A Veterans Day Message

In considering the message for this significant day, I thought I would tackle the question, “What is a Veteran?” On the surface this would seem like an innocent and easy question. A Veteran is simply someone who has served in the military of the United States. However, given more deliberation one can see there is a far more profound understanding of just who a veteran is. Interestingly, I have found that the initial thrust of something isn’t necessarily where it ultimately ends. 

For example, Veterans Day didn’t start out as Veterans Day. Rather, its genesis was rooted in the Armistice of WWI. Hostilities were halted, in the “The Great War,” in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. In 1919, President Wilson termed this Armistice Day to commemorate and honor veterans of WWI. Following WWII and the war in Korea, President Eisenhower changed this to Veterans Day to honor all veterans in 1954. Thank you Ike!

My short answer in responding to our question is: A veteran is the guardian and custodian of faith in America. A guardian watches over while a custodian takes care of. In the New Testament, faith means conviction in any truth and belief. In short, veterans are those who watch over and preserve the fundamental principles and truths upon which our glorious nation was founded. Now I want to lay some groundwork for where I’m going. 

When a person puts on the uniform of his country, he is basically agreeing to lay down his life for its cause. No one knows exactly where they may be sent or where they might serve. When I joined the Marines in 1964, the year of my marriage, I didn’t know that within three years I would be in the midst of a war in Vietnam. Frankly, my understanding of joining the military was pretty immature. I simply thought this is what one does for his country. Maybe, like others, I didn’t really think through the deeper meaning of what this meant. Simply becoming a Marine officer was exciting enough. But once you are in, and the reality of war is around you, you have to know what it is you are willing to die for. 

I want to say here that it is important who or what is establishing and feeding your fundamental thoughtlife, attitudes, and beliefs. When I returned from Vietnam, a war run and lost by politicians, it was the liberal, military hating press that was setting the mindset of the American people. Returning soldiers were spit upon and called “baby killers.” They had adopted this obnoxious attitude by following the repugnant leading of the media. Fortunately, this has turned around today, very much due to the man currently serving in the White House. Now when I go out wearing my ballcap with the USMC emblem, I get lots of “Thank you for serving” and “Semper Fi.”

So what are these principles for which we are willing to die? I think they are more than adequately epitomized in our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. I would summarize them as liberty, justice, and self-governance. Our founding fathers wrote these concepts into our cornerstone documents not because they were fleeing from the oppressive autocratic reign of King George III, but because they wanted to create a new type of government which put the power and responsibility in the hands of the people. In order for this to become a reality, they knew something else had to be true.

John Adams said our Constitution was “Made only for a moral and religious people” and was “Wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” He wasn’t here speaking necessarily of a religious, church attending populace, but rather of a virtuous people who would choose to do what was good and righteous and take responsibility for themselves. He was saying these ideals could only survive among a people willing to govern themselves. I have no doubt that Adams also knew that God had to be involved in the process.

Addressing George Washington, Benjamin Franklin in 1778 at the constitutional convention expressed it in this manner: “I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?” At another point in the convention Franklin sought delegate support for opening every day with prayer offered by local clergymen. Incidentally, I believe this was the origin for the House and Senate chaplains that serve this day. 

Holding these ideals as individuals was just part of what our founders had in mind. For them it was imperative that these principles be held inviolate for all persons. This was somewhat problematic since slavery was still an emotional and troublesome issue as well as the voting rights for women. This meant the ideals themselves would have to develop through a process of maturation over the years. The state of these principles notwithstanding, they were still meant to be honored to the fullest extent possible. Desiring my neighbor to experience the same measure of liberty, justice, and self-governance that I enjoy should be the goal of all.

Larry Arne, president of Hillsdale College for the past 25 years, was a speaker at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. In his capacity as president he interviewed potential students and as such he met a 19 year old Charlie. When Charlie couldn’t answer all the president’s questions , he asked “What should I do?” President Arnn’s response was providential for all who would uphold the universal values of our nation: “Well, you have to suffer.” He was referring to all the hard work involved in getting a good education. He told him to read the Bible, the classics, and to study the founding of America. He said in doing so, you will find a ladder reaching up to God and in whose base you will find the good things we all enjoy. Larry told him he would find these things in the Bible, in Aristotle, and in the founders. Charlie asked, “How do I learn that?” “You have to suffer,” answered Arne, “You have to study, you have to think.”

Veterans are the ones who have been willing to suffer, even to the point of laying down their own lives. This has been so that liberty, justice, and self-governance could be the experience of all. They have been willing to protect, maintain, and oversee their own virtuous living.

When we put the uniform on, we were guardians and custodians of faith in America. When we took the uniform off, we were guardians and custodians of faith in America. Today we remain guardians and custodians of faith in America. 

One final thought. How many recall that the last sentence of the national anthem is a question? “O say does that star spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” Hold this thought, it is only the land of the free as long as it is the home of the brave.

Thank you veterans.

Thank you America.