The annual tribute to America at Isadora was held Monday afternoon. It normally rains on that day, but after an early shower that morning, the skies cleared up.
The Rowen family and Debbie Thummel led the crowd in singing the Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, My Country ‘Tis of Thee, and a salute to the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines.
Jeff Blaine, the speaker, spoke about the Korean War and how a soldier enlisted in the Marines and was shipped off to that conflict in 1953. He said that there was a certain romantic attraction to wars for people who hadn’t served, but that as General Sherman said, “War is hell.” Later, in 1978, his son asked him how many he killed, and the soldier replied, “Thousands.” That was the end of the discussion. The soldier was Jeff’s late uncle, Charles.
Charles rarely talked about his time in Korea. He operated a tank. One rare story was how he and 100 others went on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines, and he was one of a few people to survive. Another time, Charles talked about his knife that you get when you successfully become a Marine. “If this knife could, you never know,” he said. The third story, Jeff didn’t learn until recently.
Charles was on a dangerous mission involving an amphibious landing off the Korean coast. Whoever had mapped the area had miscalculated the depth, and his tank crew was immediately 30 feet underwater with no way out. There was so much pressure on the tank that they could not open the hatch so they could get out. They radioed for help, but there was no way they could rescue his crew.
Luckily, the tank still had electrical power, and they were able to fire the tank and open a hole in the hatch. The water gradually seeped in, and when the pressure equalized, they were able to open the hatch and escape the tank and swim to safety.
Blaine said that all wars and conflicts come from within, caused by the carnal desires of the heart. When people act on such desires, whether on a small or large level, people die, But one act of grace, the act of Jesus dying on the cross, allowed people to have eternal life.
Currently, Blaine’s own son, Jeshua, is doing his basic training in Oklahoma before serving in the National Guard in Albany. He said that freedom isn’t free, and that soldiers died so people could enjoy freedoms. But he said that we needed to think on a higher plane. He said that we have been buried in baptism, and when we come out of the water, our sins are taken away.
Debbie Thummel closed the program with the playing of “Taps.”
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