Someone said one time that God gave us memories that we might have Roses in December. Perhaps the saddest thing is to watch someone you love lose their memory as with Alzheimer's disease, eyes open but not seeing not recognizing those they once loved and knew.
It is just as sad when we forget who we are as Americans and those who fought and died that we might have freedom. Sad when we forget in our hearts The God whose name is on our money, in our halls of Congress, on our Court Houses and Federal Buildings.
Good Christians make good citizens. Peter Muhlenberg was pastor of Woodstock Lutheran Church during the days of The American Revolution. Preaching as was his custom in clerical gown, he threw back his clerical robe at the end of the sermon and appearing before his congregation in the regimentals of a Revolutionary Officer, said, "There is a time to preach and a time to pray and there is also a time to fight, and that time has come now". He then went out on the lawn of the church and recruited and inducted almost every able bodied man present into the ranks of Washington's army. General Muhlenberg recognized the fact that as a Christian he owed allegiance both to God and to country. He did not try to evade the responsibilities of Christian citizenship as do many today.
Today VETERANS DAY is a time to remember who we are and how we got here. How can future generations know about the meaning of VETERANS DAY unless we tell the young about the long rows of head stones and white crosses scattered all over the world. Each grave with name, rank, Protestant or Jew. They are still there - they did not come home. Shall they be forgotten - Remembering those buried under long rows of white crosses not only here in the United States but in Cemeteries around the world?
My wife Betty and I went to Pearl Harbor for the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Arizona which was one of the first battle wagons to be hit by the Japanese planes is still under water. Every minute or two oil oozes to the surface. Dozens of crew members are still entombed in the ship. Do our young people know and how many remember?
I spoke with a guide at the shrine who also served aboard the Arizona and was one of the fortunate to survive, his face scarred from the flames. There were a lot of Japanese visitors at the Memorial and I asked the guide if any of them ever came up to him to talk about the war? He said one stood out! He saw the badge I was wearing with a picture of The Arizona on it and walked up to me and told me that he was the Commander of The Squadron that hit the Arizona. He stood there with tears streaming down his face and said I am so sorry!
A few years ago I was invited to a school to speak to two 7th grade classes as a radio professional. I was introduced as having been a marine in WWII and been in the D-day invasion of Okinawa. Before I was able to begin my talk about radio, the questions started. What does D-day mean having never heard of it. Only a handful knew about Pearl Harbor and where it was.
In our day we are perfectly willing for our children to watch violence on tv and in the movies but we do not tell them about War. We do not tell them that down through the ages, hundreds of thousands have died to preserve our freedom.
We tend to forget or fail to remember until a 911 comes along, a terrorist act that killed more people than those who died at Pearl Harbor. What if after Pearl Harbor we had taken the attitude that the Japanese will not do such again and we will not retaliate? I thank our God that we did not take that position. We fought back and with the help of our God we won the War. Yet today there are those that say do not go to war with those who killed the thousands in the twin towers and in the airliners. Today we honor those who take the battle to other doorsteps and who will never again share their lives with their families, friends and fellow man.
Twenty two crowded transports carried Marines to Iwo Jimo where they killed 21,000 Japanese had 26,000 surrender but suffered the loss of 6,800 Marines in securing the island. Some one chiseled in a stone out side of the cemetery where the Marines are buried, these words "When You Go Home Tell Them For Us and Say For Your Tomorrow We Gave Our Today". Tell the children. Don't let these words fade away and die.
In the following days of WWII more would be wounded and dead. You might have not known any of them, but they died for you and me. Remember. Remember. Thank God for them that died in all Wars that we might be free. How close we came to losing - Von Braun - Rommel!
The Retired Marine Colonel, Ollie North was in Iraq reporting for CNN and told of the story recently. He said he was traveling toward Bagdad with a Sergeant Major USMC in a Humvee with 50 cal machine gun mounted on top. As they entered Bagdad they had to stop. The battle hardened Sergeant Major opened the door as a little girl came running up with arms wide open. In one hand she carried some wild flowers she had picked and in the other hand she had a little piece of paper on which she had drawn an American Flag. She held them up to the Sergeant Major with tears in his eyes, "thank you Americans". The little girl had learned about freedom. Have we in this great Nation come to a time when we will not teach our young people about freedom, How it has been bought and Who we are to Honor?
Sir Winston Churchill planned his funeral service at Westminster Abby. On one end there was to be a trumpeter playing taps and on the other end there was a trumpeter playing reveille, the wake up call. On his gravestone are these three words "Not In Vain", WWII. In a military cemetery there appear these words "Not bad company for all eternity"! Tombstone Sela Tennessee Section Section 53, Grave 25
Thomas W. Cely, South Carolina - 16th South Carolina Garden of Stone Web Site.
In the beginning moments of the movie Saving Sergeant Ryan we saw Private Ryan now an old man having trouble walking through the rows and rows of white crosses looking for the cross with the name Captain Miller who gave his life with others to save him and on locating the grave, falling on his knees with tears streaming as he said thank you. The story related by Colonel North reminded me of a drawing that I saw a few years ago of and old Veteran in an old faded uniform with a little boy hugging him around his knees. A gentle thank you.
On this day, VETERANS DAY we say Thank You and honor those who gave their all, their life in order that we might enjoy the freedom that so many take for granted.
"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it." Daniel Webster
Americans dislike wars but they are here. Our Lord said there shall be wars and rumors of wars until the end of time.
God is always with us. Let us always remember to be with God.
H.Otto McDonald a member of Hodges Presbyterian Church, began broadcasting in 1952 his "Little Country Church," on the radio and whose devotions are on this web page. Otto has served as a Presbyterian Elder on three congregations and has been a Lay Minister for 52 years, and resides with his wife Betty Rose in Greenwood, SC.