Soap Box

December 7, 1941 was a cold gray day in coastal North Carolina, the kind of day when you were glad you could stay inside,

The entire maternal side of our family was gathered at my grandparent's house on the Carolina Beach Road in Wilmington, NC. when the word came over the radio that the Japanese Imperial Air Force had attacked the American Navel base in Hawaii.

It was a sneak attack with no declaration of war or notice of impending hostilities. The Japanese had anchored an aircraft carrier in the pacific within striking distance, flew in and bombed our war ships docked in Pearl Harbor, destroying much of our Pacific Fleet and setting off a bloody war that would last for years, cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars, and in the end, usher in the age of nuclear warfare.

My early formative days were during World War II and as the battle heated up against the Japanese in the Pacific and the Axis in the Atlantic, the port of Wilmington would play a strategic role in shipping fuel and other essential supplies to our troops in Europe, and German submarines lurked just off our shores trying to make sure they never reached their destination, sinking oil tankers so close to our coast line that the fires of battle could be seen from our beaches.

The war was very real to those of us in the coastal Carolinas. It was the day before satellite surveillance and rapid communications and we never knew when the Nazis would bring the war on shore and into our very neighborhoods.

We had air raid drills, black outs and communities appointed air raid wardens and slogans like "Loose lips sink ships" were prominently on display around our part of the country.

I learned early on in my life that only two things protect America, the grace of Almighty God and the United States Military.

It was that way then, it�s that way now, thus has it ever been and thus it will remain as long as the United States of America remains a free and sovereign nation. 

This is a day our nation sets aside to honor those who have paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we enjoy and too many times take for granted.

When the men and women who served this nation in uniform are denied, delayed or given the runaround in the administration of the benefits their service guarantees them and shuffled from one impersonal bureaucrat to another, heads should roll and champions should come forth.

We owe those who serve and those who have served an unplayable debt of gratitude and their welfare should be right at the top of governmental priorities.

June 6, 1944 we were living in Valdosta, GA and my Momma got me up early on a weekday morning to go to our church where the people had gathered to pray for the boys who were storming the beaches of Normandy and being cut to ribbons by German machine gun and artillery fire.

Still, on they came, wave after wave until at the end of the Longest Day the allies had a foothold in France and well on the way to Berlin to break the back of the Nazi War machine and put an end to Adolph Hitler's reign of terror and destruction. At the close of WWII, over 400,000 American lives were lost.

So many memories from those days, so much sacrifice, so much bravery, so many who went to that war, did their duty and came home to a grateful nation. 

Is this still a grateful nation, does the fire of patriotism still burn bright? And does America still have the collective guts to face down such formidable enemies and stay the course until the job is done?

I hope so, I pray so.

While Memorial Day is about honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, if you run across an elderly gentleman in a military cap standing along a parade route, go up and salute him and thank him for his patriotism and service.

And no matter what day it is, if you come across a group of young men and women in an airport wearing camos, stop and say thank you for being on the front lines for America.

Speaking for me and my family this Memorial Day, to all of you who are serving, who have served and who will serve, a heartfelt thank you with respect, admiration and prayers.

And the deepest gratitude to those who paid for our freedom with their lives, and their families.

I salute you.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem

God Bless America

� Charlie Daniels

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