Should We be Ashamed to Look at the Grave Markers of Those Who Died For Our Freedoms General Clyde Autio (retired)
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> 
On Memorial Day we honor the memory of those who have given their lives in the defense of not only our nation but also to secure and maintain those very ideals that have been at the core of defining the character of our nation.  How we choose to honor those fallen heroes will, in a very real sense, say more about us than it will about them.  They have already given us their answer as to how they cherished our continued liberty and freedom more than they did their lives.  Are we willing to accept their challenge?  The issue underlying all that they have done was, is and will be liberty and freedom, the very same reason that led the nation's founders to lay their all on the altar of liberty and freedom.  
 
Such a pause in our normal daily activity should be an occasion to both look back at what their sacrifice has given to us and to look forward as to how we are going to prove our worthiness of that sacrifice.  In May of 2006, the pastor of Marine Corporal Stephen Bixlers' home church in Connecticut concluded his grave side service with the following words:  "Do not squander the time given to you by God or the freedom preserved by this Marine's life."  That sentiment should be echoed to the attendees at all military funerals.. 
 
There is an unfortunate equation in today's war and that is that  all of the nation is not at war, only about one-half of one percent of the nation is doing the fighting, enduring the suffering and facing a handicapped future.  We should all make it our business to learn about those young men and women from our community who are serving on our behalf and become a part of their support system and to rally around their families.  We should be there to help either them or their family pick up the pieces if they suffer either severe trauma or death.
 
The Russians have an old proverb; "Dwell on the past and you'll lose an eye; forget the past and you'll lose both eyes."  Today, if we are not going to squander the time that the Stephen Bixler's have given to us, we must know where we came from so we can plot a straight course on where we are going.  Do we properly understand the heritage of the liberty that has been at the center of the conflicts these people have died to preserve?
 
This nation was born with a belief that liberty, and consequently freedom, was  gifts bestowed upon us by God and that it was our responsibility to protect those liberties and freedoms.  But, before we hear from our forefathers we must learn if they were willing to walk the walk before we let them talk the talk. 
 
There were fifty-six brave and brazen men who signed the Declaration of Independence, knowing that if they were subsequently caught by the British they would pay through the loss of all of their possessions and their lives.  So what did it cost them?   Five were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died; twelve had their homes ransacked and burned; two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured; and nine fought and died from the wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.  They all had signed and pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.  They were all men of means and well educated, as evidenced by their speeches, writings and civic contributions.  Their commitment to the cause was without reservation.
 
Now lets us hear  from some of those men:
 
Thomas Jefferson, "The God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God?" 
 
Samuel Adams, "Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness."
 
Both the New York and Massachusetts constitutions had similar words, "We, the people of the state of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty…"
 
And, finally at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a lady, "Well, Doctor, what have we got – a Republic or a Monarchy?"  To which Dr. Franklin replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it."
 
Liberty and freedom have been so steeped into our heritage that we have even been willing to undertake the cost, in lives and resources, to secure and protect it for other cultures.  As we honor those here at home, there will be similar services at some 24 military cemeteries and 22 monuments and memorials on foreign soil.  124,917 American war dead are interred in those cemeteries; 750 from the Mexican-American war, 30,921 from WWI and 93,246 from WWII.  All died in the effort to guarantee liberty and freedom to those who lived where they died.    
 
The Swiss reformer, John Calvin called the soldier an "agent of God's love" and soldiering justly a "God-like act."  He considered that "restraining evil out of love for neighbor" imitates God's restraining evil out of love for humanity.  And, the Indian apologist, Vishal Mangalwadi, believes that the biblical account of Exodus is what changed the whole course of Western civilization – the notion that God was bringing us freedom. 
 
President George Washington said the following in his farewell address: ""It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
 
Thomas Jefferson knew that liberty and freedom could not be freely sustained when he said; "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."  Tyranny can come in many forms, all being equally enslaving.  The refreshing of Jefferson's tree of liberty includes our willingness to stand against economic as well as physical and mental enslavement and bondage.
 
And I ask today are we willing and able to keep that which Dr. Franklin spoke of?  Are we as willing to acknowledge who gave us the gifts of liberty and freedom, as we are to enjoy those blessings?  Is that the same God that cannot be prayed to in our schools?  Is that the same God that cannot be honored by His words being displayed on the walls of our courts?  Is that the same God whose Son's birth crib cannot be displayed on public property?  Is that the same God who's Instruction Manual cannot be openly displayed in your work area?  Are we prepared to understand the insightful words of Samuel Adams - "Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness."  The acceptance of that challenge is becoming more expensive to those who are willing to honor those beliefs that were defended by those we honor today.   
 
In 1954, a cross was erected on Mount Soledad in LaJolla, California.  It soon became a famous landmark as a center for honoring our nation's wartime heroes.  In November of 2005, Marine Captain Michael Martino was killed in a Cobra helicopter crash in Iraq.  His family and fellow marines subsequently memorialized Captain Martino by placing a plague on one of the monument walls during a service that was attended by over 300 marines.  Since that time there has been a court case to have the cross removed because some believe it violates the first amendment.  But, the man who wrote the first amendment, Benjamin Rush, said: "The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty."
 
More recently, we all observed a young beauty queen have her freedom of speech and liberty trampled on because she had the temerity to suggest that she preferred conventional man and woman marriages. 
 
Remember, It is the military, not the reporter, who protects our freedom of the press; it is the military, not the poet, who guards our freedom of speech; it is the military, not the campus organizer, who shields our freedom to assemble; it is the military, not the preacher, who insures our freedom of religion; it is the military, not the lawyer, who continues to guarantee our right to a fair trial; and it is the military, not the politician, who protects our right to vote, even when the politicians deny the military the right to vote. So, in conclusion I repeat, with modification, two earlier quotations as self-examining questions: 
 
First, from Benjamin Franklin: Are you prepared to keep America as a Republic?
 
And second from Corporal Bixler's grave-side service, Are you willing to not squander the time or the freedom given to you by God and preserved through the death of Corporal Stephen Bixler? 
 
Should we be ashamed to look at the grave markers of those who died and say, "This is the best we could do."
 
May God Bless America