Another Memorial Day to honor our fallen warriors is coming soon. It should be a day to reflect and take a reverent stroll through our Veterans Memorial Park on S. Montesano Street next to the Water Department office, reading the names and plaques there of those, here no more, who served so bravely and honorably.
Vivid clarity recalls for me a warm July 2013 day spent at the Grays Harbor County Fairgrounds. There, amongst the numerous displays commemorating dead American soldiers and their casualty counts, was the traveling Vietnam War Memorial Wall. Though a replica of the one in Washington, DC, I was awestruck by the enormity of its size, expanding over three football fields in length and over six feet in height. Covering most of its shining black surface were etched the names of all who perished fighting against tyranny.
Sadly, the survivors of that war came home to a hostile public. Americans at home ignored the fact that the Draft was in place, giving those young boys no options but to go because they were ordered to go. What a national disgrace. Americans screamed outrage at this “unpopular war…” Since when is there any such thing as a “popular war?”
One glaring fact stared back at me as I took it all in. a terrible cost was paid for our precious freedoms, rights, privileges and laws. Once respected, those values now are steadily disappearing, forfeited for so-called better laws that stomp all over our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
In protest, I must stand in agreement with the words of another patriot who loves America as much as I do: “When I see someone walking on our symbol of freedom, our flag, they are walking on my heart.” All too many Americans go placidly through their days with wide-open blind eyes.
Where are America’s watchmen on our walls, sounding the alarms in protest? My name is well known to some of our elected officials, including this President, due to the volume of letters I’ve written, pleading for them to do that for which they were elected, while honoring this government “of the people, by the people and for the people”.
Let’s see a unity of purpose, instead of constant bickering, greed for special interest projects and grasping hands with mouthfuls of “give me.”
Here, I make honorable mention of another soldier of ancient days, who was also ordered by His “commander-in-chief” to serve a sacred cause. Like many of our war-worn combat veterans, He suffered in body and soul, rejected even by those who knew Him well in His hometown. Vile insults and names were hurled at Him. He was spit on, branded a liar and His efforts ridiculed.
At the end of His “tour of duty,” He was treated like a criminal, yet innocent of all of the charges. And like all of those represented on those fairgrounds, He gave up His life for freedom. His banner was absent from all the others furling in the breezes. But these profound words from the lips of a pastor still echo in my memory’s ears: “No greater love is this than one who lays down his life for his friends.” Am I the only one weeping in prayer for America? Let us always remain, “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Heed the words of the Reverend Billy Graham, who said: “Like our Pilgrim fathers, believe in the Christ Who alone can give total meaning and ultimate goals through His principles and renewed hope in Him.” Then there would be no more wars or spillage of our soldiers’ blood on foreign and domestic shores. Lest we never forget.
Linda R. Schaeffer
Grayland
