Flags and Stones: A Veterans Day Reflection

As we pulled into the Catholic cemetery we were amazed by its size. Rolling green hills, massive trees, open spaces, and grave stones of all sizes. After getting lost for a few minutes, we finally found the troop and they were already dividing and conquering. We were here with my son’s Cub Scout troop to honor veterans by placing Old Faithful on their graves.

Many of the veterans were from WWI or WWII. The passing of time had caused their stones to become sunken and overgrown. With eagerness the cubs got to work. “Here’s one!”, “This one needs to get cleaned.”, “Hey, this one has a Bible verse on it.” As our Cub Scouts honored the dead, the fathers looked on with a noticeable somberness. For me it was both a regret and uncertainty. Regret over never experiencing true comradery, teamwork, and discipline that only comes from the military life. Uncertainty about the future of our country and our families. How will the events we are witnessing today impact our kids?

As we walked through the cemetery, I was reminded of the difference between remembering and recalling. So often I had recalled the events of WWI and WWII through pictures, books, and movies. But had I envisioned myself in their shoes, huddled around their newspaper or family radio listening to the latest updates on the war? Had I felt the fear of the soldier in the trenches? Had I witnessed the foxhole where no atheist is found? Had I ever been the husband who kisses his wife goodbye, never to return? No, but this time I would try to remember, to transport myself there, and see if God would grant me a tiny grace to see what they saw and feel what they felt.

While I have been in graveyards before, this day hit harder than previous times. This time, the dead were long dead, and we had been called up to honor their sacrifice. It was like walking among the aftermath of a battle frozen in time. Our mission was to walk among the scars of history, and ensure that all the dead were identified and remembered. No man left behind. But to merely read their name, rank, and war would not suffice. No, a proper remembering involves the imagination and its transportive power.

In the Christian Faith, when we celebrate the mass, we are not merely recalling the death of our Lord, we are remembering. “Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated.” (CCC, 1104). One priest, teaching on the Catechism, taught us that for Christians the phrase, “In memory of me…” is not merely to recall that Jesus did something. It’s more akin to the Jewish remembrance of Passover. It is a re-living, not a repeating, of the event through the symbols and elements that bring us back to that place, albeit in a different way, than the event itself. After a year of attending Catholic Mass, it was the liturgy of the Mass that inspired me to think differently about these brave veterans.

In many ways the imagination can transcend time and space. In this case, we would walk and imagine who this man or that man was. The leaves crunching beneath our feat, and the little "medics” running around doing their duty to care for the dead. But the dead were too many. We could not get to all of them. But the ones we could find, we cleaned their stones as if we were cleaning their wounds, and we pinned the flags into the ground like SEALs pin their trident to a casket.

I understand that this may seem over the top, or a “highly imaginative retelling” of our walk in the graveyard. But I think it is good for us citizens to put ourselves in the dead’s shoes. To try to taste death, not in a depressing way, but in a way that reminds us to live virtuously so the service of those living and those gone actually matters. It’s reflections like this that have led me to write and begin podcasting. I’m no genius and I’m definitely no soldier, but I don’t want be found by God sitting on my ass with the little talent I have buried in the ground — especially when so many have used their greater talents for greater goods.

Some may want to downplay our current situation globally and domestically. Our border is in disarray, fentanyl and cartels stream across our border, China is getting more aggressive, Israel is under attack by the terrorist group Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine continue their smoldering, and at other times, blazing conflict. This says nothing of the antisemitic protests that are happening all over the world, including in our own country. The video you’re about to watch is of ~300,000 protesters, not in Iran, Iraq, or London, but in Washington, DC.

After planting several flags, a fellow father and I started talking. “It feels like a different day than other Veterans days”, I said. “Yeah, I feel like we are on the brink of two major wars, and maybe even a third world war.” We both paused, and let that comment hang in the air, and questions began to fill my mind. What was it like for these men? What would they say if they were listening in on our conversation?

Would they fight for a country that believed that children could be murdered in the womb? Would they have fought for a country that strips parents of their parental rights? Would they say it was worth it if the Nazis had been protesting in their streets? Would they fight for a country where men win Woman of The Year? Would they fight for a country where they put the rainbow flag above the American one? Would they? Would you?

We as Christians cannot serve evil. All of us, citizen and soldier, must recognize that there is a God, and His law is the one that matters. Life begins at conception, marriage is between one man and one woman, and male and female he created them. We are not permitted to live lies. What we do at home and abroad, in politics and in war, in our churches and in our workplaces, will be judged by God. Mortal sins exist, and their existence is evident. In the same way Heaven and Earth meet in the Mass, so mortal sins bring Hell on Earth in such a way that the most faithful among us are sacrificed in the carnage. We would do well to remember, with fear and trembling, who Christ casts into Hell first.

The future is not looking good, but eternity is always bright. These days many are speculating that Jesus may be coming back. This is possible, but if this is the case then there are a lot of people who will plausibly say “I knew it!” I do not think we fully grasp the idea of “No one knows the day or the hour.” The times will have to be so dark and so despairing, that it may be the case that no Christians are even present. After all, Christ himself said, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Lk. 18:8).

All of us will have some tough questions in the months and years to come about what America will look like, what soldiers she will produce, and whether or not she has any virtue left in her. She is ours to steward. Let us not despair, and let us not bury her with the rest of our talents.