On Veterans Day, 2005, the West Chester Men's Service Club held a dinner to
honor our local veterans. What follows is the poignant benediction given
by the Reverend F. Michael Knight to close the proceedings. It is our hope
that this prayer will stand as a testament to the bravery and sacrifice of all
who have worn our country's uniform and carried its flag into battle, and as a
reminder to the rest of us to always be grateful and to never, never forget.
Night has fallen among us. We end tonight’s observance,
knowing that morning’s light will dawn on fewer among us who remember
Normandy’s hedgerows or the Death March to Bataan, fewer who peered into the
dark skies of Europe or the dark waters of the Pacific. Tomorrow’s dawn will
be seen by fewer who remember the frostbitten Chosin Reservoir, or the
breathless steam of the Mekong Delta.
We are thankful for their willingness to raise their
hands in response to their nation’s call, for their readiness to raise their
right hands in oaths more binding than death, to raise their hands in
sacrificial service.
They will have gone from among us to join their
comrades who have marched on before them, gone but not forgotten.
Their ranks among us do not remain empty; they are
replenished by those whose memories are far fresher, whose wounds are far
more recent. Their lungs still gasp for the thin air of Afghanistan; they
still bake and freeze in the Iraqi Desert. They serve in a thousand nameless
places driving trucks with far too many miles or in holes a half inch from
hell, where the snap of small arms and the crushing thud of explosives are
only a moment away. Their numbers grow, day by day, and we owe them our
thanks.
Lincoln reminded our nation of its duty to care for
those who have born the burden of battle and for their widows and orphans.
Nations are judged by how we treat them. We are judged by how we stand by
those who have stood up for us.
May God give us grace to
Lift up those who were strengthened in the crucible
Stand with those who still bear its marks
And most of all, never, never, never to forget the debt of gratitude we owe
them.
Never forget,
Amen
The Rev. F. Michael Knight
Transfiguration Episcopal Church
www.transfiguration-wc.org
