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Editor's note: Grace Gable, of Lewistown, found this column by Bill Dippery, former Mifflin County Veterans Affairs officer, among some articles she kept, and submitted it for publication this Memorial Day.
The following passage is from a sermon by John Hagee, of Cornerstone Church, in San Antonio:
I want you to close your eyes and picture in your mind the soldier at Valley Forge, as he holds his musket in his bloody hands. He stands barefoot in the snow, starved from lack of food, wounded from months of battle and emotionally scarred from the eternity away from his family, surrounded by nothing but death and carnage of war. He stands, though, with fire in his eyes, and victory on his breath. He looks at us now in anger and disgust and tells us this:
I gave you birthright of freedom born in the Constitution, and now your children are too illiterate to read it.
I fought in the snow barefoot to give you freedom to vote and you stay home because it rains!
I left my family destitute to give you the freedom of speech, and you remain silent on critical issues because it might be bad for business.
I orphaned my children to give you government to serve you, and it has stolen democracy from the people.
It's the soldier, not the reporter, who gives you freedom of speech.
It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who allows you to demonstrate.
It's the soldier, who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag, that allows the protestors to burn the flag!
Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need.
Amen