My American Hero

A couple of days ago, my father emailed me to tell me that my great uncle had finally succumbed to his Alzheimer's and that he had been admitted to the VA hospital in Oklahoma City. I have always loved my uncle. He is one of my truly favorite human beings. And even if he wasn't my uncle I would feel this way.

He has suffered from his disease for several years now, but even two years ago, he knew me.

"Darlin', I am so proud of you," He was speaking of my book. "I keep readin' the same parts over and over again cause my memory is not what it used to be. But I have a book group now and we talk about you every Wednesday."

And I couldn't figure out why. My Uncle AC served in the Battle of the Bulge and fought all over Europe against the Nazis. He kept a diary and, later, turned that into his memories of World War II. As Uncle AC lays in his hospital bed today saying his goodbyes and looking forward to heaven, I think of him with great pride in my own personal American Hero. In my own Private Ryan.

His memoirs have recently been published on a veteran's site for the state of Oklahoma. I encourage everyone to look through them. I leave the link below. And pray for my great uncle - who is truly great - a man who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr in Memphis when it was still illegal for African Americans to eat at a diner table with a white man. And he fought Nazis and saw proof of death camps and still had the faith to be dedicated Christian all his life.

An excerpt from his experience in France at the end of the war.

About this time, we knew we were completely surrounded by the enemy. I am sure man's, especially young men's, hypocrisy shows itself more in war than at any other time. You do a lot of praying, Bible reading and agonizing. The next day, maybe the shooting stops and maybe you kind of say, "Lord I don't need you now that the shooting has stopped." Anyway, I thought it was predestined that we would win. Nonetheless, I was doing a lot of praying and Bible reading at this time. It was about this time that I read the following, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed but not in dispair; persecuted but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our own bodies." (II Cor. 4:8-10). I was scared a lot of times after this, but I always believed, after this that I would get home.

and on finding death camp survivors...

We went north along the west side of the Rhine, crossed the Rhine, then went south. We went through all kinds of areas where Kraut gas chambers had been used, but I never went to see all the dead bodies. The living were terrible enough. I can't believe one creation of God's could treat another that way. Let it suffice to say, we literally saw many walking skeletons.

Read on. This is your American Hero, too.

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