July 4, 1863 Telegraph from President Lincoln:

“The President announces to the country that news from the Army of the Potomac, up to 10 P.M. of the 3rd. is such as to cover that Army with the highest honor, to promise a great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen. And that for this, he especially desires that on this day, He whose will, not ours, should ever be done, be everywhere remembered and reverenced with profoundest gratitude.”

President Abraham Lincoln, July 4, 1863

Day Trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield

One of my favorite things to do is to drag my entire family out on day trips. Gettysburg was just such a trip. It’s close to our house, and it is all outdoors.

Gettysburg is such a humongous historical battlefield that it is actually a driving tour. It was a good thing too because we went in freezing weather. The wind was howlin’! But you know I’ve never been one to let a little hostile weather lock me in. It was my birthday, and we made the most of it.

Four Key Facts to Know About the Battle of Gettysburg:

#1. This national park protects the very land of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, from the American Civil War.

#2. The Union Army won this battle, and it is considered the turning point of the Civil War.

#3. Gettysburg was the Civil War’s bloodiest battle. It effectively ended Confederate General Lee’s invasion of the North.

There were over 51,000 casualties.

#4. It is the site of President Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, which he made at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery dedication.

A lot of that you may have already known.

But did you know that Lincoln was deeply disappointed in the end game performance of General Meade at this battle?

You see, Meade allowed the Confederate troops to flee the battlefield free of pursuit. President Lincoln thought if only Meade’s forces had given them chase, they could have finished off the war altogether. At this point, the Civil War had already dragged on for two years, and naturally the President was anxious to see it end.

Lincoln actually wrote a letter of reproach to General Meade but then did not send it to him.

Tips for Touring:

#1. There is a museum with gift shop.

Visit the museum first instead of last! We goofed on that by waiting until the end of our tour. The gift shop and the museum all closed up shop just five minutes before we finished up our tour and were ready to enter. Sad.

#2. Use a self- guided tour app!

They have bus tours you can sign up for, and horse tours, and all sorts of things. We just downloaded the app on our phone and toured in the comfort of the minivan. There are actually several apps to choose from. The apps work with your GPS. They know where you are and will give you the history as you drive.

I think we used this app.

Unfortunately, we were still figuring it out at the beginning and completely missed the cemetery area. This was disappointing because the cemetery is where the Lincoln statue and information are. Don’t skip the cemetery! See, you really do learn more from your mistakes…

Otherwise, the app was awesome. It told us history about each place we visited and explained many of the monuments. We used Bluetooth on my phone to play it through the van speakers, so everyone in the car could hear well.

#3. Plan for this whole tour to take a few hours.

You will stop and get out a lot. There are even tall look-out pavilions to climb and get views.

#4. Devil’s Den has lot of rocks that children like to climb on.

My kids passed on the climbing when we went though. It was too windy and FREEZING.

#5. If you have access to ancestry.com or family history, look up what grandfather you may have had that fought in this battle.

I was surprised to discover I had many grandfathers who fought in this battle, and so did my husband. Try to find which unit they fought with and if they lived to tell the tale.

The Gettysburg Address

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. “

“We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.“

Alan says my brooch looks like a sheriff’s badge. Ha!! I still think it’s pretty. Long live the brooch.

“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. “

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion —

“…that we here highly resolved that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.“

President Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.

For more information, check out the Gettysburg website.

I hope you get to go. It was fascinating. I have one last group of photos I MUST share with you. This isw my favorite picture and sighting from the trip. How cool is this?

This barn was there before the battle, and it still stands. It STILL bears the cannon hole from the Battle of Gettysburg!

Closing Thoughts from Lincoln

If you are a history lover like me, there is nothing better than reading commentary from the people who lived it and lead it.

Lincoln noted in his second inaugural address that he believed the war dragged on so long so that our country might pay for every drop of enslaved blood that had been shed. Here is his exact quote:

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’

~Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address

The post How To Take an Easy Fun Car Tour of Gettysburg appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Photo and article by guest writer Amy Lloyd

Thank you, Flight 93: You died so that I might live.

It was 8:30 a.m. on the morning of September 11, 2001, and it started out just like a typical day in Congressman John Thune’s Congressional office on Capitol Hill. Lights still off, the aroma of coffee and the sound of the copy machine firing up for the busy day ahead, we soaked in the quiet before the storm of the phones ringing off the hook or the latest crisis while reading legislative briefings and writing House floor vote recommendations for the Congressman.

The office opened at 9 a.m. with a staff meeting to discuss the day’s legislative schedule, constituent meetings and press calls. A few minutes before the meeting was to start someone yelled, “Turn on the TV! The World Trade Center is on fire!” Instead of turning on our own desk TV’s, we rushed into the Congressman’s office and watched the news coverage together to discover the North Tower was struck by a plane. Was it an accident or was it a terrorist attack were the questions being asked by Congressman Thune and my fellow staffers, by the reporters on TV and by Americans all over the world. By 9:03 a.m., we knew the answer to the question when we watched a second plane hit the South Tower on live cable news.

We tried the best we could to brief the Congressman on the day’s schedule. When we were almost done, my husband Matt called the main line of the office insisting to talk to me. He was across the Potomac River near the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, to get our car serviced. “Great,” I thought to myself, “It’s probably a hefty repair.” When I got to the phone he was panicked.

He saw a low-flying plane overhead, felt the ground shake and heard the impact of Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon. “Evacuate! Get out of there! Just. Get. Out!”

The TV coverage changed to split-screen live video of the attack on America. We decided as a staff we needed to figure out where to go and what to do. The problem was no one knew. My clearest memory of 9/11 to this day was our legislative director on the phone with the U.S. Capitol Police yelling, “What do you mean you don’t know where to send the Congressman? What do you mean you don’t know what we’re supposed to do?”

We decided to evacuate to our chief of staff’s Capitol Hill apartment a few blocks away. The Capitol Complex was formally evacuated shortly thereafter. When we arrived at his place, we learned of the plane that crashed in Somerset County, PA. Some of us tried to make phone calls, but everything was jammed with all of Washington trying to call loved ones. The entire city was under evacuation.

Congressman Thune’s wife, Kimberley, was with us. She rarely travelled to Washington, DC, but she was providentially with us on that day and provided a calming presence for us all. The press secretary’s email and voicemail was full from reporters in South Dakota wanting to speak to Congressman Thune. She set up a conference call and while he spoke to the reporters we all sat there listening, still in disbelief.

The following days revealed that there was a good chance Flight 93, the plane that crashed upside-down almost 600 miles per hour into the Somerset County field in Pennsylvania, was headed for the U.S. Capitol, where I was working.

In the immediate wake of the tragedy, we experienced a coming-together of Americans more than I have experienced in my short lifetime. Americans returned to churches and temples and prayed for our nation. Men and women felt moved to join the U.S. Armed Forces to protect our country and fight for freedom. Republicans and Democrats worked together like no other time in contemporary politics. Amidst the tragedy and the mourning, there was a sweet fellowship of solidarity.

Every year on 9/11, I thank God for the ordinary people that courageously acted to prevent Flight 93 from making it to the Capitol.

But, as the years go by, I wonder if the tragedy of the day has become lost. In recent years, I returned to school to study music. As a graduate student last year I sat in a classroom on 9/11 surrounded by students 20 years younger than me. The weather was exactly how it was on 9/11, a beautiful morning. The professor lectured on instrumental music of the seventeenth century while I acted like I was paying attention, but instead was deep in thought doing the math on how old my classmates were on 9/11 and if they even remember it. I decided that day to take our children to the Flight 93 National Memorial as soon as we could make it happen.

This past July we finally visited the Memorial. As we approached the visitor’s center, there was a Park Ranger at a small exhibit explaining the various areas of the park. She asked after her short speech if there were any personal stories that people wanted to share from 9/11. I told them that I was in the Longworth House Office Building on 9/11. A woman looked at me and said, “Those people saved your life.” I could barely speak, “I’ve always wanted to come here.”

We walked to the overlook before going into the visitor’s center. On the glass of the balcony is the quote; “A common field one day. A field of honor forever.” Matt asked me if I wanted to take a photo, but I couldn’t do it. This was hallowed ground. It was a powerful moment standing there looking down the hill at the boulder that is at the crash site.

I just kept thinking over and over: “They died so that I might live. They died so that I might live.” Seventeen years of life and living since September 11, 2001 flashed before me in my thoughts in a matter of minutes as I stood in that spot.

I realized maybe my children might not have been born had the plane made it to the Capitol. And, as a Christian, one who believes that Jesus Christ, the son of God, died so that I might live, I realized it was the most poignant symbol of my faith that I could ever experience on this side of eternity.

On Sunday, the Flight 93 National Memorial dedicated its new Tower of Voices chime structure including a wind chime to represent each of the 40 lives of the passengers and crew on Flight 93. Their voices will not and cannot be forgotten.

Thank you Flight 93: You died so that I might live.

You died so that 35,000 Americans at the U.S. Capitol might live.

You died so that America might live.

We will never forget.

This article is written by Amy Lloyd. Amy served as a legislative assistant for three Members of Congress from 2000-2006. She is now a singer, speaker and teacher based out of Southern Maryland near Washington, DC. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @Lloyd_Amy_. For bookings, go to www.amylloydmusic.com.

The post Thank You, Flight 93. You died so that I might live. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Army sister, mom, & wife the 1st Christmas Alan was in Iraq, 2003. Our t-shirts have the 4th ID logo and read “Ho Ho Hooah!”

*****Alan’s mother, Donna, aka Nonna, is here today to share with us a speech she gave at her church in 2004, when Alan returned from his first deployment to Iraq. This is part of the series, The Real Army Wives, appearing every Monday on storiesofourboys.com.*****

When Alan accepted the ROTC scholarship after his second year in college, we knew that someday he might have to go to war, but war was not in sight at that time and the next war would probably be over fast because of all the technology. His decision to sign up was stressful for all of us, but he had really prayed about it. Alan felt like he owed it to his country, was fit and able to serve, and could use the army as his mission field.

Now how could we argue with all that? We were very proud of him and supported his decision. My husband, David’s, daddy had retired as a Lt. Col. and was gung-ho Army, as well as our nephew who is an Army Major. I had an uncle who had died in Vietnam so our family has always understood how important the military is to us. We have always been patriotic and thankful to God to be Americans.

Alan was a college senior on 9-11 and we all knew what that meant. That’s when we became even more aware of world events.

When Alan was commissioned upon graduation, he promised to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; to bear true faith and allegiance to the same. He took the obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and would well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which he was about to enter…so help him God.

Now when you hear your son take that oath, it really touches you. We were so proud of him.

Sending Our Son to War

When he received orders for Iraq, they were for February, 2003.

He and April had only been with the 4^th ID at Ft. Hood since the middle of January. Remember all the fuss with Turkey about whether or not our troops could pass through there to enter Iraq? Well, this went on for several weeks so their deployment date kept changing.

saying good-bye to Alan at the airport in Killeen–or was it Austin?–Texas, 2003

We talked on the phone with him several times a week. He was packed and ready to go at a moment’s notice. David and I flew out there the end of February for a weekend. Alan’s duffle bags, gas mask, chemical suit, etc. were all in the hall-we just had to walk around them. Alan was ready to go. Like he said, it was like practicing football week after week and waiting for your chance to play and prove what you could do.

He wanted to just go, do it, and come back. It was so hard to leave them at the airport that trip. It helped us so much to know that April was there for him.

I guess the worst part was the waiting for that call to say he was gone.

Our TV pretty much stayed on the news trying to hear something about when they would leave and what they would find when they got there. It was like, well, the sooner they leave, get there, do the job, then the sooner he can come home and things get back to normal.

Then the call came…

Sunday night, March 30. April stayed with him at the gym until early morning, then called us after he left. They had been together for 3 ½ months…that is a short honeymoon. She wanted to stay at Ft. Hood in their house. After all, his deployment was only for 4-6 months.

We anxiously waited for news, phone calls, and/or letters. Letters took 3-4 weeks each way at first.

Alan in Iraq, with the standard camera of the times…

I just kept thinking about what it must have been like for mothers during the previous wars when they did not hear anything for months or even years!

Every time the news said 4^th ID was involved in an incident, then we were really glued to the TV and the internet. David found some internet sites with very up-to-date news and he checked them often day and night.

If we heard about a death or injury in the 4^th ID, we were quite anxious, especially if the phone rang.

April had told us that she would call immediately if she ever had a report of injury or a condolence call. Now that was nerve-racking.

Then you hear “Three soldiers from the 4^th ID were killed this morning in an IED attack near Tikrit.” That was where Alan was. With the news like it is now, we would hear of incidents right away, hours before families had been contacted. We would try to plan so one of us was near the phone until names were released.

David spent many nights sleeping on the floor in the den in front of the TV listening for news updates. There were days when I would leave for school (teaching middle school) and David (self-employed) would stay on the internet, in front of the TV, and by the phone to hear names released. Then he would call me at school to let me know that it was not Alan. Once that sank in, then we mourned for the families of the lost.

This went on for the whole year. Yes, that 4-6 month deployment turned into 12 months.

The first 7 months Alan did not have email or regular phone service. He could only call occasionally on a line relayed through a military station to a stateside military installation and then patched through to us. There was a bad voice delay and service was usually cut off suddenly.

April was great about calling us right after his calls to her. This was so comforting to know that at that moment, at least, he was safe. She would also email us copies of his letters-minus the mushy stuff- as soon as she got them. That was such a comfort for us- she was wonderful.

A family member, Major Jay Nelson, took the time to explain to Nonna how the whole structure of the Army works. 4th Infantry Division is divided into brigades, which are divided into battalions, which are divided into companies, and so on…

The first 6 months were extremely hard, but then David and I talked about our real feelings with each other. We knew God had blessed us with 2 wonderful children and a daughter-in-law who were all strong Christians.

We had reared Alan the best we could. He was doing his duty and what he wanted to do. We were secure in the fact that God could take care of him over there. We couldn’t, and no amount of our worrying could, but God could. And if God saw in His plan for Alan not to come home, Alan would be with Him, we would see him in eternity one day, and God would give us strength to handle it.

That is when we really turned our worrying over to God and really placed Alan in God’s hands.

We were still scared, but God helped us handle it. We could really tell a difference in our stress levels, still high, but lower than before, and easier to function every day.

It meant so much for our church family and friends to express concern for Alan, appreciation for his service for us as Americans, and your prayer support.

So many even sent him cards, letters, and/or packages. These meant as much to us as to him- and that was a lot! Alan really appreciated letters and packages from everyone. He especially appreciated hearing from those that were not family, as he just expected to hear from family.

I remember him mentioning when he called one time about how upsetting the news could be over there. When the troops would hear politicians against the war and saw polls against the war, it really hurt them to think that Americans back home were not behind them. They took it very much to heart.

The news mainly seemed to cover the bad things over there. Alan wished the news would show more of what was really happening. They never showed how much we were improving things for the Iraqi people, nor how appreciative the Iraqis were of our help.

His return was delayed for days too. He could not tell us exactly when he would leave Iraq.

Flights had to be secret for security reasons. It was another exciting time just waiting for him to let April know he was in “the States.” Finally, she called and said he was in Delaware.  Alan would be in Ft. Hood in a few hours.

Was that ever exciting!!!!

April called us when his plane flew over their house and touched down on the runway. Then she talked to us as she was driving to the gym. Then Alan called for just a minute when they walked in the house.

I can’t really describe the relief.

The tears flowed, revealing just how uptight we had been. Just talking to him and knowing that he was in his house, with April, and nobody was shooting at him or trying to blow him up was enough. Lots of people could not believe that we did not fly out there right away. But remember, they had only had 3 ½ months together and we did not want to intrude. We knew she was taking really good care of him for us.

No matter how you feel about the war on terror, please don’t hurt the soldiers and their families, even unintentionally, by what you say. Remember, these men and women volunteered to fight to protect our country. They are willing to give their lives if necessary to protect us.

We are so proud of Alan. They don’t make the decisions about where they are sent. It really hurts them and their families when people say we shouldn’t be there without adding “But I appreciate and support the troops.” Remember, they are fighting to protect us, here in Roanoke, from terrorism.

Fighting over there may prevent fighting in our front yards. Some have even given their lives for us. I appreciate every soldier, both now and in the past, and their families who wait at home.

We are proud of Alan and how he has chosen to live his life.

We will be here to support him and his family through it all. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. As Alan reminds us, please don’t forget to continue praying for those who are still in harm’s way, as well as their families.

To those families who have sacrificed loved ones and to all here today who have served in our Armed Forces, I want to say “Thank you” from the bottom of my heart.

DaddyO and Nonna are now retired. They spend their time taking care of their puppy, visiting family, working word puzzles, reading, teaching Sunday School, visiting their 6 grandchildren, and all sorts of things. They have now been military parents for 15 years and have sent their son to Iraq twice and Afghanistan once.

Next Chapter: When Alan First Deployed: My New Friends at 911

Thanks so much for sharing your story, Nonna! I loved reading the story from a different perspective.

Next week the story continues of handling life alone in Texas, once my husband was gone to Iraq. A new installment of the Real Army Wives series goes up every Monday morning, sometimes even Sunday night! Thanks for following along!

To read last week’s chapter, click here.

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The post Sending Our Son to War in the Beginning of the War on Terrorism appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

The Last Visit

For a few minutes there, people began to joke that the 4th Infantry Division was never actually leaving for Iraq. By the first of March of 2003, the whole division was still waiting, and the other division in town, the 1st Cavalry Division, had orders as well. Some of the 1st Cav guys began to joke that the 1st Cav would beat the 4th ID to the punch after all.

Alan’s parents came for their visit. I baked my first cake for Alan’s mom’s birthday.

DaddyO, Nonna, and Alan, during that last visit

DaddyO and Nonna handled all this with such brave faces, I honestly had no idea the level of stress they were feeling. (You will get to hear about this deployment from Alan’s parents’ perspective on next week’s post. I can’t wait to share that!)

The only thing I noticed at the time was that they called more frequently that month before he left. Obviously, they were also sitting on the edges of their seats sweating out Alan’s departure date. They watched enough Fox News for an entire retirement village, and this was before they were retired.

Alan’s mother was a middle school science teacher, and his father was a forester. Yet somehow they managed to watch the news around the clock.

Alan’s parents’ visit came and went, but Alan remained, still at home.

My 22nd birthday came, and I received happy birthday phone calls from 12 different people, a completely unprecedented occurrence that had never happened before or since.

I think everyone among our friends and family were waiting on pins and needles with us!

Dad, me, and Alan

My parents visited us too, along with my brother and sister. My sister, Amanda, is fully incapacitated. She was born with such severe brain damage, resulting from a random neural tube defect, that she was not expected to live past the age of two. Amanda cannot see, walk, talk, or do anything for herself.

As you can imagine, road trips weren’t something my family did a lot of. The 15 hour trip from Alabama to Texas was no small undertaking for them, but they did it.

Mom and Dad gave our new digs their stamp of approval, and we enjoyed showing them around Fort Hood.

I do not remember how we fit my entire family in our new, barely furnished home, but somehow we did.

My family’s visit came and went, and yet Alan remained, still at home.

March 17,2003

President George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein a 48-hour deadline to leave Iraq. Of course, that order was ignored.

Shock and Awe

March 22, 2003 was the day of the famous “Shock and Awe” invasion of Baghdad. We still remember sitting in our little living room, watching the bombing of Iraq on our old-school 19- inch t.v.

I can still see Alan sitting in his little green recliner, eyes glued to the set. Watching Alan watch the bombing was entertainment in itself. Alan was excited and restless, in thick anticipation of going over there.

These men were a fire support team. There’s Alan on the back row, 2nd from the right.

After March 22nd, things sped up drastically.

We knew about 24 hours in advance. That call came on March 30th, and they said, “Bring your bags at 2pm.”

Everyone went down there at 2pm, loaded up the bags. We waited a while, and then they sent us all home until midnight, or some time in the middle of the night.

The details get fuzzy here, but I recall that after they sent us back home, we tried to just stay awake and enjoy our last night together. Rather than passing out on our bed, we ended up accidentally falling asleep in the living room.

It was a restless sleep, though. Before we knew it, it was the middle of the night and time to head back down there to say good-bye for an indefinite amount of time.

I just remember standing outside, in the chilly air, in a red sweater. The unit stood together in formation.  At some point, someone took this photo for us.

Deployment in the Middle of the Night

The soldiers then headed to a trailer where they waited for even more hours before they ever finally boarded a plane.

I snuck a three-page letter into Alan’s carry-on ruck sack for him to find on his 20 hour airplane ride.

After we said good-bye, I remember watching him walk away, wondering if he’d turn and look back. I think the first time he did, and then we hugged once more, but the last time he didn’t look back.

Then I walked–or stumbled–because I was so sleep deprived, to my car. I drove home in a haze of exhausted tears. By this point, it was around 4 am. I didn’t cry that much until I was actually in my car alone, driving home. At that point I could let the sobs flow freely.

I committed Alan to God’s care. We’d been married all of 7 months, and I had no idea as to when I would ever see Alan again.

“After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”                           Genesis 15:1

Next chapter in this series:

Army Mom: Alan’s Mother Tells her Story

Want to catch up on this series? Check here to find what you’ve missed.

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We left Oklahoma full of excitement over finally being together as a married couple. We were ON OUR WAY! Things were looking up for us. Alan and I were finally picking out our first house. Okay, so we were only 21 and 23. Maybe we’d settle for an apartment or a nice townhouse, but either way, it was going to be OURS, TOGETHER!

Eeeeee!!!! Happy, happy! Joy, joy!

But there was this one problem holding back our complete happiness. Dark, foreboding figures loomed in the corners of my mind. They looked like naysayers to me.

“I hear 4th Infantry Division is deploying to Turkey. Going in from the North,” Alan’s buddies at Officer Basic Course, back in Oklahoma, said.

Thankfully, everything was all “probably”, “maybe”, and “talk of the possibility.” There were no actual set-in-stone facts yet. (You see, at that point, America had not set foot in Iraq as part of the War on Terrorism yet. We were still only fighting in Afghanistan.)

“Ah, no one knows anything for sure, ” I comforted myself. “I’m not believing any of these rumors until I hear them from Alan’s soon to be unit in Texas.”

I always held out hope. This was my turn to finally begin my happily ever after, and all these gloom and doom storm clouds hovering all around me were ignored to the best of my ability.

Gray skies were everywhere, but the sun could come out at any moment. Not a drop of rain had fallen yet. Not a single lightning bolt had actually flashed. They just threatened.

With that mindset, we packed up Alan’s white Blazer and my bright royal blue Grand Am, arguing about the best way to make it all fit, and headed south.

I don’t remember where we were. It was somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Texas. But neither Alan nor I have ever forgotten that day. I’ve never forgotten that punch-in-the-gut from out of nowhere feeling.

Since we were driving two separate cars, Alan didn’t even know what happened, but when he saw me pull over, he pulled over too.

Just like on 9/11, I heard it from my radio. It was somewhere around January 15, 2003. I was all singing at the top of my lungs, until the news came on.

That’s when the news man announced that it was officially released, just that day, that 4th ID did indeed have orders to deploy their division to the northern border of Iraq in preparation for invasion.

Just like that, I was Chicken Little, and my thunder clouds had all just dropped their rain at once. The lightning was everywhere. The thunder was louder than the news on my radio. The rain was so thick I couldn’t see in front of me.

My heart was broken. I was bawling my eyes out. How could this happen? Why did this have to be? Our happily ever after just kept slipping further and further away.

I’d finally gotten to spend a week with my husband, and even that week we’d traveled to all our family’s houses and then come back for him to go out to the field, so really we’d been married 5 MONTHS and still had not spent one regular week together in a home of our own.

There was nothing to say, and not a thing in the world anyone could do to help us.

So in that moment, I did the only sensible thing.

I pulled my car over, laid my head on my steering wheel, and I cried. Alan came over to my car, and I had to explain to him what I’d heard on the radio.

Alan probably wasn’t surprised. He was more connected to the military community, so he understood better that this was coming. Of course, he was not feeling the same way I was. Alan is an Army officer. This was his dream. He was only too willing to go over there and fight some war.

If I said one prayer of lamentation, I said a 1,000. Many petitions were made for Alan’s safety, for direction with my life, for guidance with my next step.

But that first day, I just cried. Bravery was for later. Alan hugged me and apologized and held me while I blubbered.

Reality had reached out and smacked me in the face, so it was time I looked her in the eye. I buckled under the weight of it all, with hours left to drive.

Alan and I dried up my face, hugged, and we drove on.

For last week’s chapter, click here. To start at the beginning of this series, go here.

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I recently finished reading a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The funny thing is that I chose this book because I was confused. I was mixing Bonhoeffer up with Niemoller. I was so excited to learn more about the man who said this:

I took that photo on our 2012 trip to Boston.

Bonhoeffer had a lot in common with Niemoller, except he was executed about 2 weeks before Hitler killed himself.

Hitler personally selected Bonhoeffer to be killed because Bonhoeffer was part of a large conspiracy of German aristocrats to assassinate Hitler.

In fact, they tried to kill Hitler and failed several times without Hitler even knowing it, until that last time when the bomb actually did explode, right at Hitler’s feet, and the evil murderous man didn’t die.

You’ve heard of the Gestapo, but have you heard of the Abwehr? That was another German government intelligence agency. The Abwehr was full of guys who wanted to kill Hitler in order to save millions of lives and to save Germany. It was dissolved by the Nazis in 1945 when they realized it was full of conspirators.

Bonhoeffer was a part of that group. Niemoller was not. Niemoller had already been in prison since the beginning of the war.

Don’t let Niemoller fool you. He was humble. He spoke out so boldly against the Nazis, from his pulpit, as a Lutheran pastor, that he spent pretty much all of World War II locked in a German prison cell.

His support for Hitler was extremely short-lived. When Hitler first rose to power, some people just thought “Yay! Not Communist!” It didn’t take too long for the gloves to come off.

Did you know that when Alan went to Iraq he learned that their whole middle eastern society was indoctrinated to believe that the Holocaust never happened? They all believe it was a giant myth. They say it was propaganda put out by the Jews, because there is such a strong hatred of Jews over there.

History tells the true story. There are survivor stories, photos, videos, piles of their hair, remaining buildings of their death camps, and first-hand journal accounts of what happened to the Jews and to anyone else who stood in the way of the Nazis.

Niemoller and Bonhoeffer did know each other long before either of them were imprisoned. There was mutual respect there. They ran in the same circles, knew many of the same people, and lead the Confessing Church movement. The Confessing Church Movement pulled away from the German Church, blatantly disagreeing with Nazi policies.

It was so interesting to learn about WWII from more of a viewpoint on what was happening inside Germany.

No quote in the Bonhoeffer book beat Niemoller’s quote on apathy.

There’s a reason that quote is so famous, but here are a few quotes from the book on Bonhoeffer that I found interesting.

I loved what Bonhoeffer wrote in his Advent letter of 1938 to Confessing Church leaders. I love it because the fact is that good is not always winning. Sometimes evil is winning, but that doesn’t mean you should not do the right thing:

“And we simply cannot be constant with the fact that God’s cause is not always the successful one, that we really could be “unsuccessful”: and yet be on the right road. But this is where we find out whether we have begun in faith or in a burst of enthusiasm.”  (Bonhoeffer, p. 318)

Not every nation’s churches folded under the pressure of the government as Germany’s did.  Germany occupied Norway from 1940-1945, and their church leaders fought back, even if their government didn’t.

“In March Quisling overreached again, establishing a Norwegian version of the Hitler Youth. A thousand teachers immediately struck in protest……On Maundy Thursday, Bishop Berggrav, the heroic leader of the pastors’ resistance, was put under house arrest. So on Easter, April 5, every pastor in Norway did what their bishops did six weeks earlier and what Bonhoeffer had begged the German pastors to do in July 1933: they went on strike.”  (Metaxas, p. 395)

A different 9/11.

In Europe, they write dates with the day followed by the month and then the year, so 9/11 is November 9th. Germany’s 9/11 was in 1938. It is called Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. The Nazis beat up and killed Jews, destroyed their businesses, burned their synagogues, and destroyed and looted their homes. Broken glass was everywhere. The result thereof was only more terror.

Here is a little bit of what Bonhoeffer wrote in response to it. He read Psalm 74, the 2nd half of which reads “They burn all of God’s houses in the land.”

“This was when Bonhoeffer most clearly saw the connection: to lift one’s hand against the Jews was to lift one’s hand against God himself. The Nazis were attacking God by attacking his people. The Jews in Germany were not only not God’s enemies; they were his beloved children.” (Metaxas, p. 316)

Whether you agree with Bonhoeffer or not, he was a fascinating man who walked very closely with God. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more not only about him but about WWII Germany.

If you can hang with the first half of the Bonhoeffer book, which is slower, you will be richly rewarded by the second half.

 

And for my next book, I have decided to read something quicker. I’m going with a Christian fiction novel involving some espionage and action. Excited to get into this one too.

What have you read lately that’s good? Leave me a note in the comments.

The post The Bonhoeffer Book & That Famous Niemoller Quote appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I came across this one the other day. This letter was written by a confederate soldier on Alan’s side.

War letters offer serious historical value. I thought I’d share this letter for any of you who may be as interested in all things history as we are.

And here’s the challenge. Can you guess which battle happened right after this letter? This letter was written from the site of that famous battle. Look for context clues. Now, if you are family, and you’ve already read this and know the background, you may not guess.

Good luck!

*********************

Dear Brother,                                                                            April the 4th, 1863

After my best respects this will inform you that I am able to be up and about but not very well.  I am very hoarse and have been for over a month. I cannot speak above a whisper though I do hope nothing very serious that matters. And I do hope that this will find you and family enjoying good health.

I have nothing of interest to communicate to you. Our company is in very good health at this time, though some of the boys are complaining but all able to be up. We are moving about 5 miles above town in order to get a drill pound and they say better water.

I cannot tell you anything about war matters. At this place every thing seems quiet at this time though a short time since there was cannon thundering occasionally and sometimes tolerable heavy. Also, it was reported that the yankees were landing above here, but I have not heard anything about it since. I am slow to believe the report, for I do not think they will land. We are very well fortified at this place. And if we have to fight them, I had rather fight here than any place I have seen.

We are doing tolerably well at this time about eatables. We get plenty to do very well on though it has been a little scant. But if we continue to get as much as we have been getting we will not suffer bad.

We had a terrible storm here last Saturday night, the hardest that I ever experienced. There was one man in our Regiment that got his leg broke and 4 or 5 others hurt, but not serious. Also one man’s neck broke in the 36th Regt. Garsls. in the Tennessee Rgt. I suppose there was eight or ten killed by the timber.

Brother, I want you to write as often as convenient. I am very glad to get a letter from my friend or relative. Give my love and best respects to the ladies. Also, to all inquiring friends I will close hoping to hear from you soon.  Receive my respects. I am your most obedient and humble brother.

L.H. Brown Esqr.

*************

He had beautiful handwriting. I’ll have to upload a photo of my photo-copy of the actual letter. Ha! To see the photo, check out my instagram page. I’ll get it up here soon too.

But for now, I’m off to go pick up the boys from school. They get upset if I’m late…

Oh! And if you know what battle it was, leave me a comment! Thanks! I’ll let you know if you got it right!

The post A Letter from the Civil War appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.