Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 6:54am

Memorial Day Pledge

When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today

Inscription on the memorial to the dead of the British 2nd Infantry Division at Kohima.

 

 

On this Memorial Day I thought that we might want to look at Eisenhower’s Gettysburg Address.  On the 100th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1963, President Kennedy had to beg off appearing due to his trip to Texas, a trip that would end in tragedy on November 22, 1963 in Dallas.  Former President Eisenhower, a resident of Gettysburg, agreed to speak in his place.  Eisenhower in his brief address viewed Lincoln’s speech not as of merely historical interest, but rather an ongoing challenge to the nation.  Here is what he said:

 

We mark today the centennial of an immortal address. We stand where Abraham Lincoln stood as, a century ago, he gave to the world words as moving in their solemn cadence as they are timeless in their meaning. Little wonder it is that, as here we sense his deep dedication to freedom, our own dedication takes added strength. 

Lincoln had faith that the ancient drums of Gettysburg, throbbing mutual defiance from the battle lines of the blue and the gray, would one day beat in unison, to summon a people, happily united in peace, to fulfill, generation by generation, a noble destiny. His faith has been justified – but the unfinished work of which he spoke in 1863 is still unfinished; because of human frailty, it always will be. 

Where we see the serenity with which time has invested this hallowed ground, Lincoln saw the scarred earth and felt the press of personal grief. Yet he lifted his eyes to the future, the future that is our present. He foresaw a new birth of freedom, a freedom and equality for all which, under God, would restore the purpose and meaning of America, defining a goal that challenges each of us to attain his full stature of citizenship. 

We read Lincoln’s sentiments, we ponder his words – the beauty of the sentiments he expressed enthralls us; the majesty of his words holds us spellbound – but we have not paid to his message its just tribute until we – ourselves – live it. For well he knew that to live for country is a duty, as demanding as is the readiness to die for it. So long as this truth remains our guiding light, self-government in this nation will never die. 

True to democracy’s basic principle that all are created equal and endowed by the Creator with priceless human rights, the good citizen now, as always before, is called upon to defend the rights of others as he does his own; to subordinate self to the country’s good; to refuse to take the easy way today that may invite national disaster tomorrow; to accept the truth that the work still to be done awaits his doing. 

On this day of commemoration, Lincoln still asks of each of us, as clearly as he did of those who heard his words a century ago, to give that increased devotion to the cause for which soldiers in all our wars have given the last full measure of devotion. Our answer, the only worthy one we can render to the memory of the great emancipator, is ever to defend, protect and pass on unblemished, to coming generations the heritage – the trust – that Abraham Lincoln, and all the ghostly legions of patriots of the past, with unflinching faith in their God, have bequeathed to us – a nation free, with liberty, dignity, and justice for all.

Soon we will remember D-Day on June 6, this year being the 70th anniversary of that longest day.  Here is what Eisenhower wrote to the troops who were embarking on, as he termed it, the Great Crusade:

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!


You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle.
We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

Sacrificing for freedom for Eisenhower was not just an empty political phrase.  As he wrote these words he knew that many of the men who read it would be paying the ultimate price so that people long after they were dead, generations unknown to them, would enjoy the freedom they were about to die for.

I was traveling with my family to a McClarey family reunion in Paris, Illinois over this weekend.  As we passed by grave yards as we made the three hour trip, I kept noticing the flags out in the cemeteries and the little flags planted by the graves of veterans.  Just before the family reunion my family and I visited the grave site of my parents.  My father, a veteran, did not yet have a flag planted by his grave, although my Uncle Larry told me at the reunion that he would see to it.  The reunion was grand fun, catching up with family members.  As my family and I drove back past the decorated cemeteries, I wondered what the veterans who had been killed in our wars would make of all of this if they could see it.  The response would vary from man to man I assume, but in general I think they would like people gathering with their families over Memorial Day weekend and having a good time.  They would appreciate being remembered.  They would also I think echo the words of Eisenhower that what they died for also be remembered.  Lincoln at the original Gettysburg Address ended with these words:

It  is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us —  that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for  which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve  that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall  have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people,  for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

I view these words as a pledge, not limited to the Civil War, but for all our conflicts, a Memorial Day Pledge.  Living these words each day is the best remembrance we can have for the men who died to ensure that we remained free and safe here at home.

 

 

 

 

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Slainte
Slainte
Monday, May 26, AD 2014 9:57am

Those who have given their lives nobly in the defense of freedom often hate war the most, as it cuts short young lives and irretrievably breaks families separating husbands from wives and fathers from their children.
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As we honor the dead, let us pray that our political leaders will never again sow the seeds of a new war by participating in something akin to the Treaty of Paris. This Treaty which provided the terms to conclude World War I so demoralized a conquered people that it contributed to their acceptance of a tyrannical monster whose false promises of restoring their dignity led to their demise and the needless slaughter of countless innocents.
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Mercy to the foe; mercy to the vanquished.

Slainte
Slainte
Monday, May 26, AD 2014 10:03am

Apologies, I meant to reference The Treaty of Versailles as concluding WWI, not the Treaty of Paris.

trackback
Monday, May 26, AD 2014 10:36am

[…] Sarah Babbs, Ignitum Today Boko Haram: How Should Christians Understand It? – Howard Duncan Memorial Day Pledge – Don. R. McClarey JD, The American Catholic The Longest Battle – John Burger, The Catholic World […]

Mary De Voe
Mary De Voe
Monday, May 26, AD 2014 11:47am

Here I am weeping.

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