Happy Fourth of July Freedom's Challenge
It was the late 1960's and the VFW Voice of Democracy competition that year asked students to talk about : Freedom's Challenge. Then a high school sophomore, Barbara Houndt responded with what was to become her winning essay. Barbara (Houndt-Beach),now the Executive Producer for the Military Appreciation Channel and Volunteer with The Patriot's Voice Foundation recently found a tape recording of her (much) younger self reading her essay. "Listening to my thoughts about defending our military and also my realization even then that 'freedom came easy to me...I was born' makes me realize where the core of my patriotism began....I have my parents to thank for that!"
If you click the above 'MP-3' (created from a reel to reel tape found in an attic) you can hear in(then) a barely teenage voice the Freedom's Challenge Speech...made even more significant as we all celebrate our Nation's Birthday