On this Veterans’ Day 2023, I’m thinking about my gran’pa, who was the only father I knew in the early years of my life. “Pa,” as everyone in the family called him, was a hard-working railroad engineer who didn’t look much like a warrior to me. The only gun I ever saw in his hands was his old single-shot 12-gauge shotgun, and the closest thing to a uniform he ever wore were his denim coveralls and long-sleeved flannel shirts with every available button securely fastened. They were as much a trademark as his railroad hat and that little half-smile he held in reserve in case he found some incident or comment to be particularly hilarious. 

My Non-Military Training ~
Pa was a part-time farmer, and the only enemies I saw him fight were bad weather, varmints, and wiregrass, and I loved being outside with him and watching him work. It never occurred to me that as I watched him plant seeds in the ground, he was also planting seeds in me. He was instilling concepts and ideals like honesty, dependability, perseverance, self-restraint, and a love for nature and the creatures that God created. He taught me the value of taking care of our tools and how important it was to keep the livestock fed and watered. He wanted me to see wasting things as something that was almost sinful. 

I’m thankful for the seeds my gran’pa planted in me, but I wonder how many priceless lessons I missed because they were locked away in the stories he never told me about what it was like to be a soldier, too. For instance, I never heard how it felt for him to walk away from everything familiar in his life, not knowing if he’d ever see them again. I had no clue what it was like for him to swear an oath to defend this nation, to don a uniform, take a rifle, and go off to places he’d never been to fight an enemy he’d never seen. What was it that made him willing to sacrifice his life if necessary?

An Unusual Inheritance ~
One of the very few physical things I inherited from Pa was a photograph. It wasn’t one of those staged portraits like you often see of older guys from that era. You know the ones I mean, where a guy is just standing there rigid as a board with that deadpan, half-angry look, like he just discovered that he was tricked into getting all dressed up in his funeral suit and finding out that nobody really died. The photograph Pa left me was not one of those. 

It was a picture of the 387th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army including my gran’pa lined up in formation on a parade ground. That brief moment of his life was captured with the click of a shutter nearly 100 years ago. I treasure the memorial of the moment, but I’d rather have the story that went with it.. 

That picture was taken near the end of World War I, a global conflict that saw the death of some nine million combatants and seven million civilians. Those numbers are important facts but like my photo, they’re lifeless, seemingly impersonal statistics that I learned from history books. Symbolic artifacts and monuments by themselves can’t reveal all that they represent. Symbols don’t experience life. They can’t speak, move, touch, or feel, and they neither love nor hate. Symbols simply assume their position and silently wait for some living person to tell their story and explain them. When we think about a term like “veterans,” it’s easy to group them together in a generalized, impersonal, symbolic category and when we do that, we miss so much personal depth and scope of what the term really means.  

An Interpretive Responsibility ~
Thinking of our veterans in symbolic terms can be useful if we use symbols as the first step in a process, which is what I believe God intended them to be. We have an interpretive responsibility related to the symbols that confront us. If we fail to do our part, the messages they were intended to convey can be misunderstood, twisted, or lost entirely. An episode in the “Book of Joshua” is a classic illustration of the role God intends for the symbols He chooses to use. 

Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; and Joshua said to them: Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you? Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever. (Joshua 4:4-7 NKJV)

Those rocks by themselves weren’t all that impressive, but together they were symbolic of something powerfully significant to the nation God was building and eternally significant to Him. Their role was to help ensure that what happened that day would not be forgotten. 

Focusing on Another Generation ~
God wanted the kids who would come along later and see those piles of rocks to ask why they were there and what they meant. He didn’t want them to just look at the symbols. He wanted events to come to life again as the “veterans” told their stories. God wanted the children to hear more than lifeless statistics. He wanted them to hear the hearts of those involved, what they loved, what they feared, what they thought, and what all of it meant to them. 

Maybe, like me, others are looking at pictures and other symbols of a veteran in their family or their circle of friends, not knowing what those symbols really meant to the ones who left them. Maybe our patriotism is waning, and love for this incredible country seems to be dying because we’re trying to define what a veteran is simply by looking in a history book or a dictionary. I didn’t hear my grandpa’s stories because it never occurred to me to ask. 

Not every veteran has a glorious story to tell full of battles fought and victories won. Some see their time in uniform as beneficial but not hugely significant. For many, the battles they fought, the wounds they suffered. and the victories they won never made the news because they were internal and deeply personal. But whatever their stories, all of them deserve our honor, our respect, and our willingness to listen. 

Time to Do Our Part ~
Maybe Pa would have loved to tell me what it was like and was just waiting for me to ask. But he’s been gone a long time, and I can’t ask him anything anymore. But maybe some of the vets we know would be happy to tell their stories if only someone would ask. If we never ask for their stories, then all we’ll have left are lifeless pictures and symbols they leave behind. And eventually, the battles they fought, the enemies they defeated, and the victories they won will have died along with them.

So if you have veterans in your family or your circle of friends, thank them for their service, of course – but it’s time to do more. It’s time to unlock their legacy. If you have an opportunity to engage them, ask why they did it, how it felt to serve, and what that service meant to them. Then settle back and listen in. Let them sow some seeds in your heart and then share those lessons they have sacrificed so much to learn. But whatever you do, at least do this. Thank God for those who stood in our place and gave up so many of their freedoms just to preserve ours. 

    HAPPY VETERAN’S DAY 2023     

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to Tweet & Share from the pull quotes below. Each quote links directly to this article through Twitter.

• • • “I’m thankful for the seeds my gran’pa planted in me, but I wonder how many priceless lessons I missed because they were locked away in the stories he never told me about what it was like to be a soldier, too.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
    • “Those memorial rocks alone weren’t all that impressive, but together they were symbolic of something powerfully significant to the nation God was building and eternally significant to Him. Their role was to ensure that what happened that day would not be forgotten.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
    • “God wanted events to come to life again as Jewish “veterans” told their stories. He wanted the children to hear more than lifeless statistics. He wanted them to hear the hearts of those involved, what they loved, feared, & thought & what all of it meant to them.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
    • “If only someone would ask. If we never ask for their stories, then all we’ll have left are lifeless pictures and symbols they leave behind. And eventually, the battles they fought, the enemies they defeated, and the victories they won will have died along with them.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)

Check out Ron’s book, “Right Side Up Thinking in an Upside Down World ~ Looking at the World through the Lens of Biblical Truth” 

 The Kindle e-version is just $1.99. No Kindle device is needed. E-book readers are included on most computers, tablets, and smartphones. If you don’t have one, the free Kindle app can be easily downloaded directly from the Amazon site on almost any device.

Click here for a “Look Inside” preview at Amazon.

© 2023 Gallagher’s Pen, Ronald L. Gallagher, Ed.S.  All rights reserved.