Honor Flight

We all do things we don't want to do.  Despite what people in the world say, following everything that makes us happy would get us all precisely nowhere.  And that's how I feel about "World War II In HD."  Mark and I have faithfully been making our way through the History Channel documentary that has hours of raw footage and narration from various soldiers that fought in the War.  Often, in the time between dropping the boys off and picking them up at Awana, we spend our Friday evenings immersed in the series.  I even remember a Safe Families rep calling several weeks ago to ask if we could take a child in and she said: Are you up, am I calling too late?  And I told her we were watching a World War II documentary.  She laughed at our Friday night antics.

Anyway, I have NO interest in watching this on my own.  I watch it with my husband because I know that it fascinates him.  And ultimately, it has pulled me in and I find it to be so valuable, often noting how different our country is, how much less valiant and noble our young men seem, etc.  As my kids grow, I will have them watch it, along with sad movies like "Schindler's List."  There is such value in gaining perspectives from the past, having an understanding of what others went through for freedoms, and knowing how much others suffer from oppression under different regimes.

Mark's grandpa landed at Normandy on D-Day in WWII.  He doesn't talk much about it, because he tends to cry over it.  Just based on the footage, it was atrocious.  But he's been invited to take an Honor Flight to Washington, DC today along with some fellow WWII survivors.  They will go to the WWII Memorial and have a nice dinner during this weekend.  Relatives were asked to write letters to these soldiers, and I found the letter Mark wrote, and it made me thankful for vets and my husband and his perspective.  I am cutting and pasting below for posterity.

Dear Grandpa,

            I am so glad you were able to go on your honor flight to Washington DC . I hope you had a great time and feel much appreciated by your country for your service in World War 2. As I mentioned recently, I have been watching some documentaries of that war and have seen and learned some of what the conditions were like and what soldiers like you had to endure. I can’t even imagine many of the atrocities that were committed, but I am thankful to know that God didn’t just allow all those things to take place, but He caused them to take place, so that in some way that we can’t understand He would be glorified through it all.

I want to tell you that one of the things I am most proud of you for is that you participated in that war and specifically in D-Day. If the topic ever comes up, I always say that “my grandpa was there on D-Day” in a way that rings with delight. Many men sacrificed their lives in that greatest invasion ever, and I am thankful that the Lord saw it fitting to spare you on that momentous day. Even though you didn’t lose your life, you certainly had to see and experience many things that most people would never want to see or experience, and have had to bear them mentally and emotionally with you these many years. Anyone who wasn’t there certainly couldn’t understand what that weight would be like, but I am thankful to know that Jesus knows perfectly what it is like. He came to us and saw firsthand the devastating effects of sin in this world, and ultimately gave his life to ransom His chosen ones from those devastating effects. Praise Jesus that He gives us grace to bear the burdens he has given to us for this short life, and praise Him that this short life will end in eternal bliss for those who believe.

That brings me to the thing I am most thankful for about you. I am thankful that you have trusted in Jesus and been a lifelong example of a faithful churchman. You fought for your country when duty called, but you have fought many more years as a soldier for Jesus Christ. You have been the patriarch of our family all my life, and as that patriarch you have followed God through His grace given to you. Thank you for raising your children in the Word, so that my parents could also raise me in the Word. Praise the Lord that he so frequently uses the institution of families to draw people to Himself through each new generation!

Thank you grandpa for your faithful service to our country many years ago; and thank you for the many years of service to Jesus that have been a testimony of the great power of God to both save and sanctify.

Your loving grandson,

Mark Wenslawski