God bless our veterans and all who serve our country

BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY

Growing up in the 1970s and ’80s, I have some vague memories of celebrating Veterans Day on Nov. 11. I presume that we had a day off from school, but, in doing some research, I found that an act was passed in Congress (The Uniform Monday Holiday Act) in 1968 that moved Veterans Day to the last Monday in October. That only lasted 10 years, as President Ford signed an amended act that restored Veterans Day to Nov. 11 in 1978. You can read more on this in an article, How Americans fought to Restore Veterans Day to Nov. 11. 

During my time in the seminary, I became familiar with another celebration (commemoration) on Nov. 11, as I learned that on the Church’s calendar, we celebrate the Feast of St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of soldiers. St. Martin (316–Nov. 8, 397) was one of the most popular saints of the early Church and one of the first saints who was not a martyr. I became interested in St. Martin of Tours when someone gave me a book, St. Martin of Tours: The Shaping of Celtic Christianity, which tells of Martin’s influence on the “Apostle of Ireland,” St. Patrick, and on another early Irish saint, St. Columba.

One of my strongest early memories of veterans and Veterans Day is hearing about what happened when soldiers returned home from Vietnam, how they were often mistreated and disrespected. Yet, I also recall how public opinion began to shift in the late 1970s and early ‘80s and that there was somewhat of a “national recognition” that the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans was a terrible injustice. I recall how that shift and a sense of healing was aided by the creation and opening of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (or the Vietnam Wall) in Washington, D.C. in 1982.

For many in my generation, our first experience of war was the “First Gulf War” in 1991. I was somewhat surprised, when I checked, to realize that the United States’ involvement in that war was for only six weeks (Jan. 16–Feb. 28). It would be 10 years later, on Sept. 11, 2001, when the terrorist attacks brought us the “War on Terror” and, in some ways, everything changed. We entered the “War on Terror” with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In the past 20 years, more than two million United States’ soldiers have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. An article in Forbes magazine cites an analysis by the Rand Corporation that, “Since 2001, 2.77 million service members have served on 5.4 million deployments across the world with soldiers from the Army accounting for the bulk of them.” 

Personally, in these past 20 years, I have come to a much deeper appreciation of the importance of Veterans Day and the gratitude and respect that we owe as a nation to the men and women who serve us in our armed forces. In getting to know our Diocese and the priests who serve our Diocese, I have been very happy to learn that we have a large number of priests who are serving or have served as military chaplains. Currently, Fathers Jhon Madrid, Adam Muda, and Przemyslaw Nowak are serving as full-time active duty chaplains. Fathers Michal Falgowski, Dominik Bakowski, and Leonardo Lopez are currently serving in the reserves. One of our Vicars General, Father Michael Parisi, pastor of St. Catherine of Sienna in Mountain Lakes, served for 30 years as a full-time chaplain in the Navy. Many of our retired priests either served in the military or served as chaplains. Three of our active priests, Fathers Ben Williams, Andrew Dutko, and Chris Han are veterans of active military service before they entered the seminary and were ordained.

Allowing our priests to serve as military chaplains is just one way that we can support our troops and honor our veterans. As we pray continually for peace and an end to all wars and military conflict, we have certainly learned from history that there are times when we need to fight, not only to ensure our freedom but also to protect and save innocent human lives.

As I learned about the patron saint of soldiers because someone gave me a book, I recently was given a book through which I gained a new appreciation and respect for our veterans, especially those who served in Vietnam and those who spent time as prisoners of war. The name of the book is Tap Code: The Epic Survival Tale of a Vietnam POW and the secret code that changed everything.

Tap Code was published in 2019. It is the story of Col. Carlyle “Smitty” Harris, his wife, Louise, and their ordeal during the almost eight years (April 4, 1965–Feb. 12, 1973) that he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. It tells of the terrible treatment and torture that Col. Harris and his fellow POWs endured, their perseverance and, for those who survived, their return home. Tap Code is also a moving testimony to faith, family, and love of country. “Smitty’s” faith and dependence on prayer is only matched by that of his wife, Louise. I could say much more, but, instead, I will highly recommend reading Tap Code.

I will conclude by quoting the words of the dedication that opens Tap Code:

To all prisoners of war who endured untold hardship, this is for you.

To all the families of the POWs, who endured untold heartache, this is for you.

To all captives everywhere, whether captives in body or in soul, this is for you.

May the words you find here fill you with enduring hope, strength and peace.

May you, with unveiled faces, see the glory of the One who came to set captives free.