Veterans Day is not just a holiday

Veteran’s Day and the Marine Corps Birthday have both just passed. Across the nation, and on posts around the world, we have honored those who now serve, and who have served, and those who have passed. Parades, flags placed in cemeteries, speeches, solemn traditions remembering and honoring.

But there remains some confusion in this country as to what constitutes patriotism and what is a platform for dissent.

In the National Football League, some players continue to protest what they see as a deeply racist nation with no opportunity for people of color. Many agree with them. Others think that great advancement is being given short thrift. It is unfortunate that truth is a victim, and that these camps are shouting past each other. If only a little listening were going on.

Here is something to listen to. Let’s consider those who have gone before: black, white, red, all colors. And consider what they have done.

Toward the end of the Second World War, Allied commanders determined that Iwo Jima, a small island in the Volcano Islands, was of strategic value. Positioned 750 miles south of Tokyo, the island was put to good use by the Japanese to radio ahead alerts of incoming air attacks from Allied bombers. Further, if captured and the airstrips reconditioned, it would be a good base for our bombers returning from attacks on the Japanese homeland. Those were several good reasons to mount an attack.

So we did.

The US Navy and Army Air Corps mounted a relentless bombardment of naval shelling and aerial bombing for months prior to the February 19, 1945, landings. It was thought that these bombardments were unsurvivable, and that the landing forces would meet only light resistance.

But not until too late did we discover that the Japanese had been busily excavating deep tunnels and command posts, and that the terrible onslaught of Allied bombs and shells was largely ineffective. In the invasion that followed, the outcome was not in doubt. But the cost was a complete surprise.

The Allied force consisted of 110,000 US Marines, US Navy Corpsmen, USAAF pilots and crew, and over 500 ships. The Japanese force was only one fifth the size, approximately 21,000, but incredibly well dug in. In the end, the Allies suffered over 26,000 casualties with nearly 7,000 killed. The Japanese defenders were nearly annihilated, with 18,000 dead. An extremely expensive, hard-fought battle on both sides.

One measure of the difficulty of this campaign is the number of Medals of Honor awarded. The Marines earned twenty two Medals of Honor, ten of them posthumous. The Navy won five, two posthumous. It was a terrible battle.

All of the award citations describe and recognize heroic action, and are worth reading. Here is just one of the stories.

Jacklyn (Jack) Lucas was born in Plymouth, North Carolina in 1928. A big kid, he was nearly six feet tall and 180 pounds at 14 years old, and was active in high school sports. In 1942, he joined the Marine Corps by lying about his age and forging his mother's signature. After training as a heavy machine gunner, he was promoted to Private First Class and was posted to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Bored with regimental camp life, he stole away and snuck aboard the USS Duel, which was bound for Iwo Jima. Discovered and busted to private, Lucas was permitted to remain and join the Iwo Jima landing force just as he celebrated his seventeenth birthday.

On February 19, 1945, Lucas went ashore with the 26^th Marines, and found himself part of a four-man fire team trying to clear a ravine of enemy troops. While advancing in a parallel ravine, the Marines were assaulted by Japanese elements who threw two grenades into their midst. Shouting a warning, Lucas threw himself over the grenades to save his fellow Marines. With great good fortune, one was a dud and did not explode. But the other one did, and with devastating effect. Lucas was grievously wounded, but his comrades were saved.

After many months of surgery and recuperation, Lucas eventually recovered his health. Still only seventeen years old, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery and gallantry above and beyond the call of duty.

He seemed in full possession of his faculties, but several years later joined the US Army and rose to the rank of Captain, a traitorous act which many Marines tend to forgive. Jack Lucas lived a long and fruitful life, passing away in Mississippi in 2008. Semper fi, Marine.

The next time you are tempted to kneel for our national anthem, or cheer those who do so, please understand that this is your right. But remember those who have fought to protect that right. It is they who we honor.