As Memorial day approaches my heart and mind have been on our military personnel currently serving around the world and those who gave their lives in service to our country through the years. Last Thursday I was looking for a movie and found the mini series Band of Brothers on Amazon Prime. I am not fond of military movies, but for some reason I enjoy watching this series. It is about a unit out of the 101 Airborne called Easy Company. In this mini series you follow the members of this company from training camp through the end of WWII. It is not an easy movie to watch because HBO did an amazing job at striving to make a very realistic representation of the experiences of these soldiers. One of my favorite parts is at the beginning of each chapter they interview actual members of Easy Company. These interviews are what bring the movie to life.
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My Grandfather Fred Buchanan with
members of his unit. |
Tonight as I was watching this series I began thinking about my grandfathers. They served in WWI in France. I only had the privilege to know one of them because my Dad's father died while my father was a young man in the Navy. However, I did have the privilege of knowing my Mom's father, we called him Granddaddy. He smoked cigars, did not have much hair and was truly a man of few words. You could sit with him for a long period of time and not hold much of a conversation. What I remember most about him was how much he loved to make us laugh and would sit outside and watch us play as young children for hours, smoking his cigars. I was 13 years old when cancer took his life and he went to the arms of Jesus. However, in the years to come my Grandmother would become an expert on sharing stories with us of our family.
As I became an adult I learned that my Grandfather never talked to my Grandmother or really anyone else about what happened during the war. Those were not memories he wanted to share. I never understood that until the movie "Saving Private Ryan" came out and I watch the first 15 minutes where the troops on D day were storming the beaches at Normandy. I remember all the movie reviews talking about how realistic the movie was and how emotional that sequence in the movie is. I went to see that movie with my family and I remember my Mom saying that seeing that movie helped her better understand why my Grandfather would not talk about the war. War is ugly and at that time, it was really ugly.
America is known as the land of the free and the home of the brave, a place where any dream is possible. I think that so often we tend to forget the price that was truly paid for our freedom. We don't realize the price that is currently being paid to maintain our freedom. Our country is a place where freedom of religion easily found, yet in other countries like the Sudan people are dying because of their religious beliefs. This Memorial day as you sit out and grill burgers with your friends and neighbors, please pause and pray for the families who have lost loved ones in service to our country. Pray for those families who have members currently serving in the military. I still have 4 more episodes to go in Band of Brothers and as I watch it I love that it reminds me of all I am blessed with and encourages me to pray for our current military service men and women.
I am so proud of all that both my Grandfather's accomplished in the war and I am amazed that they survived. I don't question they saw and experienced horrible things, and yet they came home and started families and raised their children to love and serve Jesus. I only wish I could tell them to their faces how much I love and appreciate all they did to ensure the freedom my girls enjoy today. This is not just another holiday, make it count. Make sure if you know someone in the military, a family with people overseas serving, then in my book Memorial day is the day we should be serving and honoring them, not just grilling burgers on our deck.
Most of all I remind you that freedom is not free...someone must pay the price for us to have it.
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