As a U.S. Navy Chaplain who served the sea services from 2006-2014, I officiated at funeral and memorial services of active duty U.S. sailors and marines plus those Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack survivors who chose to be buried with shipmates at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, rather than be buried with loved ones in their hometowns. A few of those services were for troops killed in action.
Memorial Day, next Monday, is a day to remember those who gave their lives as a sacrifice for freedom.
The Rev. Dr. Henry van Dyke was a Presbyterian minister who embodied service to Christ and to his country with a long, distinguished career as a pastor, professor of English Literature at Princeton University, a writer and poet with over 30 published books, and U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands and Luxembourg from 1913-1917. Dr. van Dyke resigned his ambassadorship when the United States entered World War I in 1917. He volunteered to be a U.S. Navy chaplain and asked to serve on deployed warships.
Since he was in his 60s at the time, and a personal friend of President Woodrow Wilson, and also the Secretary of the Navy, Dr. van Dyke was commissioned a Navy Reserve Chaplain instead and was assigned to sell war bonds in support of the war effort.
Dr. Henry van Dyke is best known for his Christmas Story, “The Story of the Other Wise Man” and for writing the hymn “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” On Dec. 28, 1916, he wrote a short poem, “The Price of Peace,” that calculated the cost of war:
Peace without Justice is a low estate,—
A coward cringing to an iron Fate!
But Peace through Justice is the great ideal,—
We’ll pay the price of war to make it real.
Since 1775 the United States has lost 1.3 million service members who were killed in action from all our armed conflicts. Some of those killed were volunteers. Others were drafted. All fought to preserve the basic idea of freedom of speech, religion and self-determination.
The cost to preserve democracy has been high, but Dr. van Dyke was absolutely right when he wrote that true peace can’t be found without justice. Justice encompasses freedom from oppression, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion.
Without the sacrifice of these 1.3 million people, we would suffer as “A coward cringing to an iron Fate!” We are indebted to them for the liberty we enjoy today.
Memorial Day is a three-day holiday weekend. Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. Memorial Day is a time to remember deceased family members in the tradition of Decoration Day. But, most importantly, Memorial Day is a time to reflect upon the sacrifice of those 1.3 million service members who died so that we can enjoy freedom.
Memorial Day services will be Monday, May 27, at 10:30 a.m. at the Maplewood Cemetery in Luverne.
Sources:
Henry van Dyke, “The Red Flower: Poems Written in War Time.” New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1917 p. 17.
Number of military fatalities in all major wars involving the United States from 1775 to 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1009819/total-us-military-fatalities-in-american-wars-1775-present/