Page 72 - August 2016 Life In Naples Magazine

SWFL VETERANCS oAnnLecLtiInAg tNheCdoEts
by Lois Bolin
Old Naples Historian
WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO
BE SELF-EVIDENT... (JULY 4,
1776 )
Last month we celebrated America’s
Independence Day. The Declaration of
Independence, written a century and
a half after the colony of Virginia was
first established in 1607, gave several
generations of Colonists a taste of freedom
- freedom that was threatened with new
British laws and taxes. Yet, the “sacred
fire of liberty”, seared into their souls,
launched an advanced theoretical case for a
revolution, the idea of national sovereignty,
and a declaration of independence for the
13 British colonies.
WE THE PEOPLE OF THE
UNITED STATES…(SEPTEMBER
17, 1787)
The U.S.Constitution,the oldest written
72
constitution in operation in the world, was adopted on September 25, 1789,
and by 1790, the original 13 colonies were called the United States.
SOMETIMES WE FAIL TO HEAR OR HEED THESE
VOICES OF FREEDOM… (FDR -JANUARY 1941)
It is the 75th anniversary of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four
Freedoms Speech,” which outline the essential human freedoms: freedom
of speech and expression; freedom to worship God in our own way;
freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
Four and half years later, on August 14, 1945, when Truman announced that WWII was
over, Americans rejoiced knowing those freedoms were intact. Americans also knew that the
bedrock values that formed the basis of the American Experiment had been preserved.
Two hundred and forty years after the Declaration of Independence and two hundred and
twenty-nine years after the Constitution was ratified, Naples Spirit of ’45 will again honor
these sentinels of liberty with our weekend tribute called the Greatest Generation & Beyond
Breakfast and Taps Across America.
SPIRIT OF ‘45
On August 13th, at the Naples Hilton some 320 plus veterans, sponsors and volunteers
come together for a morning to acknowledge a generation who survived the Great Depression,
defeated the greatest tyranny the world has ever known then rebuilt a shattered world at home
Life in Naples | August • September • October 2016