In 1996, then First Lady Hillary Clinton visited Bosnia, which was a war zone at the time. There was no reason for her to be there other than political. Her presence only made life more difficult for US military personnel in country because they had to ensure the safety of a high profile civilian who had no business being there. In 2008, during Mrs. Clinton’s campaign for president against Barack Obama during the Democratic primary season, she claimed that on that trip she had ducked sniper fire at the airport. A CBS reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, who was part of the press team on that trip with Mrs. Clinton and was right there with her, was appalled that she would tell such a lie. There was no sniper fire. The area was secure and had been made secure by the US military at no small risk to themselves. There was video. No sniper fire.

          On May 21, 2021 (just last week) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York City, told an interviewer on the radio program Latino USA that she was in therapy because of the January 6 riot at the Capitol. She said the lawmakers were essentially at war. This young woman, who wishes to lead a revolution here in this country, was protected behind a heavy, well secured door. It was a fatal riot, resulting in five deaths. One woman died from a gunshot fired by a Capitol police officer. Two men died from heart attacks. Another woman died from a drug overdose. The last person to die was a Capitol police officer, in the line of duty. If Miss Ocasio-Cortez considers a riot something of a war, what does that make her as she cowered in a protected office? Also, there is no word as to whether she wishes to defund the Capitol police.

          Memorial Day is just a few days away. As I thought of what Memorial Day means, I thought of these two women and their military experiences.

          A friend of mine, Phil Bernier, retired from the United States Army some years ago. Another friend, Ed Wolf, retired from the United States Marine Corps a number of years ago. Both men experienced combat situations in their time in the service as the United States tends to act as the world’s police force. Both men have actually ducked sniper fire and both men have actually been in fire fights. Their opinions of Mrs. Clinton and Miss Ocasio-Cortez’s military careers is not very high. Our congregation has a number of veterans of the military and I don’t believe they have a very high opinion of these two women.

          I have a very low opinion of people who lie in order to make themselves look far grander than they are. Especially people who seek to tear down the military and the police.

          There are 155 military cemeteries in 42 states and Puerto Rico. In addition, there are many other cemeteries that have sections for military veterans. As you drive along, even before you arrive, you begin to feel a presence. Of course, it is just because you know where you are going. I guess. And then you top a hill and see it for the first time. Row after row of headstones, all alike, set in military precision. As you enter the cemetery and check in, you have an overwhelming feeling of awe and reverence. Some of the men and women lying beneath those markers died in combat. But most represent the people who survived their ordeal, came home and built our nation. Some gave the ultimate sacrifice while others were willing to do so. And then, in cemeteries all over our land, there are graves with small markers informing anyone who wishes to read; here lies someone who wore the uniform and served under the colors for you. For all of us. Even for the people who wish to cheapen the sacrifices of others. I have been in a few national cemeteries and I have been in many cemeteries where men and women have chosen to be buried with family and who yet served and I am filled with so much gratitude.

          All week I have thought about the people who seek to twist a great country into a band of weak willed, delusional people. And then, something occurred to me. When I was a boy, we farmed. While friends from school got money from paper routes and grass mowing, I often worked from daylight to dark and didn’t make a cent. I resented this ‘mistreatment.’ Finally, when I was twelve or thirteen, I confronted my father. I informed the old guy that Lincoln had freed the slaves. I got no further because I was lying on my back in a potato field. I was told by my father, who could move remarkably fast for an old guy, that I wasn’t a slave, but if I ever talked about it again I would learn about slavery first hand. Since I was already on the ground, I went back to digging potatoes. Years later, after I had grown up, I thought back to it and realized how foolish I had been.

          But the key phrase here is ‘after I had grown up.’ Before people start creating a danger scenario, they should grow up. Before someone wants to lead a revolution but who gets so scared that she needs therapy, she should grow up. Before one condemns this country and what it stands for, they should grow up and go and stand in one of those national cemeteries and hear the mournful notes of a bugle playing Taps as yet another true hero is laid to rest.

          My father was a flawed man. We all are to one degree or another. But for all his life my father carried the scars of shrapnel on his left leg from a mortar round that kill his buddy on Iwo Jima. I had my issues with my father. However, I never doubted that he was a hero. When the bugle sounded Taps in that national cemetery in North Carolina and I watched my father’s casket disappear from view, I truly felt he had finally come home.

          You who have worn the uniform of the Navy, the Army, the Air Force, the Marines and the Coast Guard….. You are heroes. You are my heroes. You are so much better than the pretenders who need to grow up be grateful.

          Thank you. Each and everyone of you. And to those of you…of us…who have lost our heroes, God bless us as we remember.