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City Council members savaged by Lee Raynor
Posted: 20 May 2009 at 2:00 pm
Lee Raynor took off the gloves in a savage attack on the Kinston City Council members for not attending any of the three funeral services held for the late Ted Sampley. Click Lee's Picture to watch the video.
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May 14, 2009
Dear Jerry and all friends and family of Ted,
I have written a personal message to Lane and the family but wanted to respond more publicly via this email.
I was shocked and saddened to learn that Ted had passed away. Ted was a fighter. He fought for his country, he fought for his missing comrades in arms and he fought for his life until the very end. To say that I admired Ted Sampley is an understatement. Perhaps Ted should have lived in the days of the Revolutionary War where he would have been one of those brave patriots standing with Patrick Henry and George Washington fighting for our liberties. Ted Sampley devoted his entire life to seeking the truth about his missing comrades in arms. He gave no quarter and he made enemies doing it. I know how he feels as I took a few shots along with him! I was proud to have him by my side in this long fight, but more importantly, it was an honor to be his friend. Former Governor Meldrim Thomson of the "Live Free or Die" state of New Hampshire once told me "if you go through life and do not make any enemies, then you are no damn good!"
Ted Sampley was a good man and I will miss him. Now that he is with God, he knows the truth about the fate of our missing men. For that we can all be grateful. Rest in peace my friend. You earned it.
Senator Bob Smith
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 Taps for Ted Sampley
May 12, 2009 -- It is with deep regret that I inform you Ted Sampley passed away this afternoon after a couragous battle to survive a second major operation on his heart. Those of you who knew Ted as the leader of the POW/MIA activist movement in this country for the last 25 years also know of his passion for his son Lane and Robin who survive him.
I'm asking all of you who have photos of Ted over the last 25 years to send them to Cindy (cinrealtor@aol.com) so we can celebrate his life, his passion, and his committment to the men we left behind. I will be traveling to North Carolina to support Lane and Robin and to gather with all of you to share the hundreds of Ted Sampley stories we have told over the years. God bless - Jerry Kiley
The viewing and funeral will be together at 3 PM on Sunday at the Tanglewood Baptist Church located at 2103 Rouse Road, Kinston NC. I will be arriving on Saturday. If you come be prepared for story telling about the man we have all come to love.
Driving Directions
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 It's hard to say good-bye, my friend
By Lee Raynor
(AKA C.J. Raven)
U.S. Veteran Dispatch
May 13, 2009 -- If the sun isn't shining as brightly today, or colors don't seem as vivid as before, the reason could be that the world has lost an American hero.
Ted Sampley, editor of this Web site, friend of U.S. veterans and servicemen, decorated Green Beret, Vietnam veteran, writer, father, son and helper to all who needed him, died Tuesday, May 12.
Ted was my friend for more than a decade - much less time, I realize, than many of you knew him. It was unusual for a week to go by without seeing him, either at my home or at one of his businesses, or for a day to go by when we didn't talk on the phone. Ted had an addiction to telephones!
He was a giant. It's not a stretch to compare him to Mount Rushmore. You just couldn't believe that he wouldn't always be around.
He lived the impossible dream. His heart and his passion were always for soldiers missing in action or held as prisoners of war. But it didn't stop there. He worked hard for Montegnards, Vietnamese who allied themselves with U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. He worked tirelessly for injured veterans of all wars, often helping pay at a Washington restaurant for dinners and drinks for military members undergoing treatment at Walter Reed Hospital.
Ted was a patriot during a time when being a patriot was unfashionable. He served bravely in Vietnam, receiving three bronze stars, the Army Commendation Medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and other recognitions. Like many others, he came home to jeers and catcalls.
If you wanted to get Ted's attention during the past few years, you only had to say, "John McCain" or "John Kerry." He despised both men, a sentiment they returned, and he expended great energy to make sure Americans knew that, in his view, they were traitors to the U.S. military.
Ted was one of the smartest men I've ever know. He lacked formal education, but he never lacked knowledge. If a subject captured his interest, he'd spend hours in the library digging, researching and exploring all facets of the topic. When he finished, he approached "expert" status.
It might surprise some to know that Ted's bull-in-a-china-shop approach masked enormous artistic talent. He was a master potter, an accomplished painter, an expert photographer. He concealed his sensitivity well, perhaps being just a little embarrassed that the ground-stomping, no-holds-barred, damn-the-torpedoes façade covered such a creative mind.
Ted believed the Unknown Soldier from the Vietnam War had an identity that the Pentagon was refusing to reveal. He proved his case. The soldier eventually was removed from his tomb in Washington and returned to his family. He wouldn't acknowledge the word "can't" when he set out to accomplish a goal.
Ted was one of the original organizers of Rolling Thunder, the national motorcycle rally held every Memorial Day weekend in Washington to support the POW-MIA movement. Nothing delighted him more than facing off against Code Pink protesters and he relished every opportunity to do just that.
His face was familiar in the halls of Congress. He testified in POW-MIA hearings, confronting the powerful and, often, uninformed. The national press was not kind to him during those times. He didn't care. He spent little energy refuting their biased reporting. Ted had better things to do.
His town of Kinston N.C., and his county of Lenoir, bear Ted's distinctive mark. Almost single-handedly he transformed a decaying street in the heart of downtown into a vibrant, thriving area for restaurants, dining and tourism. He stepped on more than few toes, but he knew his vision was true and he pursued it in the face of powerful political and financial opposition.
He opened a restaurant on Kinston's Herritage Street alongside a few of his other businesses. He built a fireplace in the large, rustic back dining room, and told people that U.S. Gen. Ulysses Grant and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee held a secret meeting there one day and almost reached a war-ending solution to the conflict. The amazing thing was that so many people believed him! They didn't call him the Merry Prankster for nothing.
It was not unusual to see some scruffy-looking men in Ted's restaurant. He fed homeless veterans and provided housing and jobs for many of them. Children who ran away from a nearby juvenile home went to Ted. He would buy them something to eat and listen as they talked. Then, he'd call the home and tell them where to pick up the boys.
And there was his boat - a replica of the CSS Neuse, a Confederate gunboat, and the only full-sized one in the world. He never asked for tax money and put thousands of his own dollars into the boat. People said he was crazy, that it never would work. Ted knew better. The History Channel used the boat a few years ago to tell the story of the CSS Albemarle, sister ship to the Neuse II.
His face and voice were familiar at City Council meetings. He knew the way things were in Kinston - and he knew the way they should have been. He refused to allow council members to evade the hard issues. When a developer was about to buy a Civil War battlefield and build a trailer park, Ted was at the council meeting protesting long and loud. Today, that property is transformed and is a stop on the state and National Civil War Trails map.
One of his latest ventures was as unlikely as anything he ever did: Ted became a farmer. He owned a small farm outside town where moved his kiln. He bought animals - chickens, turkeys, miniature donkeys and goats, geese. He planted pumpkins and watermelons, figs and blackberries. He worked there day in and day out, through rain, blistering North Carolina summers, fighting snakes and foxes and plant diseases. And it was beginning to come together. He wanted to turn the farm into a place where kids could visit, go on hayrides, pick out a pumpkin, and carve a jack-o-lantern. He was almost there.
He loved his son Lane more than words could tell. He was not an overly-protective father, but he kept a close eye on the boy. Ted was at Lane's football and soccer games, went to his Boy Scout events and took the troop on camping trips, taught Lane to drive, bought him a truck, made sure he was in church. Lane grew up with tremendous experiences: meeting world and national figures, visiting embassies, getting to know military heroes, seeing first-hand what it means to fight the incoming tide and win.
And his daughter Windy. How his eyes would sparkle when he talked about her and his granddaughter was the apple of his eye.
Ted Sampley was not a paragon of virtue, thank God. That would have been hard to live with. He could be cantankerous, stubborn, pig-headed and just plain irritating. But he was a good man, with a heart even bigger than his enormous courage.
The world is poorer without Ted. You can't say more about a man than that.
Rest in peace, my friend. You've more than earned it.
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 Terrorist Prediction:
February 14, 2009 -- Within two years, one or more of Obama's Kenyan family will be kidnapped, held hostage
and face being murdered . . .
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 Vietnam veteran, father of fallen soldier, banned from Camp Lejeune and Arlington
Cemetery for condemning Islamic terrorists
November 15, 2008 -- Depending on the outcome of a Vietnam veteran's federal lawsuit, the Marine Corps could be
forced to abandon or censor its famed "Marine Hymn."... . . .
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 Will apostate Obama hunt down Osama bin Laden
as promised or will he 'repent'?
October 28, 2008 --
Muslims all over the world are mystified by presumptive President Barack Hussein Obama's
denial of being a Muslim and his claim to be a born again Christian... . . .
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 Sarah Palin for prez in 2012?
October 23, 2008 --
The results of the November presidential election not withstanding, voters increasingly are
seeing Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin as a serious contender for the party's
2012 :.. . . .
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a former Viet Cong terrorist
October 6, 2008 --
By bringing up Obama's relationship with the unrepentant communist Ayers, Palin opened the
door to vetting McCain on his post-Vietnam War relationship with the late Vo Van Kiet. :.. . . .
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New book exposes little-known facts on presidential candidate John McCain
September 16, 2008 --
A just released book about the 2008 Republican presidential nominee takes a critical look at
Arizona Sen. John McCain's rise to power :.. . . .
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Politicizing the Congressional Medal of Honor
Col. Bud Day, his Medal of Honor and the McCain campaign's abuse of our nation's highest award for valor.
For years, Day has been waving his Medal of Honor at political events in support of McCain's political ambitions.
His politicizing of our highest military award for valor has bothered me for as many years.
When I finally took a look at his Medal of Honor Citation, some discrepancies stood out like
a festering thumb splinter. . . . . .
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 Pope
Benedict/John McCain -
Free Father Ly!
All religions have suffered severe religious persecution at the hands of this brutal communist
regime. John McCain was instrumental in normalizing relations with Vietnam in 1995 . . . . .
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U.S. Troops to African "hotspot"?
Obama Jr. Says 'Not Yet'
Just one day before the Jan. 3, 2007 Iowa caucus, Sen. Barack Hussein Obama Jr. (D-Ill.), who is
aiming to be America's first African-American president, found himself taping a message from
Iowa to Kenya for broadcast on the Voice of America.
Kenya, the homeland Obama Jr's family's
Luo tribe, burst into post-election violence . . . . .
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Giuliani, McCain fail to understand "Know your Muslim enemy" principle of warfare
Giuliani campaign fired vet for saying Muslims must be chased "back to their caves." . . . . .
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NAACP's ominous campaign to eject the Confederate battle flag has metastasized
to "Old Glory"
December 17, 2007 -- The NAACP needed a hot-button issue that would stir emotions enough to rally the membership and their
checkbooks. NAACP leaders found it flying peacefully over government buildings and land in
the old Southern states -- the Confederate battle flag, a symbol they claim symbolizes slavery,
racism, oppression, and white supremacy. . . . .
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 New web site details how DIA manipulates intelligence on US POWs
Pentagon cover-up of POWs is still happening today
www.enormouscrime.com
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When Muslim men die and pass to Islamic Paradise (Heaven), they expect to enter a utopian
dimension where wine, milk and honey flows, fruit-trees flourish and rivers gush forth with the
purist water. . . . .
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Take a look at his un-presidential credentials
It looks like Sen. John McCain, (R-Az) is going to make a 2008 grab for the presidency.
He has been courting President Bush's financial and political networks and
his political team is moving full steam ahead setting up for a presidential
campaign . . . .
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 What Thomas Jefferson learned
from the Muslim book of jihad
Jan. 5, 2007 -- Democrat Keith Ellison is now
officially the first Muslim United States congressman. True to his pledge,
he placed his hand on the Quran, the Muslim book of jihad and pledged . . . .
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First Muslim congressman excites crowd
in "Hezbollah City" USA, a.k.a. Dearborn, Michigan
Jan. 1, 2007 -- You can't back down. You can't
chicken out. You can't be afraid. You got to have faith in Allah, and you've
got to stand up and be a real Muslim," Keith Ellison, the first Muslim
elected to the United States Congress, instructed a cheering crowd of
Muslims last month in Dearborn . . . .
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Barak Hussein Obama Who is he?
Dec. 29, 2006
After only being a U.S. Senator for a couple of years, Barak Hussein Obama,
Democrat Senator from Chicago, has managed to catapult himself to the status of
a messiah in the Democrat Party . . .
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 Jihad Kids -- Islamic Seeds of Hate and Martyrdom
Almost from birth, Muslim
children are taught to hate Christians and Jews - to glorify "jihad" (holy war)
and to embrace violence, death and child martyrdom. . . . .
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| Is Bush's Vietnam Policy Causing His Moral and Ethical Compass To Spiral Out of Control?
Some American war veterans claim Bush's invite of Vietnam's prime minister, Phan Van Khai
to the White House marks a betrayal of a Bush campaign promise and is "ethically and morally" wrong.
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Yet Another Jane Fonda Non-apology
"Apology"
Here we go again!
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JIHAD (HOLY
WAR) 101 FOR DUMMIES
Know Your Enemy
Islam's
Unyielding Claim To Palestine Is Based On Muhammad's Mystic Night
Journey
A Pictorial History of NAKED ISLAMIC HYPOCRISY - Warning! These pictures are extremely graphic
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Did Insurgents Execute U.S. Army Pfc. "Matt" Maupin?
Pro-Hanoi activism by Senators Kerry and McCain helped strip Pfc. Maupin of any protection under the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
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| Gulf War MIA Michael S. Speicher Still Alive!!!
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Operation Iraq Freedom POW/MIA Files
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Iraq War POW/MIA Files
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The Story of Agent Orange
U.S. Veteran Dispatch, November 1990 Issue
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Four Heroic Reasons Our POW/MIAs Cannot Be Written Off And Forgotten
U.S. Veteran Dispatch, By Ted Sampley, Sep./Oct./Nov. 1997 Issue
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Read Rolling Thunder's History The Years of Rolling Thunder's "Run to the Wall"
U.S. Veteran Dispatch Staff Report |
United States War Crimes Policy Is Duplicity Of The Worst Kind
U.S. Veteran Dispatch, By Ted Sampley, Sep./Oct./Nov. 1997 Issue
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International Police Investigate Possible Involvement Of Ron Brown Associate In TWA 800 Disaster
U.S. Veteran Dispatch, By Ted Sampley, September 22, 1998 Issue
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U.S. Suffered Over 20,000
More Military Dead During Vietnam War Than Previously Reported
U.S. Veteran Dispatch, By Ted Sampley, September, 1998 Issue
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PREVENT WWIII - BOYCOTT RED CHINA
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| Stroking The Deadly Chinese Dragon
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John Kerry . . . the
"Not So Swift Vet"
click on cartoon
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The
Kerry/McCain Campaign Against
