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Sunday, November 7, 2010

Colonel Charles D. Roby

             "Let no ravages of time testify to the coming generations that we have forgotten,                             as a people, the cost of a free and undivided republic."

                                                                                                Gen. John A. Logan, 1868

A few months ago I received a card from a Christian sister in Colorado thanking me for a particular editorial that she said was very moving to her as it reminded her of her brother who died in the Vietnam conflict. In her card she briefly cited some of his career, and since today's editorial topic will be about our country's observance of Veteran's Day, I'd like to dedicate today's thoughts, first to the glory of God, and secondly to the memory of Col. Charles D. Roby, killed in Vietnam in 1967.

Col. Roby, by all accounts, was a hero. In Vietnam he was an F-4 Phantom pilot, but before that he was a fighter pilot in the Korean War, flying 200 missions in that "action." As another career distinction, in 1951 he was the first pilot to have to bail out of his plane using the new "ejection seat." He died in the service of his country in 1967 at the age of 39 years. In 1990 his remains were finally returned to the family and he was subsequently buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Yes, he was a hero, but in reality, no more so than any of the other 58,000 plus killed in that conflict for their country.

Yes, next Thursday, November the 11th, is a special holiday here in America - Veteran's Day. It's not a holiday of gift-giving, of feasting, of play/sporting events. It's a day of solemn remembrance by those of us alive today of the sacrifices of our military veterans that allow us to live in the greatest country that God ever blessed this earth with.

We call it "Veteran's Day" here in America, but in Canada it's known as "Remembrance Day." I like both of those designations and I think I'll just combine them here and call it "Remembering Veteran's Day." And, I think it extremely important that we always, as in continually, remember what our veterans have done for us. That we remember them, not just one day a year, but all year round.

The mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan was asked by a reporter what she feared the most. Her answer to this question goes directly to our thoughts today. She said, "That people will forget the sacrifice made by our sons." Keep this statement in mind when we come to the close of this lesson. And keep in mind, "sacrifice" doesn't have to mean the ultimate - death. War brings sacrifices in the form of both visible and unseen wounds too.

I can almost guarantee you that if we did not set a day of remembrance, a day of commemoration for our nation's veterans, within relatively few years they and their sacrifices would be forgotten. God knew this was the nature of man and no doubt was the prime reason He commanded Israel of old to observe various memorials. They were to set up "physical" types of memorials, such as "monuments" (Josh. 4:1-7) and "times" such as the "Days of Purim" (Esther 9:28) for the express purpose of not forgetting what God had done for them. Wouldn't you agree that the setting up of special times and days to remember our veterans serve the same principle?

President Lincoln, referring to those who had died in battle at Gettysburg, said in his famous address, that they "gave the last full measure of devotion" and then went on to tell us what the object of that "devotion" was: that their "nation might live." Later in his address he made this recommendation: that we should "highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain."

Lincoln's words at Gettysburg remind me of a letter I once read that was penned on August 14th, 1945, known now as V-J Day, the end of war against Japan in WW2. I won't cite to you the whole letter, but just mention a couple of lines that Sgt. Ralph Lewis, Jr wrote in his letter that day regarding his buddies that he'd lost in battle. He wrote: "Today the world must remember them - and tomorrow, the next day and forever! The day the world forgets, they will have died in vain."

A while back I heard a song written by an elementary school music teacher and performed by his third-grade class. It is a song not sung "about" the military, but rather "to" the military. It's entitled "Thank You Soldiers" and the words go like this:

    When I lay my head down every night, and go to sleep in peace,

    I can stay there knowing all is well, while you're standing on your feet.

            Keeping watch, protecting shore to shore, in the air and oceans too,

            defending freedom at all cost, for the red, white and the blue,

Chorus:     Thank you, oh thank you, men and women brave and strong,

                     To those who serve(d) so gallantly, we sing this grateful song.

    The soldiers who have traveled on, to countries far and near,

    in peace and war you paid the price, for the cause you hold so dear.

            That we may wake each morning bright, and know that freedom rings,

           because of your great sacrifice, your country joins to sing.

Chorus:     Thank you, oh thank you, men and women brave and strong,

                     To those who serve(d) so gallantly, we sing this grateful song.

I asked you earlier in the lesson to keep in mind the words of the mother of the soldier killed in Afghanistan and I'd like to return to the thought expressed by her, to wit: that she feared that people will forget the sacrifices of our sons. As grave as that danger is, I have a far greater fear and that is, that people will forget God's sacrifice of His Son so that man won't have "freedom" for just a period of time, but will have "freedom" for eternity.

We should always possess a devotion addressed to remembering our veterans but, with even more devotion, we should remember the sacrifice of Christ. In the Bible, God uses a phrase of warning to His people which illustrates His knowing the propensity of people to forget things. That phrase is "lest thou forget." Even after all the miracles that He had done for them in freeing them from slavery in Egypt, He knew that, given time, they'd forget. In Deut. 6:12 He warns them: "Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."

With our focus on the first two words of that verse: "Then beware," allow me to close these thoughts with some words penned by Rudyard Kipling that apply both to the remembrance of our veterans and remembrance of our God.

                        "God of our Fathers, known of old,

                          Lord of our far-flung battle line,

                          Beneath whose awful Hand we hold,

                          Dominion over palm and pine—

                          Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

                                    Lest we forget — Lest we forget!"

Ron Covey

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