Medal of Honor

The newspapers recently had a story about Garlin Murl Connor, a deceased WWII veteran who won four Silver Stars, one Bronze Star and three Purple hearts. His military actions were reviewed and he was awarded the Medal of Honor for one of his heroic actions.

I don’t know why, but I did some investigation to find out just what Murl Connor did to merit such an honor. It seems he was recuperating from a wound (shot through the hip) in a field hospital when he heard the Germans were going to counter attack so he slipped out of the hospital to rejoin his comrades. He then volunteered to move to a forward position to call in artillery strikes on the advancing German army. Including calling in artillery on his own position, he was willing to die to save the lives of his fellow GIs.

It made me wonder why you would leave the comfort of a hospital bed and risk your life for others. I mean he had already done plenty.

I’ve read other accounts of American GIs who so loved their fellow soldiers that they wouldn’t leave them. They wouldn’t go home on their own they wanted to keep fighting until they could all go home. Many of them thought they weren’t getting out alive anyway so they would do anything to protect their fellow soldiers so they could go home.

What does a hero look like? His wife who was 16 years old at the time said when she first saw him he was just 5 foot 6 inches and skinny as a rail. She wondered aloud how he could be a hero. They were married a week later. She said he would frequently wake up in the middle of the night having nightmares and would just go out on the porch and smoke a cigarette to calm himself down. That’s what a hero looks like, just like anyone else.

Garlin Murl Connor, just 26 years old, was willing to die for his fellow soldiers whom he loved.

Jesus Christ said in John 13:34-35 that the identifying mark of his people would be sacrificial love for each other. Ultimately that means giving up the most important thing to us… our own lives, but includes everything leading up to that including our time, our money, our possessions, etc. If we can’t give up those things then we’re fooling ourselves if we think we’ll give up our lives for someone else.

Our congregation is an army of Christian soldiers. We have a great enemy who must be defeated. We can’t conquer him with hand grenades or artillery or bombs or any kind of munition. He can only be defeated with love.

I’ve got a feeling that when we march into Heaven the Angels will be clapping and cheering for those who have been victorious over Satan and the spiritual cowards will be skulking ashamedly to their destination.

Remember Garlin Murl Connor for his sacrifices on the battlefield but there is a greater one that he who died so we all can live… never forget Him.