 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.
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.
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”.