From the banks of Burcham Creek
Memorial Day 2025 Edition
I enjoy reading old gospel papers and journals
That are archived on the internet.
I recently came across an article that I am
Going to excerpt from in today’s blog post.
Jerry C. Ray, Irving, TX
wrote an article that appeared in
“Words Fitly Spoken”
a gospel publication.
He stated…
“The United States of America is a great nation.
Have you ever stopped to ponder why it is a great nation?
Wherein lies the strength of America.
As the wise man said,
Prov.14:34
“Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a reproach to any people.”
(Committing sin is a dishonor a discredit to people.)
Bro. Ray went on to say…
“Our strength, as a nation lies in righteousness.
This nation was founded by God-fearing,
Bible loving men upon the principles of truth and
righteousness found in the Bible.
There has been concern in the last few years for the
future of the U.S.A. in the face of ever
increasing lawlessness and ungodliness.
America cannot continue to prosper when wickedness
and immorality multiplies with every passing year.
Ours is a nation of great power and potential but
with little ethics and morality.
Dr. Raymond B. Fosdick stated…
“Knowledge is not enough…
Unless we can anchor our knowledge to moral foundations,
the ultimate result will be dust and ashes…
The towering enemy of man is not his science,
but his moral inadequacy.”
Gen. Omar Bradley aptly stated…
“We have too many men of science,
too few men of God.
We have grasped the mystery of the atom and
rejected the Sermon on the Mount.
Man is stumbling blindly through spiritual darkness,
while toying with the precarious secrets of life and death.
The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom,
power without conscience.
Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
We know more about war than we know about peace,
More about killing than we know about living.”
Israel’s prosperity in Canaan depended upon
her continuance in God’s commands
(Deut.28-29).
And we are persuaded that God continues to
deal so with nations today.
We must not delude ourselves by thinking that
God is an American God.
America is not God’s chosen people, and we,
as a nation, cannot continue to exist without
righteousness.
This is an inescapable law of humanity.”
Via Words Fitly Spoken Vol.12 Num.24 pg.7
10/20/ 1960
Edited by H.C.
***
The National Moment of Remembrance was
A resolution passed in Dec. 2000 which asks
That at 3 pm local time for all Americans…
“To voluntarily and informally observe in
Their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect,
Pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of
Silence or listening to ‘Taps.”
And My Fellow Americans…
Honor the fallen by teaching your children
and grandchildren what this day is about…
Not mattress sales and BBQs,
but sacrifice and valor.
Today’s post is in honor of three brave
American Patriot’s who gave the ultimate
Sacrifice for their country.
Johnny Michael (Mike) Spann
Mark Andrew Forester
Jeffrey B. Starr
***
In Flanders Fields…
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
- John McCrae
***
We Shall Keep the Faith…
Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.
We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a luster to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.
And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
Moina Michael
***
I think patriotism
Is like charity…
It begins at home.
Henry James
Patriotism consists not in waving the flag,
but in striving that our country shall be
righteous as well as strong.
James Bryce
The brave die never,
Though they sleep in dust:
Their courage nerves a
Thousand living men.
Minot J. Savage
On thy grave the rain shall fall
from the eyes of a mighty nation!
Thomas William Parsons
Duty, honor, country.
Those three hallowed words reverently
dictate what you ought to be,
what you can be,
what you will be.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur
A hero is someone
Who has given his or her
Life to something bigger
Than oneself.
Joseph Campbell
It's better to fight for something
in life than to die for nothing.
Gen. George S. Patton
And they who for their country die
shall fill an honored grave,
for glory lights the soldier's tomb,
and beauty weeps the brave.
Joseph Drake
Who kept the faith and fought the fight;
The glory theirs, the duty ours.
Wallace Bruce
And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
Lee Greenwood
For love of country,
they accepted death...
James A. Garfield
To these we owe the high resolve
that the cause for which they
died shall live.
Dwight David Eisenhower
Let every nation know,
Whether it wishes us well or ill,
That we shall pay any price,
Bear any burden,
Meet any hardship,
Support any friend,
Oppose any foe to assure the survival
And the success of liberty.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
We’re blessed with the opportunity
To stand for something…
For liberty and freedom and fairness.
And these are things worth fighting for,
Worth devoting our lives to.
Ronald Wilson Reagan
***
* Johnny Michael Spann
Died during a deadly four-day prison riot near
Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan.
He served as an American paramilitary officer
in the C.I.A.’s Special Activities Division.
He had also served in the Marines.
Mike was the first American killed in combat
during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
He died at the Qala-i-Jangi fortress during an
al-Qaeda prisoner uprising.
- Wikipedia
He was interviewing a group of extremists when
hundreds of prisoners revolted.
Just before he was killed in the attack,
Mike warned an Agency colleague of the
imminent danger,
helping his colleague get to safety.
At his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery
in December 2001, then C.I.A. Director
George Tenet had this to say…
“It was in the quest for right that Mike at his
country’s call went to Afghanistan.
To that place of danger and terror,
he sought to bring justice and freedom.
And to our nation…
which he held so close to his heart…
he sought to bring a still greater measure of
strength and security.
For Mike understood that it is not enough simply
to dream of a better, safer world.
He understood that it must be built…
with passion and dedication,
in the face of obstacles,
in the face of evil.”
***
* Mark Andrew Forester
Senior Airman Mark Forester,
an Air Force combat controller,
was killed on Sep. 29, 2010
when he was leading a rescue team in the volatile
Uruzga2010, Province, Afghanistan,
to rescue a fallen comrade.
Forester and his team were advancing on a suspected
ambush in a known enemy safe haven inside of
Jangalak Village when they were engaged by a
“Well equipped and tenacious enemy”
He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his
courageous and selfless efforts.
On Mark’s granite tomb stone are these words…
“Greater love has no one than this,
than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
John 15:13
***
* Jeffrey B. Starr
Marine Cpl. Starr died from small-arms fire while
conducting combat operations against enemy forces
near Ar Ramadi, Iraq.
He was assigned to 1st Battalion,
5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division,
I Marine Expeditionary Force,
Camp Pendleton, California.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom his unit was attached
to 2nd Marine Division,
II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).
Died on May 30, 2005.
The following was found on his laptop computer
After his death…
“Obviously if you are reading this
then I have died in Iraq.
I kind of predicted this,
that is why I’m writing this in November.
A third time just seemed like I’m pushing my chances.
I don’t regret going,
everybody dies but few get to do it for something
as important as freedom.
It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq,
it’s not to me.
I’m here helping these people,
so that they can live the way we live.
Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators.
To do what they want with their lives.
To me that is why I died.
Others have died for my freedom,
now this is my mark.”
- Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr
***
American Soldier – Toby Keith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWrMeBR8W-c
Some Gave All – Billy Ray Cyrus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydWhRObVxrM
Arlington – Trace Adkins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJO7lJIxG10
