Mary Cooper 🇺🇸🦅

Certified Master of The Leadership Challenge Workshop, trainer, coach, consultant and keynote speaker, dedicated to helping leaders and teams leave a legacy.

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

At the 1972 Munich Olympics, a 15-year-old American swimmer won three gold medals and set two world records.

Almost nobody remembers her name.

The cameras were pointed somewhere else.

The story of Munich is usually told in two parts.

First, there was the dominance of Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals and became the face of the Games.

Then there was the tragedy of the Munich Massacre, when eleven Israeli athletes and coaches were murdered by terrorists from Black September.

Those two stories became the history of Munich.

Everything else disappeared into the background.

Including a teenage girl from Virginia named Melissa Belote.

She arrived in Germany as a high school sophomore.

No media entourage.

No endorsement deals.

No celebrity status.

Just a swimmer who had spent years staring at the black line at the bottom of a pool before sunrise.

In the 100-meter backstroke, she won gold and set an Olympic record.

In the 200-meter backstroke, she won gold and broke the world record.

In the 4×100-meter medley relay, she helped the United States win gold and set another world record.

Three events.

Three gold medals.

Two world records.

She was fifteen years old.

While reporters chased Spitz through the Olympic Village, Belote quietly climbed out of the same pool carrying world records.

Few cameras followed.

Few headlines appeared.

Then the Munich attack happened.

The Games stopped.

The world changed.

When competition resumed, celebration was gone. Athletes finished their events beneath a cloud of grief and shock.

Belote received her final gold medal in an arena struggling to find joy.

Then she packed her bags and went home.

No nationwide media tour.

No magazine covers.

No Hollywood offers.

She returned to Springfield, Virginia.

The next thing she had to worry about wasn't another Olympic final.

It was high school.

She walked back into class as a sophomore.

According to the stories told later, school didn't even excuse her from regular physical education requirements.

Just weeks after becoming a three-time Olympic champion, she was still expected to run laps like everyone else.

Today, her achievements remain in the record books:

🥇 100m Backstroke
🥇 200m Backstroke (World Record)
🥇 4×100m Medley Relay (World Record)

Three Olympic gold medals.

Won before she was old enough to drive.

The medals weigh exactly the same as everyone else's.

History just forgot to look at them.

Melissa Belote didn't merely compete in Munich.

She outswam the world while almost nobody was watching.

[Johnny Midnight ⚡️ @its_The_Dr]

Red Skelton, his Pledge of Allegiance! This is absolutely wonderful!. 🇺🇸

[Dan Bongino @dbongino]

🇺🇸🇺🇸🔥🔥

[Freedom 250 @Freedom250]

Twenty-four notes should be the stronghold of Memorial Day of our country.

Every time we hear the 24 notes, it reminds us that the freedom we have today to be here, the freedom that we have to go home at night, the freedom we have to worship, the freedom we have to speak freely in public, the freedom that we have to disagree with our government — comes from those 24 notes.

Do not ever pass by those 24 notes. For each note can take a memory, a life, a family member, a service. A service that was rendered, a service that was kept.

It’s a reminder that we only have one chance to get it right when we honor those that have given so much to us.

[Michelle Vecerina @michellevnews]

🚨FLORIDA RESIDENTS: State officials want you to take out your phone and film your entire house before June 1 when hurricane season officially begins.

@GovGoneWild: "Document everything because if a hurricane strikes and you have to make an insurance claim, there is no way the insurer will say that that stuff wasn't there."

@FLVoiceNews

[Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol]

🚨#BREAKING: Hundreds of people have just shown up to the funeral of 98-year old John Bernard Arnold III, a WW2 veteran with no known relatives.

The public was invited to attend to ensure the veteran was honored and not laid to rest alone.

Hundreds came. Absolutely beautiful.

[GarySiniseFoundation @GarySiniseFound]

May is Military Appreciation Month, a time to honor the men and women who serve our nation, and the families who stand beside them.

To those currently in uniform, our veterans, and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, we recognize the dedication, honor, and commitment it takes to defend our freedoms. Their service strengthens our country and inspires us every day.

We are proud to stand with our nation’s defenders this month and always. 🇺🇸

[GodlyVibez Studios @GVStudios_TV]

🚨High School seniors begin new tradition and gift Kindergarten class Bibles🙏

[🇺🇸Disabled Veteran Constitutional Conservative @SGT_Oz]

El Paso, TX we have another Veteran with no known family being laid to rest. Please attend if at all possible. No Veteran goes alone. Please repost.

[Mary Cooper 🇺🇸🦅 @GuidingLeaders]

@CorpBarnaby @HistoryWJacob These need to be compiled into a book. I have learned so much from your postings. Thank you!

[🇺🇸Disabled Veteran Constitutional Conservative @SGT_Oz]

Anyone in the El Paso, TX please attend if possible. No Veteran goes alone. Please repost.

[Stocking Mill Coffee @smcroasters]

Please share.

Today and tomorrow only.

Great cause. Helping out a SMC family member.

Comes with decal.

One of my favorite l, and I’m sure some of you as well, Bible verse.

The name of our Christian Line of Coffee.

Sling and Stone.

This will ship in 2 weeks.

https://t.co/E4w72YGFrK

[Patricia Heaton @PatriciaHeaton]

I wasn’t happy when Clinton, Obama or Biden won, but I didn’t call them fascist/dangerous/threat to democracy. I didn’t hope someone would assassinate them. I went on with my life with gratitude. Friends on the left, please try this. Your life and our country will be better.

[Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh]

🚨 WOW. Border Czar Tom Homan just gave the PERFECT response to Pope Leo

"I'm a lifelong Catholic. I wish they'd STAY OUT of immigration, they don't know what they're talking about."

"Because if they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a 9-year-old girl that got r*ped multiple times, or stood in the back of a tractor trailer with 19 dead aliens at my feet, including a 5-year-old boy that baked to death, if they understood the atrocities that happened on the open border, I think their opinion would change!"

"And I welcome discussion with any of them, because they don't understand illegal immigration is not a victimless crime."

"Where President Trump had the most secure border in the lifetime of this nation, right now, lives are being saved. He's saving thousands of lives a year because he has a secure border!"

"Human traffickers are out of business, right? The cartels are going bankrupt because of that secure border. I wish they'd understand that."

"Because if they did, I think they'd have a different opinion."

Mic drop.

[Secretary Marco Rubio @SecRubio]

He is Risen.

[U.S. Marines @USMC]

National Medal of Honor Day

Today, on the anniversary of the awarding of the first Medals of Honor, we celebrate the courage, sacrifice, and patriotism which connect all recipients of the medal.

We honor the Marines who have received this award for their extraordinary heroism, who distinguished themselves through acts of gallantry at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.

Semper Fidelis.

✍️ (U.S. Marine Corps graphic by Cpl. Abigail Hutcheson)

#MedalofHonorDay #USMCHistory #Marines

[History Dame @history_dame]

For 100 years, they have stood watch, for names we will never know.

In 1921, an unknown American soldier was laid to rest at Arlington, chosen to represent every service member lost without identification.

At first, the tomb wasn’t guarded. Visitors came and went freely, sometimes treating it more like a destination than a sacred place.

That changed on March 24, 1926.

Concerned by the lack of respect, Army leadership ordered a permanent military guard.

And for a century since, the soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment—The Old Guard—have carried that responsibility.

Through rain and snow. Day and night. 365 days a year.

Under strict conditions. They are precise, intentional, and unwavering.

Because this isn’t just a tomb.

It’s a promise: that those who gave everything, even without a name, will never be forgotten.

Happy Birthday to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment. Thank you for your dedication for the last 100 years.

[Patriot🇺🇸Newswire @NewswirePatriot]

On March 4, 2002, John A. Chapman was left alone on a freezing mountain in Afghanistan. Surrounded and outnumbered, he fought the fight of his life.

That night on Takur Ghar, everything went wrong.

A SEAL team was pinned down on the mountain under heavy enemy fire. Chapman went in with the rescue force.

As soon as they landed, chaos exploded. Gunfire from hidden bunkers. The team was hit hard, but
Chapman didn’t fall back.

He CHARGED an enemy bunker under direct fire. He closed the distance and engaged at close range.

As more enemy fighters moved in, he didn't stop. For over an hour, he held his ground, providing cover for incoming forces.

Chapman's actions gave others a chance to survive.

Eventually, he was overwhelmed and
John Chapman died on that mountain.

But because he stayed, others lived.

His actions were not fully recognized at first, but in 2018, 16 years later, President Donald Trump awarded him the Medal of Honor.

John Chapman fought alone in the cold and held the line until the very end.

"Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.” — Unknown

[Department of War 🇺🇸 @DeptofWar]

Today, we honor the heroic Americans who have been awarded the Medal of Honor.

Our nation’s highest recognition of valor.

[Stocking Mill Coffee @smcroasters]

Can use everyone’s help and signal on this.

Earlier today one of my friends and an SMC family member told me about a local veteran in need.

This is Claire Atwell I’m with in the picture.

He is 98 years old and still in fighting shape. He is an Army Korean War veteran and also served in the Navy.

His identity was stolen and his accounts have been drained as well as other fraudulent loans and things happening with the identity theft.

He didn’t have much to begin with and now he is a little desperate while the AG and local police sort things out.

We are taking the next couple days to raise some money for him to help until it’s straightened out.

Any amount helps and it all goes to him.

If you can’t help we ask you to share. He doesn’t have anyone to help him

https://t.co/c6xxSEyYnJ