Veterans Returning Home 2018

Newspaper column 2018

Americans love reunions and welcome home ceremonies. Now that most of us have unrestricted access to the internet, including YouTube, we seem to have unending supply of emotional reunions when our military service men and women show up unexpectedly and surprise their children at school or elsewhere. Also popular are the videos of service members who arrive home and surprise their family pets and end up getting knocked to the ground by the exuberance of the dog in showing its happiness.

It should come as no surprise to us why we enjoy these videos so much. It’s in our national DNA. Warapped up in those scenes of warmth and hugs and love are all the values we treasure - home, family, faith, God and country, patriotism, pride in who we are and our love of freedom and democracy.

Never is the patriotism aspect of this national fervency more obvious than when we welcome home those men and women who have served their country in time of war when the circumstances included captivity and ill treatment and often torture.

I vividly remember my first exposure to a story of this nature. Navy Captain Jeremiah Denton was one of the first returning prisoners of war in 1973, and I remember watching him on TV walking in uniform from the airplane and going to a bank of microphones on the tarmac where he said “We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances. We are profoundly grateful to our Commander-in-Chief and to our nation for this day. God bless America.”

Captain Denton was held as a prisoner of war for almost eight years, four of which were spent in solitary confinement. He was notable for his leadership during the Hanoi March in July 1966 when he and 50 other American prisoners were paraded through the streets of Hanoi and beaten by North Vietnamese civilians. He was forced to participate as an American POW by his captors in a televised conference and during that conference he repeatedly blinked his eyes in Morse code, spelling out “T-O-R-T-U-R-E”, a message which for the first time conveyed to Americans that American POWs were being tortured in North Vietnam.

When questioned about his support for the U.S. war effort in Vietnam, he said, “I don't know what is happening, but whatever the position of my government is, I support it fully. I am a member of that government, and it is my job to support it, and I will as long as I live."

I remember watching the courageous rescue of seven of our solders on Sunday, April 13, 2003 from an abandoned Iraqi cabin where they had been taken by the Iraqi captors. It is ingrained in my memory because I saw it on TV right before I went to church to preach, and I wrote a poem about it.

Not only have American service men and women been captured and tortured. In 1979 a group of Iranian students took 52 American citizens as hostages and held them for 444 days until the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan, at which time they were released. Most Americans, and almost everyone in Lebanon wore yellow ribbons, tied them in the trees and hung them from porch balconies during the days of captivity. Yellow ribbons were tied into all the trees lining Commercial Street and Lebanon businesses flew flags every day.

On the following Saturday after the Inauguration, many of us met on the steps of the Post Office for a public ceremony honoring the hostages. State Representative Pete Page and Senator John T. Russell spoke and Dr. Robert Taylor led us in prayer and we all sang God Bless America. Then we all deposited the yellow ribbons we had been displaying during the previous year in a large box in front of the Post Office. Some said it was the bright January sunshine that triggered the tears in our eyes but I know it was more than that.

Now again this week, Americans have experienced this kind of joy and gratitude to God for answered prayers when we watched three innocent Korean-American citizens deplane at Joint Base Andrews in the wee hours of the morning as they were met by our President and Vice-President as well as our First and Second Ladies.

“We would like to express our deep appreciation to the United States government, President Trump, Secretary Pompeo, and the people of the United States for bringing us home,” they said. “We thank God, and all our families and friends who prayed for us and for our return. God Bless America, the greatest nation in the world.”

COMMUNION ON THE MOON

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. (Melody Beattie) Americans need a day dedicated to gratitude. I have noticed that in the lineup of most of our holidays that Thanksgiving is perhaps the one least given over to secularism - the one we still observe in a traditional fashion. We need it to keep our focus clear and to teach our children what it means to be thankful for family, friendship and faith. We need a time to gather around the table with extended family and enjoy turkey and dressing and gravy, two kinds of potatoes, cranberries, hot rolls, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie and whipped cream. We need it, not for the calories, but to create an awareness that there are those who don’t have those blessings, because in the hectic pace of our everyday lives we tend to forget those in need. Family and food are important, but above all else, Americans need a rededication to our faith. Faith brought the pilgrims to the ne...

ANNIE, THE CAT'S MEOW

I first met Annie back in February 2004 after Milan told me to let him know what I wanted for for Valentine’s Day and he promised would get it for me no matter what it was. He has often joked that he should have have put some conditions on that. But he didn’t, and so I headed straight to the Humane Society animal shelter. It had been two long years since we had put our beloved Maine Coon cat to sleep, a big pile of what appeared to be nothing but fur, but had a huge heart hidden inside. We had named him Ollie in honor of Col. Oliver North who was our news hero at the time. I entered the cat compound at the Humane Society. There were only two cats inside, a brown tabby who ran to the other side of the pen away from me, and a little black and white girl who came running over to me and when I picked her up, she snuggled her head under my chin and began to purr. It was love at first sight. She was new there and they had not given her a name so I called her Annie. She was alway...

FELINE GHOSTS

FELINE GHOSTS... Feeling ghosts around me today Shadows of cats I have known Feline ghosts, I call them, Cats who have made this their home. Sometimes I feel the gentleness Of soft fur nestled close in my arms And it seems I can hear the soft purring Of remembered kitty cat charms I see them move through the shadows Just a glimpse, then out of my sight Sometimes it’s the white tail tipping That I see in the dark of the night The movements are quiet and fleeting I see them at nighttime and day Just figments of my imagination Grayson, Annie, or Ollie at play. They knew this house was their castle They reigned in each room where they played They slept when they wanted and ate all they could Feline memories stay close, they don’t fade. It’s autumn that I really miss them When hickory nuts start to fall I can see kitty faces so precious In the windows that line up my wall The hickory tree looks in the windows As squirrels ...

Straight From The Hart

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