Hi there, I'm Tiffany!

I'm your tour guide for your visit on the SECOND FLOOR.

 

Just like Douglas down on the first floor, I am a real person too.......though Douglas might disagree. You see, I am his little sister. Being patriotic isn't just a "boy thing" or an "army" thing. Some of our Country's greatest heroes have been women, both in the military and otherwise. I'm sure you have heard the story about Paul Revere's famous ride to warn the patriots that the British were coming. Have you ever heard of Sybil Ludington's ride? During the Revolutionary War she rode her father's horse for 40 miles to gather reinforcements for the 200 soldiers facing 2,000 enemy soldiers at Danbury, Connecticut.

As you learned downstairs, only one woman has ever received the Medal of Honor. But that doesn't mean that there have not been a lot of women (and girl) heroes in our history. One of the rooms that you will be visiting with me a little later on in the tour is dedicated JUST to women heroes. I think you are going to find it very interesting, and there are some great surprises in this room.

Another of the rooms you will be visiting on this floor is the one we call "Heroes of the Last Frontier". Americans have always had the courage to explore and seek out new experiences. But did you know our first attempt at sending a rocket into space was a total FAILURE! That's right, but American's have always been the kind of people to take risks, and when you take risks there is always a chance of failure. But American's are also the kind of people who never let their failures defeat them. We just pick ourselves up and try it again, and again, and again.....until we finally succeed. That is what my dad calls "the Spirit of American greatness."

My mom says that is okay to fail, it's just not okay to be a FAILURE. That's why she wanted to design one of the rooms on this floor. She calls it the "America, Land of Opportunity...not excuses" room. In that room you will meet all kinds of interesting people who had every reason to fail but refused to be a failure. Try to think of every excuse you could imagine for feeling sorry for yourself. She is going to introduce you to people from our history, some of them still living, who will show you that there is NO excuse not to succeed in America. That part kind of reminds me of "Footsie" Britt, one of my own personal heroes.

"Footsie" got his name because his feet were so big. He wore a SIZE 13 shoe. But that didn't stop him from becoming a football star for the Arkansas Razorbacks.  He even played one season with the Detroit Lions. During World War II he became the first person in history to earn ALL of the military's top 3 awards in a single war. One the day he got the Medal of Honor he lost an arm. But "Footsie" never quit. He went on to become Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas and even ran for Governor. He was the nicest man I have ever met. When he died in 1996 I was very sad. The next year when a group of Medal of Honor recipients came to Pueblo we held a memorial service for "Footsie" and two other heroes. Though I was only six years old at the time I gave my first speech at his memorial service. He meant that much to me. Last year when my family visited Arkansas I finally got the chance to meet "Footsie's" son and grandson. I'll show you a picture of them if you want to visit my own page. You can learn a little more about me there, and I'll show you some of my favorite pictures. Just click on the picture of me below if you want to visit my page. Otherwise we can begin our tour at the American History Rooms.