Burmese-American puts flags on Saddam statue – Yellowworld Forums

A HISTORIC EVENT TOOK PLACE OVER SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS AGO. IT HAD A BURMA CONNECTION.

AN AMERICAN CORPORAL WHOSE FATHER EMIGRATED FROM BURMA, HE HAD THE HONOR OF LENDING A BIG HAND IN LITERALLY  TOPPLING SADDAM HUSSEIN STATUE.

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT HAPPENING? THAT’S FATE OR “KAN.” BURMESE ASTROLOGERS WOULD SAY HE HAD THE “PHONE” (SUPERNORMAL POWER) TO DO THIS JOB TO THIS ONCE FEARSOME DICTATOR.

THAT’S ALSO ETHNIC DIVERSITY WORKING IN AMERICA!

Burmese-American puts flags on Saddam statue – Yellowworld Forums

http://forums.yellowworld.org/showthread.php?t=6358

You probably all know very well about what happened in Baghdad earlier today. Perhaps cliched to say, but it certainly was a historic moment. Expect to see images of that over and over and over at the end of the year.

It’s too bad YW had problems, otherwise there could have interesting discussions as the day progressed and people learned about it.

I heard on the local news here that it was a Burmese-American member of the Marines who covered the head of the Saddam statue with flags – first of the US, then of Iraq – before it was toppled

I believe the name is Edward Chin, with Brooklyn, NY as the hometown

I hope someone can find an article that mentions that, and put up a link.

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Marine Who Put US Flag On Saddam Statue Depicts Scene

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/889891/posts

Comment

Just think … first generation American. Born in Burma. What a great American story!

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PROUD B’KLYN FAMILY WATCHES AS MARINE PUTS FLAG ON STATUE

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2003/04/10/2003-04-10_proud_b_klyn_family_watches_.html

A NATION AT WAR – SYMBOLS – A NATION AT WAR – SYMBOLS – Atop Statue, Marine Thrills Army of Fans Back Home – NYTimes.com

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A05E2D8173BF932A25757C0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=edwin%20chin%20and%20saddam%20statue&st=cse

The Dyker Heights post office in Brooklyn was abuzz with curiosity seekers yesterday morning. Did the world’s newest media star live in their ZIP code?

”We heard he was from Brooklyn,” said Lucille Lovisi, a clerk. ”Then we heard he was from Bensonhurst, then we figured, ‘What are the odds he’s from this area?’ ”

Her question was answered minutes later when a woman walked in with a package to send to a marine overseas.

”I saw the last name, Chin,” said Al Friscia, another clerk. ”I asked Lucille, ‘Could this be the guy?’ She said, ‘Ask somebody, dummy.’ So I said to the woman, ‘Do you know the guy who’s raising the flag?’ She said, ‘That’s my brother.’ ”

The woman was Connie Chin, and her brother is Marine Cpl. Edward Chin, 23, of Bravo Company of the First Tank Batallion out of Twentynine Palms, Calif.

On Wednesday, Corporal Chin draped the Stars and Stripes over the head of a 20-foot statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square in Baghdad. He quickly replaced it with the Iraqi flag, but Old Glory was up long enough for Corporal Chin’s image to have been beamed all over the globe as a symbol of the American ouster of the now-invisible dictator.

And back home in Bensonhurst, where Corporal Chin’s parents and two sisters live in a brick rowhouse on 85th Street, the Chins found themselves celebrities by association. So many reporters knocked on the door that by lunchtime yesterday, Mr. and Mrs. Chin were bunkered down for the duration — or at least for the day — Connie Chin said.

”We’re all a little shellshocked,” she said on the front steps, drowsy from two hours’ sleep and an appearance on the ”Today” show during which she got to talk to her little brother live on a video hookup.

Across the street, a woman paused on her way into her dry cleaning shop and and called out, ”We love you, Edward!” Ms. Chin beamed and yelled back, ”Thank you very much!”

Inside the store, the woman, Carol Botte of JTJ Cleaners, said she had known Corporal Chin for years. ”We dry-cleaned his dress uniform,” said Ms. Botte, 53. ”I don’t know what he did with the shirt, whether he wanted starch, but he’s a good kid.” She turned to her nephew and said, ”Joe, when he comes home, we’re going to clean his uniform again for free.”

Up and down 85th Street, flags hung from the houses. They had been there for months or longer, Ms. Chin said, but most of the yellow ribbons that had sprung up like daffodils were brand new — including hers.

After seeing her brother on CNN, she said, ”We just put up the yellow ribbon. Before that, we just worried quietly at home.” A man in an S.U.V. slowed down as he passed the house and yelled, ”Go U.S.!”

The Chins left Burma just before Edward was born and moved to Bensonhurst from Manhattan 10 years ago.

Though the family hoped Corporal Chin would return soon, Connie Chin said they did not think he would be back until the war was over.

”I think he’s going to want to be there to the end,” she said. ”That’s the kind of person he is.” She described her brother, who left New York City Technical College as a freshman in 1999 to join the marines, as deeply patriotic and filled with gratitude to the country that had welcomed him and his family.

Corporal Chin embraced other old-fashioned values, said his fiancée, Anna Fu, who was also at the house yesterday afternoon. ”I thought about joining the reserves, but he wouldn’t let me,” said Ms. Fu, 22, who also attends City Technical College. ”He wants to be the one who does all the rough stuff.”

Photos: Edward Chin covers the face of a Saddam Hussein statue. At right, Anna Fu, Corporal Chin’s fiancée, left, with his sister Connie in Brooklyn. (Ramzi Haidar/Agence France-Presse); (Nancy Siesel/The New York Times)

Marine: Flag a symbol of liberation, not occupation – CNN

http://articles.cnn.com/2003-04-10/world/sprj.irq.chin_1_american-flag-firdos-square-iraqi-forces?_s=PM:WORLD

YouTube – A Symbolic Moment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lj1BqtcbKM&feature=related

April 2003 – Saddam’s statue is torn down.