Oh, Britannia!

I like to think of Britain like this picture. Brave, strong, unafraid.









My Gunn family was persuaded to leave (via military conscription and endentured servitude) the English Isle back in the mid 17th century. We weren't always an easy people to get along with. The name Gunn comes from the Norse gunnr, meaning war. Our family motto is Aut Pax aut Bellum ("either war or peace - whatever!") which is probably why I have such a fascination with all things war-like.

My great-great granddad was a scout with the Union Army and was captured by the Confederates on at least three different occasions (he escaped twice). In his written accounts of the war, he seems generally to have enjoyed himself!

Even after more than three centuries separation, I still feel a sense of kinship and respect for my British cousins. The terrorist killers that struck London might just as well have bombed my little town in MD. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who were injured and killed in this dastardly attack. My resolve to resist with whatever means necessary the evil that caused it will not waiver.

Remember the Declaration of Arbroath - the Scottish Declaration of Independence signed in 1320 at Arbroath Abbey on the east coast of Scotland:

"We fight not for glory nor for wealth nor honours; but only and alone we fight for freedom, which no good man surrenders but with his life."

The rotten bastard terrorists have even awakened the Whittler from blog-slumber.