch with her. I think it’s obvious Sherrod avoided their calls. Sherrod was all over the news saying she was lifelong friends. If that’s the case, why haven’t they talked in decades(Spooners obviously made an attempt).
Sherrod owes this war hero an aoplogy. It was her racism which blinded her 24 years ago. It’s her continuing racism which allowed her to out Mr Spooner as a racist in front of the naacp. Mock him while rolling her eyes. Plus still refering to whites as a “kind”.