“God is our refuge and strength; ever-present in troubled
times." ~ Psalm 46:1
When I was about 10, my Dad and I
sat with Grampa in his den. I asked him
about a small painting of a rocky snowcapped peak he’d made with strokes of
blue, gray and white many years ago. He
looked at it for a moment, able to see his ghostly reflection in the sheen of
glass that covered it.
The image awakened memories long forgotten; echoes of that
hospital stay jarred his mind. (I later learned
that he’d painted it while recovering from his wounds in a hospital after the
war). Suddenly being forced to swim in
the tide waters of the past, he spoke with the attitude of a soldier returning
to the battlefield.
Tears filled his eyes as Grampa shared a brief snippet of
his 3-year stretch in Europe during WWII.
"I remember this poor (American) Indian kid,” he began,
“a private. We were being shelled by
artillery, but the krauts were shooting too high. We heard the rounds pass just over our heads
and hit the mountain somewhere behind us. The whole earth shook.”
“The kid crouched beside me. As the rounds went over, his face went white
as a ghost. When they exploded behind
us, color returned to his cheeks.
I'll never forget that kid's face, dying and coming back to
life, over and over on that mountain.” I
hated the senseless killing; the suffering and misery of war but I was proud
that I’d done my duty and served my country."
I looked over at my Dad, who was leaning so far forward I
thought he’d fall out of his chair. His
eyes were wide and, for a moment, he looked younger than me. I didn't realize until that moment that he'd
been waiting since 1945 for a single story about the war from his father. Grampa never told another.
A WWII vet silent about his experiences. What a loss. They represent qualities that we admire so
much in our citizens – duty and service. Their experiences also reminds us that the
military can be a great social leveler. These
two soldiers wouldn’t have thought twice about serving in the same unit despite
disparities in culture, education and social status. In the civilian world, their paths would likely
never have crossed. For a time, these were
all Americans who invested their lives in service to our nation and secured our
freedom.
Veterans Day is a time to reflect, but it’s also a time to
help veterans find their voices, so we can collectively find ours as a nation. We can't afford to hold our veterans at arm's
length. We need to learn from them and
see them for who they are – an essential part of our nation and ourselves.
Lord, today we honor our veterans, worthy men
and women who gave their best when called upon to serve our country. Bless them for their unselfish service in the
continual struggle to preserve our freedoms, our safety, and our country’s
heritage. Amen
