At just 50 years ago today, my wife lost her father in an act of heroism on his second tour of duty in Vietnam. She was not quite two years old and really never got to enjoy the memory and, most of all, the love of her biological father for the past half a century.
He died in the act of trying to save one of his men of the company he led in Vietnam in a terrible firefight. He earned the Purple Heart for his bravery - but was never to return home to love his little girl that was conceived before he knew he was a father and was shipped off to OCS.
While life does move on, and eventually return to a new normal, I have sensed the great hole this has left in my wife's life. Nothing fills that hole; ever. It has left me a profound believer in a strong military and a pacifist at nearly any cost. I echo the words made by President Reagan that there is peace through strength. It has left me a strong believer that the Second Amendment is of paramount importance in that the Japanese left the mainland alone because there was an American with a gun behind every blade of grass, and thus impossible to attack. Peace through strength.
Our Constitution is a sacred document, and we are under attack by forces in this country who do not love that document and the principles that my Father in Law went off to defend and uphold. I despise communism and will never capitalize that word in any way to give it honor. In order for America to continue to be a country worthy of adulation, we must uphold the Constitution; or we no longer are a bastion on a hill, worthy of emulation by God's children throughout the world. May God bless all those who are involved in just wars (almost exclusively defensive in nature), and may we, as a people be worthy of the gift of freedom we have been bestowed with.
Thought-provoking and inspiring post. Thanks so much. I especially appreciate the nod to "just wars", which are never wars of aggression, but only wars of defense. The line between those two kinds of wars has become a bit blurry as we inch ever closer to the return of Christ. May we elect leaders who better understand that distinction and who honor the Constitution.
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