Faith, With Honor and Gratitude for Freedom on Independence Day
The following rewritten piece was submitted for publication in this past weekend’s edition of the local newspaper. The Courier-Times Saturday, June 30, 2007 issue under their “Faith“ column in the “Neighbors” section published it as part of their ongoing invitation to the Henry County Ministerial Association in New Castle, Indiana to provide Christian Perspectives for the community at large.
Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you,
so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you
in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
â€â€Deuteronomy 5:16
This verse from the Decalogue in Scripture has undoubtedly been referred to in children’s meditations on Mothers’ and Fathers’ Days through the months of May and June. It is the first among the second section of the Ten Commandments that deal with our relationships with one another as human beings in the family of God. As I have reflected on this in the past, I thought it appropriate to remember once again as we celebrate and continue enjoying our freedom on the national holiday of Independence Day for this upcoming Fourth of July.
As we would remember those from among our own who are serving abroad in places of war and conflict today in the service of their country, I am reminded once again of the second world war that came not long after “the war [that was] to end all wars� in which my father and grandfathers fought in the Asian-Pacific theater. After living and driving for now almost two and a half years on Indiana State Road 38 which is also named the Bataan Memorial Highway, it is fitting for me to continue to remember the legacy of God’s blessing through generations before me. This is also particularly so as our town recently observed Memorial Day weekend at the end of last month when our nation set aside a day in memory of those who have served to defend others for the cause of freedom. As such, it is good for us to be continually reminded of the priceless cost of the liberty we enjoy in such a nation under God’s sovereign grace.
My Dad, Mariano G. Espiritu, who survived the Bataan Death March, is honored to have served during World War II under U.S. General Jonathan Wainwright, who commanded American and Filipino forces in the last days of Corregidor and Bataan in 1942. I am planning soon to visit the WWII Memorial in our nation’s capital where my father’s name is one of many honorably listed for their service among what Tom Brokaw of NBC News wrote of and referred to as the greatest generation.
Over 65 years ago, General Wainright took over the desperate defense of the Philippines in March 1942 after General Douglas MacArthur’s departure. Many Filipinos and Americans likely recall General MacArthur saying, “I shall return,â€? as he was leaving the islands of the Philippines for Australia. Despite General Wainwright’s efforts in evacuating as many troops as possible to Corregidor, a small but heavily fortified island in Manila Bay, 12,000 American and 63,000 Filipino troops were trapped at Bataan on the island of Luzon. Lacking food, supplies, and support, Corregidor’s 15,000 American and Filipino defenders kept up a stubborn resistance against massive assaults by Japan’s combined armed forces.
Finally, on May 6, General Wainwright surrendered his exhausted and starving forces. Most of the Americans and Filipinos captured by the Japanese perished because of maltreatment.<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[1]<!–[endif]–> My grandfather who served in the resistance against the Japanese invasion suffered torture and death as a prisoner of war. To this day, I am told of stories in which my grandmother received thanks from former guerilla soldiers in gratitude for my grandfather having concealed the names of those under his command. Their lives had been spared because of my grandfather’s sacrifice.
By God’s grace, my father was saved when a mother and her children were feigning grieving over his body under water in a ditch by the roadside where the Japanese soldiers’ bullets missed him as he was left for dead, breathing through a bamboo shoot. Were it not for the sovereign hand of Almighty God upon my father’s life, I would never have even been born and as such, I would not be able to be here serving as a pastor in New Castle, Indiana today.
As we observe the holiday celebrating our nation’s independence this week, I pray along with others in our community together for those who are serving us today while also remembering with thanksgiving and gratitude others before them who have served and sacrificed much for the preservation of the priceless gift we have to be able to worship the Lord freely in this land that we have been given, that our days may be long and that it may go well with us in the land that the Lord our God is giving us. May it be so as we celebrate under the One Who truly sets us free indeed.
http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive/speech_504.html
