MEMORIAL DEDICATION: VA-728 & VS-721
Glenview Naval Air Station
22 May 2004
I want to ask you some questions.
Why do we keep the past alive? Why do we have VFW’s, American Legions, AMVETS, historical associations, and even ship and squadron reunions? Why do we have decommissioned battleships open for tours and old aircraft carriers in New York City that serve as museums of military aviation? Why do we have people who try to authentically recreate the great battlefield scenes of the Civil War? Why Memorial Day, Decoration Day, Veterans Day, or Armistice Day? Why? Because of three simple words:
LEST WE FORGET!
You’ve all heard the quote of that single sentence found scribbled on the dirty surface of a “C” ration box by an unknown Marine in Khe Sahn in 1968. That little scrap of cardboard said, “For those who fight for it, life has a special flavor the protected will never know.”
For those here who’ve served our nation in the “profession of arms,” let me tell you just how important those words are and just how indispensable your role has been.
According to the Canadian Army Journal, the president of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences (aided by historians from England, Egypt, Germany, and India) arrived at some startling figures:
In the last 5,600 years (going back to 3,600 BC) there have been over 14,591 wars in which at least 3,640,000,000 people have been killed. More startling, since 1,500 BC over 8,000 treaties of total peace have been signed, each one having been broken in less than two years. In other words, since the beginning of recorded history, this whole planet has only seen less than 300 years of world-wide peace.
Staggering.
What does that mean? It’s simple: whether to our personal liking or not, people in uniform – past, present, and future – are an integral part of this nation’s history and fabric. But for what purpose? To glorify war?
I said at the beginning that a lot of our service organizations and unit reunions exist so that we don’t forget. That’s fine, but don’t forget what? The names of shipmates? No, so that we don’t forget the cost! Here’s what I mean.
This old air station, like all other military forts, posts, bases, and stations, served as a tool of national policy, to defend the constitution, and to safeguard the interests of foreign democracies from governments based on tyranny and despotism. And the cost has been high; in life, in suffering, and in destruction.
Is that right or wrong? I don’t know if we can answer that. That kind of debate is for the great thinkers, philosophers, theologians, and scholars of generations yet to come. What we do know is that theories of “just war” have always locked horns with the cries for peace and pacifism.
Daily around the globe military supporters and military demonstrators continue to shout back and forth at each other at the top of their lungs about the proper use of the Armed Forces. “Balance of power,” “first strike capability,” the “peace dividend,” and “mutually assured destruction” have been buzzwords flying around for years, and it’s the job of those who occupy seats in the great halls of power who must wrestle with those implications. But your job is different.
Your job as veterans and family members is not just to remember the grand ol’ days of Glenview (although you do that), or to remember the camaraderie of old squadron friendships living and lost (although you do that), or to work at preserving historical archives (although you do that). Your number one job is to serve as an ongoing, living witness of the enormous costs. The costs of hardship, of life, of resources, of memories seared with the images of combat and defense.
You see, our nation – more importantly, this generation – needs you and other groups and associations like you because you not only demonstrate your pride for honorable military service, but you’ve come to the place where you temper that pride with the sobering realities of the great toll it has taken.
Our nation needs voices who can tell the story of what we did right and what we did wrong.
Our nation needs you to stand as a collective, living oracle – matured by the passing of time – that does not press forward with the brash eagerness of youth (or ignorance) but with wisdom forged by eyes and hearts that have marched and flown often times to the gates of hell and back.
You are the voice of pride and accomplishment, but you are also the voice of balance, of caution, of prudence, of circumspection, of repentance, and even of the silent prayer that your grandchildren and great grandchildren will never have to live under the clouds of armed aggression in their lifetimes.
As the continuing squadron muster, family, and friends of VA-728 and VS-721, your job is a monumental one. I believe that you serve as a key not only to the past, but to the future so long as you are faithful to telling the story,…the whole story. And my prayer for today is that your work will chart a new course to a time when your children’s children will see the swords of this world finally beaten into plowshares.
Join me in a prayer for those who served and continue to serve in our nation’s Armed Forces:
Eternal God, who alone rules the destinies of nations and who has decreed that Your children should live in freedom and not fear, awaken in us a new appreciation for our land and for our uniformed personnel who tirelessly serve their country ashore, at sea, in the air, and abroad.
Lord, those called to the “profession of arms” have been woven into the fabric of our nation since its founding, and today they stand in ever-present vigil across the free world. Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen are knit together not for the joy of warfare but by their love of life and liberty; even for the right to worship You without fear of oppression.
Grant us Your Spirit as we honor and lift in prayer those who have chosen to stand in harm’s way for their families and communities back home. They suffer daily in ways we can’t even begin to imagine in order that we might live free and unchained.
Today, we consecrate unto You the debt of our national gratitude. Keep sacred their posts and duties. Keep holy their course in your sight. Defend them by day. Protect them by night. Anoint them at their waking, and bless them at their laying down. Hold them close to You in the hollow of Your hand. Strengthen them in their trials, give them courage to face the perils which constantly besiege them, and grant them a sense of Your abiding presence wherever they may be.
We thank You for that witness within us that yearns for peace, for justice, and for freedom – for ourselves and for others. We pray the blessings of these gifts upon everyone in the world. And in Your sovereign grace may a day come when war becomes unnecessary and oppression obsolete. Call all the nations of the world to that day when we can lay down our arms and more earnestly give our attention to doing justice, living in kindness, and walking humbly in Your sight. We lift this prayer to Your throne, not for us, but for Your sake and glory alone. Amen.
LT Alan L. Andraeas, CHC, USNR
Combat Systems Chaplain, Bldg. 621, Rm. 109
Bluejacket Memorial Chapel
Naval Service Training Command
2601-A Paul Jones Street
Great Lakes, IL 60088
NAS GLENVIEW MEMORIAL DEDICATION
VA-728 & VS-721
22 MAY 2004
“I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to myself.”
Exodus 19:4
Almighty God, we gather ourselves before You – creation’s Sovereign King. We bow our hearts toward heaven’s throne from whence You command and commend all that exists. Turn Your face toward us, O Lord, and hear the lifting of this prayer.
Father, we stand here in this in-between place where life and death take their stations side-by-side; where the voices of past and present mingle together; where valiant heroes and ordinary citizens, if even for a few fleeting moments, stand in each other’s company. Open our hearts to what our departed comrades have to tell us as we learn again the lessons of history, duty, patriotism, and sacrifice; for today we pause to memorialize those who, having ceased living with us, now live within us. May they go ahead of us as our pattern of life; a pattern that says, “I live my life…by giving my life.”
And so we honor their memory, their service, their valor, and their sacrifice. We remember the places where they fell into Your hands: North Korea, San Francisco, Cherry Point, Albequerque. We remember the names they had in this life: Neri, Driessen, Moyer, Menzies, Gustavson, Snyder, and the list goes on.
You alone, Lord, set the stars in their courses and separated the waters from the sky. And it’s to that same sky where You continue to draw the longing of our hearts – that we may somehow touch You by touching the great expanses of Your creation – taking us to that place in the sky where heaven and earth kiss each other. God, in those moments You lift us up to the gates of heaven and then You safely return us to earth. And sometimes, Lord, You bring us through those gates to be in Your house forever. I’m sure that’s what Scripture means when it says, “I bore you up on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19:4). Those who’ve made that journey are the heroes, Lord. Those are the ones whose names are etched in these stones.
God, we pray a blessing upon this memorial that, just as the names of our comrades are carved into stone, their names may also be carved into Your heart for all eternity. Embrace this memorial even as You embrace them. May this become a place of holiness, symbolizing the sacrifice of heroes’ blood. May this become a place of devotion where Your Holy Spirit can carve into our hearts the examples of duty, courage, and service. And may this become a place of prayer where we are drawn to offer ourselves up in the hope of Your eternal love. We pray this for the sake, honor, and glory of Your holy Name. Amen.
LT Alan L. Andraeas, CHC, USNR
Combat Systems Chaplain, Bldg. 621, Rm. 109
Bluejacket Memorial Chapel
Naval Service Training Command
2601-A Paul Jones Street
Great Lakes, IL 60088