‘A deeper sense of how precious life is’

Editor’s note: The following is the Memorial Day address that Greene County Veterans Affairs Director Michael Bierl had planned to give Monday at the Jefferson Cemetery. Bierl is a retired Air Force veteran.

Good morning. Thank you all for being here and thank you, American Legion, for allowing me to be your guest speaker for this Memorial Day service in the year 2020. I am honored to be here.

I am thinking that during this Memorial Day, the events over the past few months have given us precious time, not by our own choosing, to develop a deeper sense of just how precious this gift of life is. 

Faith. Family. Friends. Neighbors. Socialization. And just that yearning thought of giving an extra-long hug to that special person in your life that you have not been able to do for quite some time.

We may all be viewing things just a bit differently than a few months ago. Many of the freedoms that our forefathers and daughters fought for quickly vanished in a matter of weeks. Freedom to worship, freedom to travel, voting issues, freedom to socialize, free markets, limited health care system and in many cases basic needs being limited.

These have certainly been some unsettling times and we know history has been marked by similar instances over time. We know that the brave men and women, many who lie here before us, sacrifices are not in vain. History has shown that we can get through this with a lot of sacrifice. In some cases, they have made the ultimate sacrifice.

As the New Testament Gospel verse John 15:13 mentions, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

The fighting spirit of the American people has come together throughout history to bring us through these times of uncertainty and despair. We may have a greater sense of their sacrifices for our freedoms now after temporarily losing them.

Memorial Day to many may be considered the unofficial start of summer in the United States. I am hoping that our attendance here today may have increased in numbers from last year and the meaning may have deepened as we have chosen to re-evaluate and reconsider the meaning of the “holiday” Memorial Day. 

We may have had a chance to step back and see that celebrating life is a gift and we should not take that lightly and realize that many sacrifices took place to give us our freedoms we hold dear to us today. We may have had an opportunity to cherish what we had and have a much deeper sense of gratitude and thankfulness for it at this moment.  

While I was stationed in England back in 1995, I was lucky enough to become a friend of a veteran of the Royal Army who was my neighbor. He lived in the northwest city of Manchester as a youngster during World War II.

At that time, the Americans, or the “Yanks,” as he would call them, had a large encampment of soldiers in a tent city for some time. He would venture into the camp and eventually befriended them by bringing “chips” — our version of French fries — to them in exchange for the chocolate bars from their rations. Two of these soldiers took a liking to him and after some time, they were invited to his home to meet the rest of his family and have a traditional English meal.

One day shortly thereafter, he went down to see his friends again at the encampment and to his amazement they were all gone. A few days later, he found out why: the greatest land invasion in history was about to unfold on the beaches of Normandy, France.

The sad part of the story is that he never did find out what the fate of his friends was. He still remembered their names and I had tried to research them for him but did not have any success. 

Our country continues to subtly add to the list of those we should remember during this special and solemn day known as Memorial Day. After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, emergency management, fire department and law enforcement sacrifices were looked on in a different light as they laid down their lives for our fellow citizens.

Today, in the midst of a pandemic that has changed our world, some of our health care workers have made the ultimate sacrifice for their fellow countrymen by putting service before self.

When Memorial Day was brought into being, it may have been hard to imagine how others may have sacrificed their lives for our country. As a veteran, and son of a veteran, I understand the special meaning Memorial Day has when I visit my father’s grave in Templeton, Iowa, and see all the flags and memorials to all our veterans. He was a Korean War veteran. 

The current situation has just caused me to look at things a bit differently lately and really value just how precious this gift of life is, our freedoms are and feel extremely grateful that these individuals have chosen to dedicate their lives to the protection and service of others.