By Rev. Glenn JonesOn May 29th we’ll have our annual celebration of Memorial Day … the remembrance of those who have died in the service of our nation and her people in the armed forces, and, by extension, the fire, police, Coast Guard, and all others who put their lives on the line to serve and to protect, and yet lived not to see another dawn.
It is a day to remember those who sought to protect and defend our nation and our liberty … to aid and to defend even those they had never met.
Common reasons for joining the military include genuine love of country, the proving of oneself (very often TO oneself), the lure of challenge and an honorable and admired profession, and other similar goals. Like many others, on my grandfather’s knee listening to his experiences in the World War I trenches of France, there took root an idealistic fascination of courage in the face of hardship, and a youth’s imaginative longing for the heroic.
However, his stories, readings about battles and wars, and the stark reporting and images of war splashed nightly across the airwaves largely quashed naïve visions of glory on faraway battlefields. Still … underlying all the various reasons one might have for entering the military, most who join would likely cite the desire to serve in a cause greater than oneself … seeking the protection and good of one’s countrymen and their liberties, and one’s fellow men and women in general.
Douglas MacArthur’s final speech to the cadets at West Point is one of the best expositions of the motivations of young men and women entering the military service; one can find it on the Internet … well worth a listen. (link)
Of course, Memorial Day does little to quiet the trepidations of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, wives and husbands, sons and daughters … all concerned for loved ones in uniform, especially those deployed overseas and in combat zones. As anyone who has been in the military can attest, their cause for concern is merited, for military service can be inherently dangerous—not only in combat zones, but even “in the rear” with live gunfire, heavy equipment, air transports, and often eager yet inexperienced teenaged soldiers/sailors/Marines who haven’t quite developed the best of judgment. To try to assure otherwise is simply “blowing smoke”.
As an example, I constantly used to have to warn young Marine infantrymen using my tank for cover to take care, as a sudden turn of that 60 tons of steel could knead them effortlessly into the mud (I usually didn’t have much problem after that.) Combat zones, of course, take dangers to a much higher level—fomenting concerns not dispersed by wishful thinking.
Yet … we also remember the inherent nobility in their volunteering for harm’s way for the good of others. Isn’t that why we are so proud of them? … that they eschew the safe, easy and comfortable life for a path of challenge and difficulty, risk and service to country and countrymen? … willing to sacrifice so much—even all—for others. And as you family members and friends remember these things, please remember also that they look forward to nothing more eagerly than word from home; trust an old vet’s word about that.
So, this Memorial Day, whether it was Lexington, Gettysburg, or on the shores of Tripoli … in the trenches of the western front, the sands of Iwo Jima, Normandy beach … Pearl Harbor, Bataan, Guadalcanal, Okinawa, … Inchon, or along some nameless trail in Vietnam … in Iraq or Afghanistan … in khaki, green, blue or camouflage … or in hundreds of other battles, large and small … we honor, remember and pray for those who had the courage and daring to put themselves in danger for our protection … and for those freedoms, which we all-too-often take for granted.
Jesus teaches us that there is no greater service … no greater indicator of courage, fortitude and strength of character … and love … than to lay down one’s life for others. May our remembrance of them give worthy honor to their sacrifices … and to sacrifices of families left behind for debts we cannot hope to repay.
