Services
at the Washington National Cathedral
for the Dedication of the World War II Memorial
Courage,
National Cathedral, 26 May 2004
Courage became a domestic value during WWII for though the
surroundings of the greatest generation bred conviction and
they stepped out in faith, courage was always mustered locally
in the context of doing a mighty thing. There are many instances
of courage where this might not be so, i.e., facing cancer
or nobly facing an individual challenge but in this era the
point of reference was the mighty struggle which consumed
everyone, and further, the circles of support that gathered
earnest souls.
And though we are entertaining these concepts in sequence,
as was mentioned before, their dynamic is to interplay with
one another. Here, courage could often be the agent of faith,
as a first step forward into an unknown place.
In the Book of Judges Deborah proposes an ambush of Sisera.
“Has the Lord not gone ahead of you?” Can I dare
to entertain such a thought, even if a whisper in my mind,
that the great general could be defeated or even captured?
The physics of courageous thoughts often begin in this small
way.
For Jack Vier to think of walking artillery into his position
“seemed” like a good idea. Jack was like his generation,
full of pluck and vinegar, not full of Victorian ideals of
heroism and courage. He just wanted to get out of a bad jam
with his buddies. Hebrews counsels to throw off every thing
that hinders…and the sin that so easily entangles: for
hesitation and brokenness come from stray thoughts. The nascent
and daring possibility can easily be lost. The home front
was filled with courageous small acts that built to faith
(examples.)
Of all the things Sen. John McCain writes in his fine book
on courage the most subtle thing is what he says about engaging
it when it is at hand. He says, yes, expose your children
to the concept of honor and indeed fear is present for courage's
dynamic to begin. At base one must engage fear and overcome
it, but the thing about courage which makes you and me think
about it on the way home—and how it was thought of during
World War II is what McCain advises now that you and I recognize
“(our) nearest duty” in these non-sacrificial
times. The greatest generation, 16 million served in WWII,
knew courage when they saw it because the times were sympathetic
to its occurrence. Our present conflict with terror has the
disorienting effect of asking nothing of us.
These concepts for the week are so large, conviction, fear,
courage and faith. I hope you have noticed that we have considered
them form the point of view of what the greatest generation
has commended to us of them. Of conviction, that the harsh
sacrifice of WW II and its enormous theater brought quiet,
wiser eyes about our planet by 1946; for fear, that one can
work and achieve in spite of it, in the face of it, “play”
with it so that fear is not fearsome; and here for courage,
we are Americans, and our familiar, informal, and approachable
ways brought a certain context and insistent domestic quality
to our displays of courage. And in those instances, this encounter
with fear—a great event—took place in the midst
of ordinary moments, close-in moments on behalf of one’s
comrades. It came because they valued something/someone beyond
themselves and their nearest duty and more than their own
well being. What an extraordinary transaction when the standard
was the risk of one’s life.
After my husband went into the Seabee’s I quit my job
at Gibson’s and went to work in a woolen mill, Lister’s,
which before the war was just a normal routine job. When the
war started they needed wool very badly, so this was considered
a service job. In other words it was important.
At the mill the government used to send out all the Purple
Heart soldiers to talk to us and tell us that we couldn’t
take time off, and pushed all this patriotism on us. One particular
day I had the day off and they went to my house. I wasn’t
home. It would have been embarrassing to have a soldier with
a Purple Heart on asking why I wasn’t at work.
The soldiers needed woolen blankets. At the time all servicemen
were issued their clothing, their blanket, their bedroll,
the whole bit. The blankets that came home after the war had
traveled all over the world.
Gasoline, of course was rationed. Leslie took the tires off,
put the car up on a stand, and we just didn’t use it
for thirteen months. We either walked – we were used
to walking – or we took buses. We just didn’t
think anything of walking and besides it saved seven cents.
We had a terrible time buying a house. Oh yes we did, because
we were Black. We went to buy a house and they said, “Well,
uh.” When my husband came home, he just got home from
the service, and they said we couldn’t get a mortgage.
An aunt and uncle of my father’s came over from Germany.
The uncle came first, and then his wife and his children came
later. They were on the last ship Hitler allowed to leave.
That uncle could not come to this country unless somebody
here would support him if he ever couldn’t get a job.
My father did not have much money. He just had his job and
no savings at that time, and the real struggle with hoping
he could educate his children. But father was the one who
signed for my uncle to come. If it hadn’t been for my
father, they would have all been wiped out. Any family that
was left was gone. My aunt’s mother stayed there. They
couldn’t bring her, and they heard that she died of
starvation in a concentration camp.
Here’s the story of Maynard “Snuffy” Smith.
It takes place in a space about the size of the great choir
floor in front of us. That’s about the size of a B-17,
Flying Fortress. Smith was on his first mission with his 9
other crewmates when, while returning home from a bombing
mission over northern France, one of their fuel tanks exploded,
a direct hit by a German fighter plane. The explosion spread
fire throughout the rear o f the aircraft as it dropped to
200 feet above the waves. Smith battled the blaze furiously,
tended a wounded tail gunner, and alternated from one side
of the plane to the other firing at the German Luftwaffe,
surprising them that the crippled aircraft still had some
fight in her. The crew in the front of the B-17 was blocked
from assistance and puzzled as to why the plane was still
flying. It was because every crate, console, and ammo shell
was being jettisoned through the frenzy of Snuff Smith. He
continued to battle the flames with everything he could, even
his hands, arms and feet. He was badly burned. The plane finally
landed with no rear gear, came to a halt, seemed to sigh,
and then disassembled right there on the runway. It had been
sustained and kept whole through the sheer courage and will
of one man, Maynard Snuffy Smith.
Conviction begins the journey, a great quest if one is true
to it, fear will be inevitably encountered and the innocence
of conviction will be brought beyond fear and transformed
into courage. John McCain observes that something is added
from beyond us in the pursuit of courage. And what was it
of this war? Certainly the Victorian ideal of gallantry was
revised in the irreverence and pluck of this generation. Snuffy
Smith in so many ways was the anti-hero. He had to get off
KP to receive this award and when the NY Times reported of
his exploit they said there was no doubt that on the battle
front he had “staying power” but when it came
to talking about himself and his opinions back in the rear
area he had “over staying power.”
Courage in English has the root of coeur or heart. To have
courage, as with faith, is to be full of heart. With courage
we openly acknowledge what we can’t control life and
make wise choices about what we can affect and move forward
into the uncultivated terrain of the next moment. (Salzberg,
p. 88) What ever takes us to our edge, to our outer limits,
leads us to the heart of life’s mystery and we find
faith. (Salzberg, 92) Finding faith in God for the believer
brings us to tomorrow night. +gep
Lord, may we dread the emptiness of any life which is
not attached to noble purpose. May the grand quality of courage
not be unknown to us. Instill in the hearts of all who witness
this generation’s time an equality to what we have learned:
in courage we are complete and that like love for it to endure
in this land we must have hope in the future. Amen.
References:
The Power of Your Words, Walking with God by Agreeing
with God
by Don Gossett & E.W. Kenyon
© by Kenyon Gospel Publishing Society, Inc.
book available through: www.whitakerhouse.com
ISBN: 0-88368-348-2
Why Courage Matters, The Way to a Braver Life
by John McCain with Mark Salter
Random House
ISBN: 1-4000-6030-3
Faith, Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience
by Sharon Salzberg
Riverhead
Books, Published by the Berkeley Publishing Group, A division
of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
ISBN: 1-57322-340-9
Medal of Honor, Profiles of America's Military Heroes from
the Civil War to the Present
by Allen Mikaelian, with commentary by Mike Wallace
Hyperion Books
ISBN: 0-7868-6662-4
Office
of the Bishop Suffragan for Chaplaincies