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(USA Today) Hero Parents of kid who loves "Band of Brothers" throw theme birthday party with WWII costumes, music and a visit from real WWII veterans. Outraged parents flood paper with e-mail; outraged kids wish their parents were that cool   (usatoday.com) divider line
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32293 clicks; posted to Main » on 17 Feb 2007 at 6:43 PM (16 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



334 Comments     (+0 »)


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spedmonkey
2007-02-15 11:18:18 PM  
There was a time when parents would smack their boys if they weren't into war games and such.

/get off my lawn
 
the_gospel_of_thomas
2007-02-15 11:27:05 PM  
"Yet, the boy's eyes were all fixed on the 82-year-old Clarence "Clancy" Lyall, a highly decorated paratrooper (with 25 decorations and citations) and a veteran of World II, Korea and Vietnam. Lyall jumped into Normandy with the 101st and fought in most of the battles portrayed in the HBO series, including the Battle of the Bulge. He was wounded four times in combat, including a still-visible shrapnel scar on his head, which the boys couldn't stop staring at. (To the relief of the parents, Lyall declined to show them the bayonet scar on his stomach.)

Lyall has hundreds of jumps to his credit, including a rare record of four combat jumps. He told them how he had lied at 16 to enlist and had his 18th birthday in combat in Holland. (He was wounded the next day.) After World War II, he also served in Vietnam as an American adviser with the 8th French Parachute Assault Battalion at Dien Bien Phu, and narrowly escaped when the garrison surrendered.

Yet rather than asking about the gore of war, the boys seemed most interested in matters more relevant and important to the adolescent mind: how Lyall overcame fear. "When you did your jump into Normandy," Liam asked, "was it scary?"


outstanding.
 
towatchoverme
2007-02-15 11:29:13 PM  
It's a strange day indeed when i find myself agreeing with TGOT ... but that was one helluva b-day party.
 
Churchill2004
2007-02-15 11:30:22 PM  
Wonderful article

+1
 
Yesdog
2007-02-15 11:31:25 PM  
Wii costumes and Wii veterans? Those are hardcore gamers.

/DNRTFA
 
kingMountain
2007-02-15 11:32:04 PM  
if it were an iraq war party, i can see people not wanting to attend. but come on, world war II? if your kids are going to learn about war (which they will at some point), why not that one?

and as far as the kids meeting the vets, that's about the best idea ever to show them the reality of conflict.
 
cameroncrazy1984 [TotalFark]
2007-02-15 11:43:23 PM  
Now THERE'S a LARP I would attend. This just goes to show that some parents can get outraged at literally ANYTHING. How dare their kids learn about history at a birthday party!
 
CougarJeff
2007-02-15 11:46:22 PM  
That sounds like the best birthday party ever.
 
Sensei Can You See [TotalFark]
2007-02-15 11:55:19 PM  
I have a two-step plan for all those outraged parents:

1. Build a bridge.

2. Get the fark over it.
 
Bad_Monkey_abc
2007-02-15 11:55:54 PM  
This sounds like a cool way to encourage the kids' interest in history. The parents who wouldn't allow their kids to attend a World War II themed party certainly have the right to do so. However, if I were one of the parents organizing the party, I would have been deeply offended by this gesture. My grandfather flew B-29s in the Pacific Theater. I find nothing wrong with celebrating the history of WW II. As the article states, there are many wars worth fighting. Perhaps there are some that are not.

monk
 
Walt_Jizzney
2007-02-15 11:58:32 PM  
Article = double plus good

I have to agree with most posters above; get your kids off of the nerfed playgrounds and STFU. At least they were asking the correct questions...if asking questions at all.

Like the article state, if we could get the rest of America to talk to these guys......
 
xlbrooklyn
2007-02-16 12:03:54 AM  
I clipped this out to send to my dad.
 
ZoX
2007-02-16 12:29:49 AM  
I find it sad and infuriating that there are people who do not really understand how things work. There are people in this world who do not like Americans, and they didn't like us long before the problems in Iraq. There are those who cannot be reasoned with, cannot be bargained with, and who will die trying to kill people in this country. Love for country, sacrifice and duty - to some these are just words, but to many of us it is a personal mantra that keeps people - just like the ones that wouldn't let their kids attend a WWII birthday party - able to say what they want, have freedom of choice, and pursue life,liberty and happiness - relatively worry free. What I find "deeply disturbing" is the attitude that many think they are "owed" something. They are owed nothing, it is earned.

/rant off
 
Sensei Can You See [TotalFark]
2007-02-16 12:46:07 AM  
ZoX: They are owed nothing, it is earned.

ZoX FTW!
 
nickyhopkins
2007-02-16 7:54:52 AM  
That's really, really, really awesome.

Doubly awesome that an 8 year old kid is interested in history, instead of, say, WWE or whatever the hell Naruto is.

/Naruto ruins every YouTube search I do...
//WTF is it with people putting cartoons to Led Zeppelin music?
 
Catholicgauze
2007-02-17 6:48:35 PM  
Wish I had a theme party like that.
 
McCoy
2007-02-17 6:49:49 PM  
I am outraged at the outrage from the outraged parents.

As usual it is the kids that put things in perspective. Not asking about gore and killing, but about things that most parents wouldn't even think of.
 
It's_A_Farking_Secret
2007-02-17 6:51:44 PM  
I hope my kids are that cool.
 
Detroit_Bob
2007-02-17 6:52:20 PM  
Catholicgauze: Wish I had a theme party like that.

Indeed. All I got was shiatty pizza at Chuck E. Cheese.

The complaining parents should be used to put on an impromptu reenactment of the St.Lo Massacre, farking pansies.
 
Sid_6.7 [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2007-02-17 6:53:09 PM  
Dude, everyone's missed the other cool part of this. The kid's dad is Tom Bowman!

/NPR nerd
 
GotANineInMyPocket
2007-02-17 6:53:56 PM  
It's good everyone in the world has lost their mind.
 
Cenobite
2007-02-17 6:54:25 PM  
I remember having a pirate-themed party when I was 8. Maybe I should have one again when I turn 24.

/WWII-themed sounds awesome too.
 
trintrin
2007-02-17 6:54:52 PM  
At least they didn't just cut corners and hire a Hitler impersonator.
 
YouPeopleAreCrazy
2007-02-17 6:54:57 PM  
Walt_Jizzney: Like the article state, if we could get the rest of America to talk to these guys......

These guys are rapidly disppearing. For instance...not many of the WWII Tuskegee airmeen are still alive. My uncle being one of them.
 
Ninja Wicked
2007-02-17 6:55:29 PM  
When i was that age i found myself choosing WWI and WWII documentaries over kids shows all the time
 
Rich-Hobo
2007-02-17 6:55:36 PM  
What outraged parents are thinking:"OMG IF THEY THINK WAR IS COOL THEY WILL JOIN A WAR AND DIE!!!

What the kids are thinking:"These guys are awesome!"

What the Veterans are thinking:"War sucks,but I went in one anyway cause im cool like that"

What the dog is thinking:"Steak."

\got nuttin
 
entropic_existence
2007-02-17 6:55:47 PM  
I loved Band of Brothers, one of the best mini-series ever.

And kudos to the parents of the kid for throwing him the WWII themed birthday and having the vets come. They won't be around forever, and we need to keep that living bit of history around with us for as long as we can.

/Lest we forget
 
fastfxr
2007-02-17 6:56:28 PM  
Excellent story and well-written article. I loved the statement that playing war games as a child doesn't mean you'll turn into a war criminal.

America...F*ck Yeah!
 
space_mummy
2007-02-17 6:57:03 PM  
They should have just went to WW Lazerz.
 
Runningjoke
2007-02-17 6:57:07 PM  
Most people are pussies. Please don't complain to me.
 
Fomby_Belcher
2007-02-17 6:58:13 PM  
I have news for you. There are now enough "outraged" parents in the USA to ensure the country's doom.

All that it will take is a determined and well-equipped enemy.
 
conniemac [TotalFark]
2007-02-17 6:58:20 PM  
Kudos to both the kids & parents that threw the party. The other whiney biatch parents can STFU!
 
SBinRR [OhFark]
2007-02-17 6:58:59 PM  
Tonight I will drink one in honor of Clancy Lyall.
 
LocalCynic
2007-02-17 6:59:00 PM  
Before the contards start whining: let the record reflect that the writer of TFA is on the left of the political spectrum.
 
AdamK
2007-02-17 6:59:46 PM  
sounds like an awesome birthday party!
 
YouPeopleAreCrazy
2007-02-17 6:59:55 PM  
"All that John Wayne stuff is a lot of bull," Lyall said. "I don't like war. I hate it. No combat soldier likes war."

Repeat often.
 
Dwreck
2007-02-17 6:59:57 PM  
I hope these kids become Congressmen.
 
Vic Sage
2007-02-17 7:00:07 PM  
What this country needs is a good method to quickly and completely remove sand from the viginas of people who are reguarly outraged by things. It should probably contain vinegar or something.
 
loupismcw
2007-02-17 7:00:26 PM  
That's awesome. +1 for everyone involved.
 
FlatulentCosmonaut
2007-02-17 7:00:46 PM  
The delicious irony is that the freedom anti-war pacifists have to protest and declare their country to be the source of all evil in the world was originally gained through force of arms.
 
JQPublic
2007-02-17 7:01:09 PM  
Outraged parents otherwise known as Democrats.
 
Kurmudgeon
2007-02-17 7:01:13 PM  
"if your kids are going to learn about war (which they will at some point), why not that one?"

Indeed, that is when Prescott Bush worked for the other side.
/apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
 
the_gospel_of_thomas
2007-02-17 7:01:50 PM  
LocalCynic: 'Before the contards start whining: let the record reflect that the writer of TFA is on the left of the political spectrum.'


.... and thats all that matters, right?

oh, and by the way, the 'contards' would whine about this ... why?
 
vabeard
2007-02-17 7:02:07 PM  
Heaven forbid parents would have a birthday party now-a-days that didn't include limos and gift bags.
 
Amigajoe
2007-02-17 7:02:09 PM  
-I'm anti-war and all that too, but that was a good and instructive story right there. Not that it justifies every war a politician decides to throw our brave young men/women into; THAT'S a whole different deal. Indeed, the horrors of war reinforce the fact that the soldiers doing their duty are trusting the civilian leadership not to squander their lives needlessly. (like they're doing right now) I salute all the veterans who served honorably in defense of this country...
 
anubis1337
2007-02-17 7:03:28 PM  
"Here's a novel idea: Say no. Tell him that war is sad and horrible and should never be a cause for celebration."

Here's a novel idea: you can raise your children to be pussies that are ignorant of history and the knowledge that some things are worth fighting for.

If everyone showed as much interest in learning about history as these kids, maybe we'd live in a better world today.
 
HeWhoHasNoName
2007-02-17 7:03:32 PM  
I'd like to personally slap, very hard, every single parent who kept their kid from going or had the gall to write some kind of statement of outrage.

The people who walked straight into the maw of humanity's darkest hours are going to disappear from living memory in my lifetime. I can't think of a more aboslutely precious link to history than them.
 
galahad05
2007-02-17 7:03:33 PM  
Puts things in perspective.
 
Thunder King
2007-02-17 7:03:57 PM  
I've never had a cool birthday party like that.....Oh well...
 
LocalCynic
2007-02-17 7:03:59 PM  
the_gospel_of_thomas: .... and thats all that matters, right?

No, it's not. What these men did for us transcends political boundaries.

oh, and by the way, the 'contards' would whine about this ... why?

I dunno, ask JQPublic.
 
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