Honoring Those Who Have Defended Our Feedom

This is the 8th Memorial Day since the attacks on our nation on September 11. As have entered the 6th year of the war in Afganistan and Iraq, each week we add more names to the list of our honored dead. As we think about our nation’s war on terror, it requires this generation of Americans to decide that freedom is worth fighting for, and even dying for. I came across these words of the first general to command an American army, General George Washington. As you think about Al-Qaeda and those who follow Islam who are committed to our destruction, I believe his words are as appropriate today as they were in 1776:
The time is now at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves, whether they are to have any property they can all their own, whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts can deliver them.
The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.
Washington spoke those words to his volunteer continental army. In today’s volunteer army, our heroes are not just career soldiers. They are architects, lawyers, businessmen, paramedics, police officers, fire fighters , mechanics, moms, and dads. They are men like U.S. Marine Lt. Donovan Cambell. He joined the Corps in 2004 at the age of 25. He didn’t join because he was unemployed, or unemployable. He didn’t join because he had no other options, or better future. He was a graduate of Princeton University. A school many in Lower Moreland would give anything to attend. He decided to join the Marines to fight for his country, and believed he could learn leadership skills better in the military than in the corporate world. You can read about his experienced in a book entitled, Joker One, A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood.
He and his 160 man unit were sent to the city of Ramadi, a city of 350,000. That meant there was one soldier for every 2,200 Iraqi’s. At one point there were so many insurgents and terrorists in that city that his unit was the most engaged in all of Iraq. By the time they left, they had suffered 50% casualties, more by percentage than any unit, Army or Marine, since Vietnam. He was asked by a reporter if he will commemorate Memorial Day differently now that he has served in two wars, Iraq and Afganistan. His reply:
Honestly, I treat every day differently now that I’ve served in two wars. I view each day as a gift, not an obligation, and I thank God for each one that I have. This Memorial Day I will pray for the fallen and their families, some of whom I know. I will take a step back from my life and thank God for all of the good things He has given me: my family, my health, my friends. I will take a few moments to reflect on the tremendous responsibility I have to live the one life I have well, for there are so many others who would love life but no longer have it.
Yes, there are many who have lost their lives, currently just over 5400 in Iraq and Afganistan. Whenever our nation is at war, we are reminded again of the cost of our freedom. Even though the number of dead is very small compared to the other wars our nation has fought, each death is a husband or wife, father, or mother, son or daughter, brother or sister to someone here. These deaths in the war on terror hover over the present, and especially for their loved ones, cast long shadows into the future.
We owe an incredible debt of gratitude to the men and women who serve our country today, and to those who have served in the past, and especially to those who have given their lives on the field of battle. Lets join with Donovan Campbell in praying for those who serve our nation, and remembering those who gave their lives. Let us live our lives well, and never forget that freedom is never free.
Blessings,
Pastor Paul