Memorial Day Address – Big Canoe Chapel – Mark S. Winward
Introduction
In preparing for this morning’s Memorial Day reflection, I went back through my files to see what I had said in the past. I found that I first shared such a reflection in my own church in Saco, Maine, in 2000. I told my congregation then that “it had been 25 years since America had lost large numbers of her men and women to battle. Long periods of peace and easy victories make us much more likely to trivialize war,” I concluded, “and reduce Memorial Day to nothing more than a bank holiday.”
Wow, what a different world we live in today!
The world became a very different place for most of us after the 9/11 attacks. Immediately following the attacks, I was recalled to Washington as a reserve chaplain. There, amidst recovery efforts at a still-smoking Pentagon, the Bishop of the Armed Forces took me aside and said, “Mark, I know you’ve been struggling with whether or not to come back on active duty. You bring a unique background to the Chaplain Corps as a former officer. Our nation is now at war, and we have a critical shortage of chaplains. If your decision was ever clear, I would think it would be now.”
How could I argue with that? My gut told me this whole affair would be messy. As a wartime chaplain, I knew servicemen and women would be called to serve in dark, seemingly godless places where they would sorely need witnesses to the Light of God’s presence. So, much to the surprise of my congregation, I requested to be permanently recalled to active duty.
Post-9/11
Thankfully, since 9/11, we have not experienced another foreign-directed attack on our homeland on that scale. But like so many other conflicts in our history, the price of peace is still paid in the precious blood of America’s youth.
After serving my first assignment as an active-duty chaplain at sea aboard the carrier USS CARL VINSON, my orders in 2004 sent my family and me to support elements of the 3rd Marine Air Wing based at Camp Pendleton near Oceanside, California. Because Marines typically serve on the tip of the spear, and because Camp Pendleton is synonymous with the Marine Corps, few communities were more personally affected by the war than Oceanside and its surrounding region.
When we first arrived, we could feel the community hold its breath every time the media announced a new Marine casualty. I later personally experienced this apprehension on my first casualty assistance call at Camp Pendleton. Whenever a Marine or Sailor dies, we don’t send a telegram or make a phone call like in the movies. Notification is always made by a non-commissioned or commissioned officer who, if at all possible, is accompanied by a chaplain.
The last thing any Marine spouse wants to see is a Marine in dress uniform accompanied by a chaplain in their neighborhood. I learned very quickly not to stand around outside homes in a dress uniform chatting with another officer dressed the same way. It was a sobering reminder of the sacrifices spouses make when we had to weave our way through a maze of apartments occupied mostly by military dependents. Peering through cracked doors and drawn blinds, I knew they were silently praying, “God, please don’t let them stop here.”
My sacred privilege was to support those spouses at THE worst moment of their lives.
Showing Up
Regrettably, I was quite right that this would be a messy affair. Along with the families left behind, every Soldier, Marine, Sailor, and Airman deploying to a warzone goes with the realization that some among them may return home wounded—and a few may never return at all.
I could certainly cite inspiring stories of fallen servicemen and women who charged into the jaws of the enemy to save the day. But at the end of the day, that fallen service member first demonstrated honor, courage, and commitment simply by showing up in the first place. My old seminary chaplain, Churchill Gibson, was fond of saying, “Half of life is just showin’ up.”
My point is that every service member serving in times of war or peace—along with every civilian police officer or firefighter—knows that “just showin’ up” for work may cost them the ultimate price. Courage starts with just showing up.
Reasons for Service
On Memorial Day, we honor our fallen as heroes who died for their country. The reality is that men and women join the military for a variety of reasons—many, sure, to serve their country or to experience the pride of accomplishment. But at 19 years old, when that young man or woman finds himself or herself in combat, it is not primarily patriotism or even love of the Corps that prompts that ordinary person to perform extraordinary feats of bravery.
Adversity has a way of building bonds stronger than death itself. Shakespeare’s Henry V called it “this band of brothers.” After trusting “this band of brothers” through the gates of hell itself, it is mainly for his or her buddies that a service member willingly gives his or her life.
The Cost of War
There are a couple of traps we can fall into on Memorial Day. The first is to glorify war itself. Whether through monuments, paintings, films, or heroic imagery, we can easily leave ourselves with the impression that war is somehow glorious. But as unpleasant as it may be to consider, there is nothing glorious about the image of a soldier lying face down in the mud, an airman consumed in a fireball, or a sailor consigned to the ocean’s deep.
Such images have been repeated more than a million times with men and women lost to war from the time of the Revolution to the Persian Gulf.
War is a dirty, rotten, ugly business. And I am here to tell you as a veteran that there is nothing glorious about the human cost of sending our best and brightest into war.
Multiply one fallen service member by a million, and you begin to grasp the staggering loss: not just of heroes, but of future parents, teachers, and neighbors who might have changed our world if they had only come home.
Behind every name etched in stone is a potential father who never walked a daughter down the aisle, a brilliant mind that never got to solve a local problem, or a pair of hands that might have built a business right here in our community. When we lose these ‘ordinary’ men and women, we don’t just lose a service member; we lose a piece of our future. We lose the cumulative weight of all the good they would have done had they simply been allowed to grow old. That is the true ‘mass insanity’ of war—not just the loss of life, but the staggering loss of everything those lives were meant to become.”
After more than two decades of conflict following 9/11, we are less likely today to glorify war. Still, long periods of peace in our homeland make those who have not been touched personally by war much more likely to reduce Memorial Day to nothing more than a bank holiday. Far from being regal knights on white steeds, most of America’s soldiers, sailors, and airmen were ordinary people like you and me. Ordinary people—saints and sinners—in the midst of extraordinary circumstances.
For most, their heroism lies simply in allowing themselves to be put in harm’s way and, as a result, paying the ultimate price for the freedom and peace we enjoy this day.
“Earn This”
One of the most riveting and realistic portrayals of war ever filmed is the epic motion picture Saving Private Ryan. This movie comes as close as Hollywood ever has to portraying the horrible reality of war.
The plot is based on the true story of three brothers lost in battle over the course of a single week during World War II. One brother of four is left somewhere in France following the fierce fighting of D-Day. The story unfolds through his recollection years later as he surveys the thousands of crosses overlooking Normandy Beach.
The plot centers on a platoon and their captain, played by Tom Hanks, whose mission is to find Private Ryan somewhere amid the chaos of millions of troops in hostile territory. As the dozen or so men are gradually picked off by sniper fire and enemy action, these ordinary men begin to wonder why so much sacrifice is required for one man.
Finally, with half their platoon lost, they find Private Ryan with only a couple of other men, holding a small bridge against the inevitable onslaught of the German army. When Allied air support finally arrives to destroy the German tanks, only another soldier and Private Ryan remain alive from the platoon, with the captain dying in Ryan’s arms. As Ryan gazes into the fallen captain’s eyes, his last raspy words are, “Earn this,” and he breathes his last.
The camera focuses on the young man’s blue eyes as they fade into those same eyes fifty years later, tearful as he kneels before the captain’s grave, surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. “Every day I think about what you said to me on that bridge,” he says at the grave. “I’ve tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that, at least in your eyes, I have earned what all of you have done for me.”
Then he stands and looks at his wife. “Tell me I have led a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.”
The same question echoes from the fallen to us today: “Earn this.” Freedom is always costly. We are often reminded on this day that “All gave some; some gave all.” Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say, “All were prepared to give all.”
Conclusion
For that reason, all who have served our nation—as well as their families—deserve far more than your admiration. The people I served with, those who preceded me, and those who follow deserve your personal respect for the freedom they sacrificed for yours. They deserve your advocacy to retain what they have earned and thoughtful debate whenever our nation is called to war. And they deserve your practical support in terms of employment, rehabilitation, and volunteer services.
Closing Prayer
Since 2000, every Memorial Day our nation has paused to observe a National Moment of Remembrance. The idea for the Moment was born when children touring the Nation’s Capital were asked what Memorial Day means. They responded, “That’s the day the pool opens.”
A Gallup poll later revealed that only 28% of Americans knew the true meaning of Memorial Day. In response, Congress established the White House Commission to promote the values of Memorial Day through acts of remembrance throughout the year. At 3:00 p.m. on this Memorial Day—wherever you are—I challenge you to stop, and take just one minute, along with millions of others, to remember our servicemen and women who gave their last full measure to ensure your freedom.
At Army posts, on ships at sea, on Air Force bases, and over radio stations throughout the country, taps will be played, and we will pause for a moment to remember our fallen. Take just one minute today at 3:00 p.m. to recall their sacrifice and ask yourself how you can support those who have served and continue to serve our great nation.
Let us pray: Almighty God, today we give thanks for those who have served with courage and honor; for those who resist evil and preserve justice. Grant that all servicemen and women everywhere may serve with honor, pride, and compassion. Strengthen their families and keep them surrounded and guided by your love.
We thank you for those who place the welfare of others ahead of their own safety. Let us all be inspired by their self-sacrifice in service to those who need protection.
We give thanks for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Be with those in pain from their loss, and keep us mindful that you have promised to comfort those who mourn. Help us to be a comfort to them as well.
And by your grace, may we have the strength and courage to truly honor those who have served by working for peace. In your most holy Name we pray. Amen.