WE MUST REMEMBER---

Saturday, 4 August 2018

Golden Tulip

Roissy, France/by Charles DeGaulle Airport

Sunny, 93F

Most of the readers of this blog know that I am on this journey for a couple reasons. Along with Tim, I want to honor our American servicemen and women. My focus is on World War I because I want to learn more about a conflict that several of my family members took part in. I was inspired 20 years ago when I found the letters my great uncle Archie Harvey wrote home to his mother from France during that war.

Archie hardly said a thing about that war in his letters, but he showed a strong faith in a “Supreme Being,” and a constant love for his mother. Because he tried to enlist immediately after President Wilson declared war, I know Archie loved his country.  God, Home, Country.

After years of research, analysis, and interpretation, it seems there is so much more to Archie’s story. Almost every day reveals a new discovery or mystery. A farm had turned soldier, a sensitive man who dried a small fern frond and brought it home in a glassine envelope. A man who carried his severely wounded officer to safety, yet never mentioned it in his letters home.

Then Archie’s story turned me to other family members, my uncle, another great uncle, Archie’s brother in law, two cousins, all who served during World War I. More research. More books. More films. Over time I know that Archie’s experience paralleled that of all the men who served during that time. Some women too. About 2 million men served in France and a few other areas of American engagement. Another 2 million service members were not sent to France, yet supported the effort there. Archie’s voice echoed the thoughts of so many who served our country, with faith in God, a longing for home, the desire to contribute to their country’s great fight for freedom.

And there were other stories, Archie’s mother, a widow, and his sisters on the home front. The story of my own mother, a 1^st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War II, my brother Bill, Tim, and so many friends who served during the time of the Vietnam War.

The Great War was a horrible war, the “war to end all wars.” Yet it did not do that.

One hundred years. I want to remember Archie, and Roy Hall and Earl Beardsley and Dayle Wanamaker and Lynn Parker, the Silverthorn brothers, Robert F. Arnold, William Hendershott, Arthur Manness, even Josef Waschle. They were fighting for what they believed in And not just these men, but all who heeded the call of their country for me. And you.