Lingamfelter: Veterans Always

Today is Veterans Day. It’s not Memorial Day, when we remember our fallen, as a nation should for all time. When it fails to, it ceases to be a nation. Today instead we honor veterans, the ones who came home. I am one of those fortunate people. I served with men and women who deserve our honor and frankly, we can’t say or do enough to truly repay them for all they did and were willing to do.

It’s this latter point I would like to emphasize here. To be sure, what Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines do in combat is important. But what people do not see is what they are willing to do. To be sure, most Americans know that those who go into combat are willing to do much. But only those who have served can know what it is like to contemplate giving, as President Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg “the last full measure of devotion.” Veterans who served were prepared to do just that. And it was a haunting notion when I was in combat to think about what would happen to Shelley and our kids if I did not come home.

When that chilly thought invaded my mind, usually without warning, sometimes when looking at a youthful soldier with a family back home, I would push it away reflexively. But the thought was there, like a pesky gossamer brushing against my consciousness. There were other matters more immediate that demanded my attention, like were we ready to fight, now, without warning.

I want you to know this because most veterans don’t make a point of it. You will rarely hear a veteran give voice to this. Most prefer to live with the personal memory of what it was like to be prepared to die. It’s a silent reality for them, not one for public display.

So, when you see a veteran today, thank them for not only their service, but their willingness to put everything on the line, and miss the ball games, the dancer recitals, the baptisms and confirmations, the graduations, the weddings, the births, the joy…

I have missed few of those, but I am blessed, not only by what God has permitted me to experience, but more importantly to have served with many brave and devoted people. In that regard, the words escape me.

Happy Veterans Day and to my fellow soldiers, my brothers and sisters….the oath remains in force… “Duty First!” “Second to None!” “Rock of the Marne!”