Steve Mossman

Ag, water, enviro attorney. History buff, esp. WWII. Husker. Outdoorsman. Red dirt music lover. Girl Dad and Boykin Spaniel fan.

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

Democracy means that if the doorbell rings in the early hours, it is likely to be the milkman.
– Winston Churchill

[Voices of WW2 @VoicesofWW2]

On this day in 1944, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died in his sleep in a stone farmhouse in Normandy. He was 56 years old, and he had spent almost his entire adult life trying to be worthy of a famous last name.

He was the eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt. In the First World War he went to France and was gassed and badly wounded at Soissons leading his men. That same summer his younger brother Quentin, a pilot, was shot down and killed over France. Ted came home with lungs and a leg that never fully recovered, and before he even left Europe he helped found the American Legion so that ordinary soldiers would have someone looking out for them.

Between the wars he did almost everything. Governor of Puerto Rico. Governor General of the Philippines. Businessman, explorer, writer. He could have spent the Second World War safe behind a desk. Instead, at 54, arthritic and walking with a cane, he talked his way back into uniform and into combat.

By 1943 he was fighting in North Africa and Sicily under Terry Allen, and their loose, unpolished, soldier-first style rubbed General Patton the wrong way. Patton had them both relieved of command. Roosevelt didn't sulk. He asked for another job, any job, as long as it kept him near the fighting. They made him assistant commander of the 4th Infantry Division.

Then came D-Day. He hid a heart condition from the Army doctors. He wrote to his commander three separate times, in writing, begging to go in with the very first wave rather than watch from a ship. He was the only general to land in the first wave on any beach that morning, the oldest man in the invasion, walking through machine gun fire with a cane in one hand and a pistol in the other.

The boats came in a mile off course. Officers froze. Roosevelt limped up and down the beach under fire, studied the ground, and said, "We'll start the war from right here." Then he spent the morning waving men forward and sorting out the chaos so calmly that terrified 20 year olds looked at this old man with a cane and decided that if he wasn't scared, they wouldn't be either.

His son Quentin, named for the uncle killed in the last war, landed at Omaha Beach the same morning. They were the only father and son to come ashore together on D-Day.

He died a month later. A heart attack in his sleep. And here is the part that gets me. On the very day he died, the orders had just come through promoting him to major general and giving him his own division. He never saw the paperwork. He never knew he'd earned the Medal of Honor either.

At his funeral his pallbearers were seven of the most famous generals of the war, Bradley, Hodges, Collins, Barton, Huebner, and George Patton. The same Patton who had fired him. Patton wrote in his diary that Roosevelt was one of the bravest men he had ever known.

Years later Omar Bradley was asked to name the single most heroic thing he witnessed in all of World War II. He didn't pause. He said, "Ted Roosevelt on Utah Beach."

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

One of the greatest speeches ever given by an American President. President Reagan honoring the heroes of Normandy at D Day 40.
#GREATESTGENERATION
#DDAY80RonRR

https://t.co/T8aef5VNtL

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@suckafree308 What an awesome surprise! Happy Birthday!

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@suckafree308 🙏🙏🙏

[Dan McLaughlin @baseballcrank]

Three of the greatest & most consequential speeches in the history of the English language were given by the same man in the space of 37 days. Their conclusions:

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@Amwysoc 🙏🏻

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

Christmas Eve https://t.co/AAlwFpUshU

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@mobygonz Great work, Caleb!

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@krvn @stevewhitenews Big congratulations to
@stevewhitenews!!! Nice fit for both of you.

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@llockefield 💯☝️

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@20th_Centurygal Skynyrd is my ride or die forever band so I've had a dozen or more over the years. Current favorite:

https://t.co/M4SeGmQgYX

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@StacieHigginsNC 😂😂😂

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@RockNRoLL_85 https://t.co/eTSVpg637I

[Chase Matteson @ChaseMatteson]

"It's never been about him... loved his mother... lost his mother... he cares about this team"

Here's the full emotional story from Matt Rhule on Rahmir Johnson losing his mother during the #Huskers season. Johnson won the MVP of the Pinstripe Bowl today. (🎥: @kevinsjuts)

(@1011_News) https://t.co/epBE1sUqgy

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@heatherthomasm Looks like an awesome day but my Boykin Spaniel needs a word with you sometime 😂😂😂.

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@RockNRoLL_85 Been in my top 5 for as long as I have had a top 5!

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@Dr_Manhattanx 💯. I don’t handle well the “I can’t believe you don’t like sushi” line. It’s fish. Uncooked, ffs.

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@DaleStarkA10 Merry Christmas to you and your family, Dale 🎄🦆🎄!

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@mouthy_mom_ Solid 👏🏼

[Steve Mossman @moe_sdm]

@kershaw_alex Reread it last week before the 80th Anniversary, Alex! Now onto rereading The Bitter Woods by John S.D. Eisenhower.