By Dr. H. Frank Collins
Last week a man fell in battle. A man dedicated Uncle Sam provided one non-commissioned service and devoted to peace and freedom. A man who was man as an escort. He did not have a large funeral, man enough to give his life for a cause that he be- A soldier sounded taps on a near-by slope as his lieved in. body was laid to rest. I MOURN FOR HIM TODAY. I MOURN FOR HIM TODAY.
No cities were burned and placed under martial law because he was shot. Our nation’s Capital was not endangered by his death. It was, rather, made a little more secure by the supreme price that he paid to make it safe. The flag of our country was not lowered to half-mast. In the eyes of those who know the true value of such a sacrifice, it seemed to fly higher than ever over the “Land of the free and the home o f the brave.” I MOURN FOR HIM TODAY. Those who would vindicate his death today can be heard throughout our land as they organize into what patriots have always called our Military Serv ice. They take up arms—rifles—bayonets—tanks and planes—but they aim them at the enemy—not their own country. I MOURN FOR HIM TODAY. There were no newspapermen nor TV crews to cover the events o f his death nor his funeral. No dignitaries cancelled trips that might save the lives of his buddies to attend his funeral. But every statesman and politician ought to take at least one moment to slip silently to his knees and say, “ Thank God for a great man.” His contribution to our coun try’s freedom is not known by his own generation. It is known only to God. A GREAT MAN FELL IN BATTLE, THE VICTIM OF A SNIPER’S BULLET. I MOURN FOR HIM TODAY.
He did not die in a plush motel in one of Amer ica’s most beautiful cities. He died in the horrible steaming jungles of a filthy, rotten, poverty-torn nation, thousands o f miles from his home and coun try. He died in the arms o f a buddy who believed in the same things that he did—the right to live in a country where free men could assemble in wor ship—where little girls and women felt free to walk to Sunday School in their new frocks and bonnets. He died to give to men o f all color the right for a free education in a state that would provide it with small cost—and limited only by the self-limi tations o f the individual. I MOURN FOR HIM TODAY. He died defending a country that has done more for the individual than any nation on earth. He did not curse the parents that bore him, loved him, and provided for him and gave him far more than they ever had themselves. He did not curse the society that taxed itself to the hilt to care for its poor and its aged. He did not defect from the country that provided its scenic highways, parks and luxuries that he and his fellow-man might enjoy the good things of life. He died as an example o f civil obe dience. I MOURN FOR HIM TODAY. No self-seeking politician sent a chartered jet for his widow to accompany his body home. He was shipped home in a government-provided casket, and
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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