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RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, for those of you on the Dittocam, you can see this. It is a perfectly folded American flag. This came FedEx today to me. This flag flew for a couple of hours over Camp Delta, Club Gitmo, on my birthday this year. I have the certificate right here from which I will read, and I have the letter from the guy down at Camp Gitmo who sent me this. His name is William Wiese. It's W-i-e-s-e. He lives in College Station, Texas, but he's still down at Club Gitmo. He's the one who arranged for this. He's a 24/7 subscriber. He listens to the first hour of the program on Armed Forces Radio and then the other two hours at the end of the day on the website.
He served under President Reagan, was with the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Urgent Fury, which was Grenada. So I want to read the proclamation to you. He has sent his picture to our website wearing his Club Gitmo T-shirt.
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RUSH: Here is the letter I received with this flag that flew over Camp Delta at Club Gitmo.
Dear Rush:
I was sitting at my desk in our windowless building a couple hundred yards from the sparkling ocean overlooking the eastern end of the Cayman Trench. I was thinking how nice it was that your staff got you a birthday cake and presented it on air. I started to wonder what one might get someone who pretty much has everything he wants or can afford if he so chooses, and I did find the one thing that you cannot buy. I enjoy immensely your radio program. I can only hear the first hour live on Armed Forces Radio. I have to stream the other two hours later in the evening via computer with my 24/7 membership. (It's one of the best investments I've ever made, by the way.) I served under President Ronald Reagan, was with the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Urgent Fury, Grenada.
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Thank you for your support of the United States Military over all these years. Please accept this flag flown over Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a token of my respect.  Those are my initials along the margin to verify that it was flown as the certificate states.
Happy birthday and God bless,
William Wiese
College Station, Texas
P.S.: You can find my picture uploaded to your website. I'm the guy standing in front of the welcome aboard sign in my Club Gitmo shirt. Perhaps you can fly the flag over your Southern Command compound and post a picture of it. If you decide that you ever want to visit the island, let me know, and I will sponsor you. |
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| RUSH: Wow, a potential trip to Club Gitmo! Cuba. Cigars. Here's the certificate. It's wrapped up like a scroll. I'll unfurl it here for those of you watching on the Dittocam. You're not going to be able to read anything on it, I think, because I'm not going to zoom in. I don't have a hand with which to zoom in. Let me read this. Joint Task Force, Guantanamo, Cuba. Joint detention group. Operation Enduring Freedom. Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "Certificate of authenticity presented to Mr. Rush H. Limbaugh. Let it be known that the flag accompanying this certificate was flown proudly over Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 12," my birthday, "2008 at 0156 hours for nine minutes and 11 seconds." Nine minutes and 11 seconds. So this was about two o'clock in the morning, for nine minutes and 11 seconds. "This flag is presented to you in the spirit of patriotism and as a tribute to those who lost their lives in terrorist attacks on the United States of America and to those who continue to fight in the Global War on Terror." |
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| The Department of Defense symbol is in the upper left-hand corner and the Club Gitmo delta, Camp Delta icon, logo in the upper right-hand corner, and it is signed by Theodore Trahan, the commanding sergeant major, US Army, at the joint detention group of Club Gitmo and Bruce Vargo, colonel, US Army, commander, JDG. So we'll get pictures of this. Once again here is the flag. This has happened before and I had no idea. It was when Mark Hasara and his buddies, Tazz, Joe Katuzienski, five or six aircraft all flew a flag turning out to be in my honor on the original invasion bombing runs during the Iraq invasion in 2003; and they sent me certificates of all the airplanes that the flag flew on and a letter that Hasara wrote by hand on a piece of yellow legal paper explaining what had happened and why they did it. The flag arrived in a Ziploc bag perfectly folded. That's now at home in my library, and it's framed, the flag is, unfurled; as are all the certificates, and as will this be. This is just... I don't know. As you know, folks, I'm trying to learn how to receive, without feeling embarrassed. But this is just touching. This is a genuine honor that somebody sitting down at Club Gitmo listening to the first hour at Armed Forces Radio would see you guys there and give me a cake, and think, "What can I get Rush?" And he secured a flag that flew for nine minutes, left seconds, over Club Gitmo -- where, of course, we here at the EIB Network are thriving. Well, we don't have a thriving merchandise business at Club Gitmo. It depends on Club Gitmo being open. So thank you so much, Mr. Wiese. Who, again, is from College Station, Texas. I shall treasure this and honor it and protect it for as... Well, for the rest of my life. |
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