Hey folks!
I had the honor of hearing Dave Carey speak at the National D-Day Memorial this morning. I’m glad I wore sunglasses. I’m looking forward to reading his book The Ways We Choose. He delivered a powerful story of his 5 1/2 years as a POW in Vietnam, and walked his talk as a towering example of the power of the Individual. More on this to follow as I read his book. In the meantime, here’s a Memorial Day message and Volume 84 of Letters from Josh, the weekly correspondence to my friends in retirement homes (and you, of course!)
Letters from Josh
Memorial Day Letter 84 5/30/22
Howdy, folks! James Garfield said on “Decoration Day” (early Memorial Day) “If silence is ever golden, it must be beside the graves of 15,000 men whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem of music which can never be sung.” I stood there in the sun, baking on the concrete with a thousand other somber audience members at the National D Day Memorial. We were all listening. Dave Carey had been shot down over Vietnam. He frantically radioed for help, knee deep in a rice paddy, only to be told that rescue wasn’t an option. “I’ll see you when it’s over.”
“Over” took 5 ½ years of imprisonment, beatings, and torture.
Sometimes, it hurt so bad he couldn’t stand. Slithering on his belly, he’d plunk his face in the meager bowl of rice for a few morsels. The worst part, he said, was that he couldn't think. Suddenly, a fragment of the 23rd Psalm floated up in his brain, and after a few days, he pieced the whole thing together. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He talked about making choices, of learning, of growing, of trying. “How many of you are trying your very best?” A thousand people sat in stunned, sundried silence.
Memorial Day always makes my head spin. I looked up at the sepulchral arch of the National D-Day memorial behind his stage, and thought of the beaches of Normandy. The Civil War hangs heavy in the air around my new neighborhood. The wind rattles through an empty forest, as if to speak of those halcyon youth who have drenched the battlefield with their tomorrows so we might have today.
There’s will, God, the power of the individual, being unbreakable, of doing what must be done, growing, sacrifice, the principles of country and freedom, honor of the Dead, profound gratitude to be an American…What should be done with this occasion?
Mr. Carey provides a shining example of how we might both honor those who have died, and the opportunities their sacrifice provides. As he stood there in the sun, facing the riveted audience, I was struck by his example: We can do our best.
And what about how to feel on a day like this? My mother bought his book, and when she met him for an autograph after the event…she couldn’t help but cry. I can’t think of a more fitting response for the day.
-Josh