I don’t like war. I think it’s safe to say that I don’t even like the idea of war, and yet I understand that for as long as human beings have walked upright they have waged war upon each other for a variety of reasons. It always gets a little bit dicey to think about fighting for freedom, particularly these days when it’s uncertain as to whose freedom were actually fighting for. In the U.S. our politicians talk about democratizing the rest of the world, but isn’t that more about our values than the values of those who we say we are liberating? I don’t pretend to have a great deal of political insight into any of this, war and the study of war is not my thing. But what I will say is this: people have gone to war to protect and defend me and my liberties, or so I’m told. And so on this Veterans Day, I want to honor those people who whether or not they agreed politically with why they were being asked to take up arms, they did and for that I am grateful.
My father was a veteran of World War II, a Purple Heart-decorated second lieutenant in the Army. He fought and was seriously injured for a country that considered him a second class citizen. Upon his return to the United States at the end of the war, he had to ride in the back of the bus just like every other “negro” of the time. There was little to no consideration of the fact that he had fought and nearly died serving to a country that would let him die for them but not to legally vote. Dad told me a number of stories about his days in the army–about times in the segregated regiment as well as times interacting and working with white soldiers. It was difficult, dirty, and dangerous work: he was with an engineering battalion assigned to the duties of finding and detonating mines. It was in the process of doing this work in Normandy during the early days of the invasion that my father was blown up. He spent months in a hospital in England before eventually returning to the United States. For years afterward he would suffer from nightmares about some of the things he saw during his service in WWII, thrashing about in his sleep.
For me war is an abstract thing; for him it was a reality. I honor him for his service and I think about him each year on Veteran’s and Memorial Day. At his funeral he was honored as a fallen comrade by soldiers who fired their weapons in salute and presented a folded American flag, which they handed to my brother who had served in the Marine Corps. It was a poignant moment, particularly when the bugler played Taps, which has always moved me. So I close with the words to the song “Day is Done” (Taps) and offer gratitude to my father and all who served and still serve their country during times of war and peace.
Roland W. Chamblee, Sr. Second Lieutenant, United States Army
Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest
God is nigh.
Fading light dims the sight
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright
From afar, drawing near
Falls the night.
Thanks and praise for our days
Neath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky
As we go, this we know
God is nigh.
