Audie L. Murphy Memorial Website Message Boards

One of the goals I set early on in the petition campaign and had discussed with Richard was trying to get a Moonwalker to endorse the petition. I sent out the petition to three Apollo astronauts. I did not send one to Armstrong as he has not signed an autograph in 20 years, makes almost no public appearances and has never endorsed a political candidate or a product. Therefore, I figured he would not sign.
In any case, I did contact three Moonwalkers and received a turn down from one.
Finally, I saw retired Air Force Brigadier General Charles Duke of Apollo 16 on TV the other day in an interview. There were four Apollo astronauts in the interview, and although they were all polite, Charles Duke came across as the nicest of the four in the interview. He seemed like a very kind and affable man so I decided to take a run at him. I googled him and discovered that he was born in Charlotte (I live in the Charlotte suburbs) and that he was raised in a rural area about 25 miles from where I live, so I felt perhaps the NC/SC connection might help. In addition he has resided in Texas since his NASA days, so perhaps he admires Audie.
I mailed a petition out to him, and he signed and returned it with a week.
Wow!
He had a long career at NASA and was the "Voice of NASA" as Mission Control Commander (Ground) during Armstrong's landing, as well as having been the 10th of only 12 men to have walked on the Moon and the youngest of the twelve as well.
So anyway here is his wiki bio:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Duke



Here is his endorsement:








Even without a comment I will take that one all day. Now, I plan to use Duke as a stepping stone to the other Moonwalkers, in particular the others on his mission.


Thanks,

Dave

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"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."

Dave, Again, Excellent Work !!!!! I so enjoy reading these posts, and I hope it is one more reason for the
powers that be to bestow upon Audie a much delayed recognition of service to humanity over and above
his CMOH. The PMOF in my opinion is a much delayed, yet much deserved recognition of Audie even
during his troubled life after the war. To me it will remind us all what a truly great humble human being
Audie was and we should all aspire to be more like him. Just my thoughts... Shirley Jean.

While many other worthy signatures are still out there waiting to be gathered, I consider a moon-walker signature the "capstone" to an enormous undertaking Dave has taken on. When you consider all the different categories of heroes who have endorsed the petition, having a moon walker, underscores what this effort is really about. I'm like Dave ... WOW!

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Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

Thanks Shirley Jean!

I appreciate the sentiments and I had as I think I mentioned to you decided I had to have a Moonwalker.
Can't believe it actually happened though!

Thanks,

Dave

_________________
"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."

Thanks Richard!

Your comment is appreciated. I really wasn't sure if I would get one or not, and quite frankly; assumed that I would not. I must say that up to the moment when I pulled the petition out of the envelope I thought for sure I had a 'declination' letter.
Needless to say, I was very happy that it was not, and that General Duke had signed it.

Thanks for the sentiments,

Dave

_________________
"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."

WOW, WOW, WOW and WOW! You are the man

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Betty

Thanks Betty!

_________________
"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."

Dave,

I must agree with the sentiments of Betty, Richard and Shirley. This is like the star on the top of the Christmas tree to get an astronaut who walked on the moon to sign this petition and sign it himself and in such a short amount of time. Being from Ohio I can assure you that you would never have heard from Neil Armstrong as he has taken being a recluse to a new level. Have you tried sending the petition to John Glenn? He has always been a hero of mine and also from Ohio and was a Senator from there for many years. I am very happy to see that you did get Charlie Duke's signature and with the diversity of people on your petition it has got to have some kind of impact on Obama when he makes his selection later this year.

Thanks for all the effort you have put into this campaign and I have a good feeling that it will not have been in vain.

Sharon

Sharon:

I haven't tried Glenn but I delved around and dug up a home address for him. I plan to mail a letter out this week asking his to write a 'letter of endorsement' like Dole's for Audie. It will be interesting to see if he does. Amazingly, I guess I did not realize that he just turned 90!
Wow, how time flies!
Oh, here are two interesting stories about Armstrong. I know both of these to be true.
As I mentioned he hasn't signed an autograph in 20 years or so, or at least virtually none! Anyway, when the last shuttle went up (the one that blew up) Armstrong was on the tarmac to watch the launch. A collector I know, knows another autograph collector that works at NASA.
Now, he isn't a maintenace guy but rather is involved with I guess they call it mission control, has been with NASA many years, and who isn't a 25 year old looking to make $$.
In any case, after the launch, he politely walked over to Armstrong (this person had on his NASA attire and NASA badge around his neck) and asked Armstrong if he would sign a photo that he himself had purchased in the NASA gift shop of Armstong holding his NASA helmet in his space suit.
Armstrong, looked down his nose and said something to the effect that "I don't sign autographs for anyone" and spun on his heels to walk away.
My friend muttered "what a jerk".....Armstrong apparently overheard, spun back (perhaps realizing the guy is a NASA official) and said "I'll make one exception" and hastily signed the photo.
Yea, what a jerk!

Secondly, he has used the same barber for many years in his hometown of Lebannon, Ohio. Anyway, the barber had begun to sweep up Armstrong's hair clippings, (yes, there is a market for that too) and started selling them on the Internet with DNA certification.
Armstrong sued the barber shop! Yes, you can find the story by googling it. Happened a few years ago.
Again....what a jerk!

Thanks,

Dave

_________________
"I believe in all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent."