did you ever thank we yanks for keeping the krauts out of Buckingham Palace during WW 2?

Whaddya mean, keep 'em out?

They were already in there!
nothing subtle about this, folks - the Royal Family is essentially German

a simple thank-you card on the Fourth of July might be nice
OK. Thank you for getting out of our hair!

This is starting to sound familiar... ah, here we go:
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=8436

Seriously, though (very momentarily) - as regards WWII we remember and respect all the fallen on Remembrance Day. Interestingly enough, remembrance (of those who have died for the freedoms we cherish)is also very closely tied in with our own firework extravaganza, Nov 5th. Pretty good stuff from a USn perspective here:
http://www.bcpl.net/~cbladey/guy/html/center.html
with a concise "why it matters" statement a little bit down the page (click on Our Purpose)


Long may your fires burn bright, friends.