Veterans
Day--2018
I was able to visit the traveling
Vietnam War Memorial wall recently as it passed through The Villages, FL. As I
walked on the hallowed ground adjacent to the wall, I could not explain the
feeling that I had as I looked and saw veterans saluting and some with tears
running down their faces and a quietness that was almost sacred. I had so many
mixed feelings as I searched for the name of a special friend with whom I was
honored to serve beside in the Army prior to the War. As I stood there looking
at the name of “Johnnie P. Sawyer,” my heart began to feel the same ache that I
felt when I received a phone call 1966 to tell me about Johnnie giving his life
for our country. Also, I glanced over the long wall of names and could not even
imagine the heartache the loved ones of the fifty-eight thousand men and women
that sacrificed their lives for our great nation. Let me share some interesting
facts about a real hero.
Johnnie and I served together as
privates and were promoted up to Sargent in approximately two years. He had a
leader’s heart and everyone respected him. He was more than a leader; he was a
friend. We shared the good times and the bad. We worked hard together, competed
together, vacationed together and the times that I appreciated so much was when
he and other fellow soldiers were about to attend the Men of the chapel
retreats where we studied and prayed together. To those that served with him
and knew him best, he was respected and was admired greatly for who he was.
Each year on November 11, we
officially honor all veterans that have served in our armed services. There
will be parades and celebrations of all kinds and a time for so many of us who
have served to once again stand at attention and feel the pride of being
privileged to serve. This Veterans Day will be a great time for us to also
pause to remember those especially, who were wounded and those that paid the
ultimate price for freedom. We are witnessing perhaps the greatest threat for
freedom now that we ever have ever known. We too, need to look inside and
analyze our own commitment to the principles for which so many paid the
ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We know that freedom is never free, so let
us never take for granted the sacrifices that were made for us to live free.
I proudly stand at attention today to
salute all those who served and are still serving today. I’m proud to say that
I was privileged to serve! I also salute Captain Johnnie P. Sawyer’s memory and
look forward to the day that we stand side by side once again.
Veterans Day
On
Veterans Day we honor all,
Who
answered to a service call.
Soldiers
young, and soldiers old’
Fought
for freedom, brave and bold.
Some
have lived, while others died,
And
all of them deserve our pride.
We’re
proud of all the soldiers who,
Kept
thinking of red, white and blue.
They
fought for us and all our rights,
They
fought through many days and nights.
And
though we may not know each name,
My prayer today is: “Father, thank you for the freedom that you
gave us when you gave your Only Begotten Son to shed His blood for us to be
free from the powers of evil. We thank you for those who served and for those
who paid a tremendous price for our country to live in freedom. Comfort the families of the veterans while
they remember the sacrifices they made for us. Amen!”
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends.”[2]
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