Thank you Veteran!

Thank you to our veterans - those who sacrificed their relative safety and comfort to fight to protect our nation and, hopefully, to bring freedom to many unnamed people of the world.

This is to a veteran who was in South Korea in 1950 and 1951. The land was decimated with war and many families were killed or separated. Very few buildings remained in the city of Seoul. The stench of death was prevalent everywhere. When a train of American soldiers rolled in, it was immediately surrounded by hordes of starving orphaned children. Some of the soldiers pushed the children away. You see, there was a Longshoremen strike in San Francisco holding up food and other supplies to the troops, and the soldiers had only their limited supply of C-rations to scarcely nourish themselves. But, some of the soldiers reached out to the children and gave them their last cans of food.

When I prepared for a missions trip to South Korea in 1990, I knew that I was going to a place that was now very modern. I went to share my Christian testimony at eight college campuses. There was a great response, with the attendance at the Seoul meeting numbering over 6,000 students. However, in some cities, I was led away from areas where communists had incited campus riots by some of the young people. And I was sad that it took only one or two generations after the war to forget the history of their nation and the sacrifices that were made for them. Later during the trip, an older Korean man ran up to me and frightened me by wrapping his arms around me. He hugged me tightly, wept and cried out, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I wondered if, in God’s wonderful providence, this man had been one of those orphaned children, for it seemed that he was showing gratitude to this American in remembrance for another American who unselfishly shared with him the little that he had.

The Bible reflects how forgetful people are. God has loved us by giving us His only Son, Jesus Christ the Lord as sacrifice for our sins. For at the last supper with his disciples, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me" (Lk 22:19). Christ also taught us to honor those deserving honor. As we honor Christ our Savior, let us also remember and honor our veterans with love, respect, and gratitude.

Some call the Korean War “The Forgotten War.” To those who fought for us and showed Christ’s love in the worst of conditions, I write this in remembrance of you and echo the grateful unnamed Korean man. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

-Al-