Veterans' Day Remembrance

I am the son a veteran and today is Veteran’s Day. On this day, it is a privilege to honor my father and father-in-law and the thousands of men and women who have served in our country’s military. For twenty-two years, my father, like so many others, went where his country sent him and accomplished the missions given him. He was proud to serve. He served during the conclusion of World War II in the Pacific; he served in Korea; he served in Vietnam; he served in Europe, and he served in this country. He was a patriot, proud of his service in both the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army.

Among the many conversations my father and I shared, two have been of lasting significance in my formation as a person and a citizen:

Soon after his return from Vietnam, I asked my father how he felt about the anti-war protests taking place. My father was not a complex man, yet his answer to my question was thoughtful and challenging. He understood the role of the military to be that of upholding and protecting the people of the United States and the Constitution to which he swore an oath of allegiance. While he did not agree with the sentiments of the war protesters, he understood he served in order to uphold the rights of all citizens to do or say whatever they wanted as an expression of their free speech. He did not feel it fair that so much animosity was directed toward soldiers, but he understood the essential importance of free speech as a core doctrine of the Constitution. It was a paradox he felt most professional soldiers understood.

Not too long before my father died (almost 25 years ago), reflecting upon his life and his military service, he told me he had concerns about how the government had used the military during Vietnam. After many years of post-Vietnam revelations, he had growing suspicions the military had been abused by the political leadership and even some of the high-ranking military leadership. He seemed conflicted between his commitment to serve as ordered while a soldier and a growing realization that the war protesters, at least in part, had been right. As we talked, my father told me how important he now felt it was for civilians to participate in the political debate about foreign policy and the use of the military. A soldier does not have a political voice in matters of policy and war he explained. A soldier does what he or she is ordered to do. My father told me he had considered the possibility of dying in war and felt it would be honorable to die defending the constitutional government and the freedoms of the people of the United States. However, he felt it would be a tragic waste to die for less. Therefore, he explained, in the absence of their own voices in the public debate, soldiers depend upon the voices of civilians to hold the government to the strictest constitutional criteria in making decisions for war. Their lives depend upon those voices of responsible citizenship.

My father taught me of the complexities of freedom and of citizenship. Constitutional democracy requires all of us to play our role, both soldier and citizen. On this Veterans’ Day, I recall my father, my father-in-law (a pilot in North Africa in World War II) and all the men and women who have served in the armed forces of our country. I pray my exercise of citizenship will honor their patriotic devotion to service. In the end, it is we, the citizens of this country, who are accountable for the lives and safety of every person in uniform. They are willing to die for us; are we willing to be good citizens for them?


I offer special remembrance today for those of St. Paul’s parish who died in the service of their country during World Wars I & II:

WWI—Jefferson Brumback, James MacKenzie, Jr., James McIndoe, John Richards, II

WWII—Tedd Cowell, Percy Evans, Leon Fletcher, Floyd Harper, Jr., Roland Jeffries, Samuel Krauthoff, Patrick Lollis, Eugene Lytle, Jr., Harry McDonald, Lewis Park, Jr., James Seibel, Theodore Smith, John Henry Smith, Jr., Frederick Snyder, Sanford Thomson, Jr.