In the early days of this campaign, I was invited to meet with members of the Jefferson Barracks Heritage Foundation. These good people are working to preserve the installation and document its history. In the modest office within the Red Cross Building, these men enthusiastically detailed the history of Jefferson Barracks and the roles it served during American military mobilizations.
They pointed to maps, then pointed out the window then back to the map, or a photo. I followed the narrative that began in 1826 when it was established as an infantry school to compliment training at West Point. As America expanded westward the Army provided law to the new territories, “…not only to protect the settlers from the Indians, but also to protect the Indians from the settlers and from each other.” In time Jefferson Barracks became the staging area from which the Army would project troops to the west. In a few years, it was the largest post in America.
Joe Frank, a wounded Vietnam veteran shared with me stories of the “citizen soldiers” who passed through Jefferson Barracks. Great Generals – Grant, Lee, Eisenhower and others have served and trained in Missouri. Tens of thousands more flowed through Jefferson Barracks, officers and enlisted noted less by history but known to their families as brothers, sisters, sons and daughters to serve as champions of our nation.
The American military is unique in its composition. There is no more refined meritocracy than among America’s armed forces. The British raised regiments and fleets as nobles invested in the men, material and training, receiving payment from the crown or by confiscating property from conquered lands or ships. Other societies populated the ranks of their commissioned officers – such as they are – based on loyalty to party or by selecting closely related kin. In these militaries enlisted members are typically poorly trained, poorly outfitted and poorly cared-for conscripts upon whom the burden of being a soldier falls like a boot on the neck. Pressed into service, these men will oppress as they are oppressed.
In contrast, American officers and enlisted come from all walks of life, all economic strata. Dirt farmers and accountants flooded the beaches of Anzio and Okinawa. Bankers and ranch hands stood in ranks at Appomattox. Physicists and roofers work together on the tarmacs of Diego Garcia and the decks of frigates, destroyers and carriers all over the globe. Their motives vary – being a serviceman is a better gig now than it was in Valley Forge, but every uniformed man and woman knows that it may come upon them to fight. American servicemen are well regarded by their fellow citizens. We see them as our friends and families. We idealize them as protectors of liberty.
My brother is a Marine, and I am very proud of him. I have a Kevlar “pot” of his, and it reeks of the sweat from those hot theaters where he and his comrades close with the enemy. He is smart and driven. He would be a success in anything he chose to do, but he chose the life of low pay and grinding sacrifice in his beloved Corps for his beloved Country. To him and the vets I have had the privilege to meet, service is a privilege and an honor.
Jefferson Barracks is home to a unit of the Missouri National Guard. It is also the final resting place Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Merchant Mariners. Many of them came home after America’s wars and the flag that draped their casket honored an old man or elderly woman whose end came long after their particular conflict ended. Other flags envelop a hero lost in battle, a life cut short when they were the protective wall made flesh when harm threatened their people.
Others still are like Joe, and left part of their life in a distant mud hole. Where his place in Jefferson Barracks will be is not yet known – and may it be unknown for many years – but still he has already given much for his home, and he continues to give.
The gravestones of Jefferson Barracks are so white that on a day with any sun the sheen will hurt your eyes. This is fitting in a sense, that this orderly stone garden where our protectors are laid would by its nature induce an American look for a moment, then look away in honor and reverence.
The Savior taught us that greater love has no man than that he lay down his life for his friends. Memorial day is the day where we ought to commemorate not just the sacrifice, but the greater love of these men and women who carried arms and tended wounds in our service . I find inspiration in the love they had for their comrades and their liberty. My brother loves his men, Joe loved his fellow soldiers and continues to look out for their well-being to this day. Both love their country in a way not many of us experience. I am grateful for them because they have studied war so that my children can live in peace and freedom. My Memorial Day prayer is that I can match their devotion to our country.
God bless you, Veterans. God rest the fallen.
Ed
