NOTHING GOOD COMES FROM WAR, REALLY?

War probably is the most horrible curse God ever gave mankind. He gave it to us right from the first when two tribes first saw each other, and one coveted the other’s hunting grounds. In his wisdom, God also gave us people that would protect and defend us! Today I want to thank all of you who gave of yourselves to save us and our country.

I have read a lot of history and have some idea, although not first hand, how terrible war can be. I once said, “Nothing good came from war!” However, as I think about it today, that may not be entirely be true. I know of a boy and a girl who were both Great Depression Era kids; who had no families of their own, were raised in other people’s homes, and grew up on the streets. Neither knew a lot of love for themselves. They were born and raised hundreds of miles apart, from different backgrounds and religions. In time of war they were both called into military service because one tribe coveted the other’s hunting grounds. After being drafted out of the United States Merchant Marines the boy was sent to US Army Basic Training, Airborne Training, and then Army Truck Driving School (he looked down at the door on his third jump, froze and was washed out). Next, he found himself driving ammunition to the front into combat in a place on the other side of the world called Korea.  He found himself in combat during a huge fight and was wounded.  His unit was mauled by the Chinese, lost its colors, and was sent out of combat for refit. They were sent to another devastated place from an earlier war, called Okinawa. He would live with the experience of Korea the rest of his life, with shrapnel in his back and severely frostbitten feet. 

The girl enlisted because she wanted to serve her country, see far off places, and frankly had no one holding her back. She too was sent to US Army Basic Training and then was sent to Cook’s and Bakers School. She was sent across the vast Pacific Ocean to that same place called Okinawa. That girl would see things she never dreamed of before. For the rest of her life she would talk about a rather large island with not one single tree over five years old because of war, and a people that were so humbled they would not look at your face. She often said did not have very much before entering the service, but had never really gone hungry before. Overseas she saw very hungry people that they had nothing, absolutely nothing. She said she literally kissed US soil again when she returned a couple years later, the same way she left, by ship. This last time she would be sick for ten days from the sea and because of me.  She often told us, “Never ever take for granted what you have here! This is truly a GREAT Country! I have seen much worse!  Imagine a poor country girl like me got to see the other side of the world!”    

The boy, now a man, was picked to be Okinawa’s Commanding General’s Driver. As the General’s Driver, he was made a Staff Sergeant, because the General could not have a lowly private drive him around. The girl grew up quick into a woman and cooked at the Officer’s Club. She became a Corporal and ran the cooks on the dinner shift. When the General got his supper his driver sergeant would go in the back door into the kitchen for his dinner. The Corporal made sure he ate whatever the General had for dinner as well. As the General often had Surf & Turk so did his Sergeant. One thing led to another and the Sergeant and the Corporal got married. A child was conceived on Okinawa and the newly married couple were soon sent home as in those days an expectant mother could not be in the US Army. So, two kids who had no family found themselves together and returned home to the Corporal’s hometown in Michigan to build their own family and lives. For the first time they both had something to grasp to other than themselves. 

As, had the Sergeant’s brother in an earlier war, only from England, he brought a bride home from a war in a foreign land.  I was the result of that circumstance, along with two younger sisters. I was the reason my mom had to endure ten days of sea and morning sickness. In several more years my sisters and I would get married and bring seven grandkids to the Sergeant and the Corporal, and now there are six great-grandchildren. I never served because I turned 19 the year the Vietnam ended. I thought about being a Marine after college and had a commission, but my mom told me, “I served for you so you are good.” I am not sure she had the right to say that but she did and her thought was only a small part of my decision not to serve in a time of peace.  

So, after thinking about it I no longer believe, “Nothing good comes from war!” Most of war is terrible, but as my mother always said, “There is always a silver lining in ever dark cloud!”  Because two kids, who had very little, were called to service and willingly went to foreign lands, they found each other. They built a new family and a new life.     I pray I have passed a little of that on to my kids, and grandchildren. Thank you, Mom and Dad, and all the rest of you veterans who served and sacrificed for us.