a story about the American soldier

What has always moved me the most? What has been the focus of my interest? What has brought a tear to my eye and a swelling of inner emotions? It is the sheer courage, willingness and perseverance of the ordinary, individual American combat soldier.

They came from the cornfields, the prairies, the hills and hollers, the mountains, and the cement jungles to gather and fight for our right to live in a free country.

They were men of different colors and creed who fought together as the Army of One, as they are called today. Most of them were scared children in their late teens who enlisted on their own or were drafted by Uncle Sam. They endured basic training, followed orders, went where they were told to go, and shipped out via air, rail, and sea to dangerous and unfamiliar corners of the world.

With a gun in their hands and a picture of their family stuck inside their shirt pockets or battle helmets, off they went, knowing that chances were slim that they would ever return.
Their spilled blood has rained down from the skies, flowed into the seas, and soaked deep into the earth in places with far-off names like Iwo Jima, Anzio, the Ardennes, Pork Chop Hill, and DaNang.

The grunt! The GI. The leatherneck. The soldier, sailor, airman, WACs, or WAVES, all rose up above themselves to do something extraordinary. They heeded the clarion call to give everything that can be given for one’s cause and beliefs.

Jesus called it, “no greater love.” Surely, there is no greater love than the love of a soldier, one for the other, when under fire in a foxhole or lost in a jungle or huddled up close inside the belly of a transport plane while waiting for a parachute jump into a ton of flack and shrapnel thousands of miles away from home. . . .

I pray daily that God will bless and keep these present-day young men and women who have heeded the new call to serve and to defend and, who are, even now, in harms way once again fighting a new kind of war against terrorism.

		G.I. Joe & Lillie, a story about the American soldier . . . “Surely, there is no greater love than the love of a soldier.” What has always moved me the most? What has been the focus of my interest? What has brought a tear to my eye and a swelling of inner emotions? It is the sheer courage, willingness and perseverance of the ordinary, individual American combat soldier. They came from the cornfields, the prairies, the hills and hollers, the mountains, and the cement jungles to gather and fight for our right to live in a free country. They were men of different colors and creed who fought together as the Army of One, as they are called today. Most of them were scared children in their late teens who enlisted on their own or were drafted by Uncle Sam. They endured basic training, followed orders, went where they were told to go, and shipped out via air, rail, and sea to dangerous and unfamiliar corners of the world. With a gun in their hands and a picture of their family stuck inside their shirt pockets or battle helmets, off they went, knowing that chances were slim that they would ever return. Their spilled blood has rained down from the skies, flowed into the seas, and soaked deep into the earth in places with far-off names like Iwo Jima, Anzio, the Ardennes, Pork Chop Hill, and DaNang. The grunt! The GI. The leatherneck. The soldier, sailor, airman, WACs, or WAVES, all rose up above themselves to do something extraordinary. They heeded the clarion call to give everything that can be given for one’s cause and beliefs. Jesus called it, “no greater love.” Surely, there is no greater love than the love of a soldier, one for the other, when under fire in a foxhole or lost in a jungle or huddled up close inside the belly of a transport plane while waiting for a parachute jump into a ton of flack and shrapnel thousands of miles away from home. . . . I pray daily that God will bless and keep these present-day young men and women who have heeded the new call to serve and to defend and, who are, even now, in harms way once again fighting a new kind of war against terrorism.
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