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Who We Are.

In honor of Memorial Day, here are some of the most interesting and inspiring stories that define our history.
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From the start.

"Our forefathers fought for liberty, freedom, and republican ideals the likes of which had never before been seen in any style of organized government preceding them. In many ways then, the American Revolution was an experiment."
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George Washington out-spied the British, and pioneered a number of military intelligence tactics.

"The war for independence from Great Britain was not just one of battles and firearms, it was one of intelligence."

George Washington, Spymaster🧐 https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-revolutionary-war/spying-and-espionage/george-washington-spymaster/
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One of the most extraordinary (and least known) stories in American history:

Badly outnumber on Day 2 at Gettysburg, a battle-hardened regiment from the new state of MN makes a heroic suicide charge to hold the line.

The First Minnesota at Gettysburg
http://www.laurabillingscoleman.com/project/the-first-minnesota-at-gettysburg-2/
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"Because one day at Gettysburg they lost more of their men who went into the fight than anybody else had - ever.

...those 300 seconds they then won for the United States have proven timeless."

Battle Of Gettysburg Day 2: The Charge To Win 300 Seconds
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a23314/second-day-of-gettysburg-battle-070213/
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Incredibly, the 100 or so men from the First Minnesota who could still fight on Day 3 at Gettysburg again found themselves in the thick of the action.

During Pickett's Charge, Cpl. Henry O’Brien picked up the the regimental battle flag and charged the approaching rebels.
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The other men followed, including Private Marshall Sherman, who captured the battle flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry Regiment while fighting barefoot.

Both O'Brien and Sherman received the Medal of Honor.

Minnesota still has that confederate flag, and will not return it.
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"Major Howard Connor, who was the signal officer of the Navajos at Iwo Jima, said, “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.”

Navajo Code Talkers and the Unbreakable Code — Central Intelligence Agency
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2008-featured-story-archive/navajo-code-talkers/
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Had the Allied troops failed, Huxen says, “democracy would’ve been completely stamped out and crushed across continental Europe.”

What Does the ‘D’ in ‘D-Day’ Stand For? Experts Disagree With Eisenhower’s Answer https://time.com/5599811/d-day-meaning/
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I'll finish with a few quotes from a speech that a Republican president gave 90+ years ago while dedicating a monument to the Civil War hero from the previous Tweet.

Address Dedicating a Memorial to Col. William Colvill, Cannon Falls, Minn.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-dedicating-memorial-col-william-colvill-cannon-falls-minn
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"Heroism is not only in the man but in the occasion. While there is a certain glamor which attaches itself to the peril which the highwayman and the bandit incur in their criminal activities, it is not genuinely heroic."
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"It will not survive analysis. It leads nowhere. Having no moral quality, it provides no inspiration. It is only a counterfeit of the reality. If it is remembered at all, it is not as a blessing but as a curse."
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"There was in their deed no element of selfishness, no hope of personal gain. It stands as an exhibition of pure patriotism, of supreme sacrifice for the integrity of the Union, and the inviolate sovereignty of the Federal Constitution."
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"When they are...given control over their own actions, receive the returns from their own labor, and released from bondage of the mind so that ignorance & superstition are replaced by education & moral influences, the most progress is made toward enlightened civilization."
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"...the bitterness, hatred, and sectional animosities that it left in its wake. For many years, both for the North and for the South, these were unfortunately stimulated and kept alive for the political advantage that the sponsors of such action hoped to secure."
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"The time has long since passed when to hold or express such hostile sentiments should ever be permitted to work to the advantage of anyone. Those who resort to them should find that their standing in the public confidence is thereby seriously impaired."
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"Extremism has no religious affiliation. What extremists share is a loathing of our liberty and our diversity. They look to a distant historical vision of ‘us’ against ‘them’. But as President Obama recently said, ultimately, there is no ‘us’ and ‘them’. There is just ‘us’."
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