I have been watching the HBO series, “Band of Brothers,” for the past couple of days.  Our current outdoor scenes fit so well with the scenes from the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.  The snow is a foot of white cold, and the temperatures have dropped to minus twenty degrees. The fierce wind has brought down trees, not by bullets but by fifty mile an hour speeds.  The roads are looking like black soot from the snow plows and constant traffic from cars and trucks. There is no blood on the pristine white backyards, and most of us are staying inside to stay warm. If we have gotten groceries, we are not going hungry.  Our homes have not been blown up, and there is a smell from wood burning in fireplaces, not the smell of cordite and burning flesh.

There is one resounding voice that I hear in the back of my mind … “Duty, honor, country.” Who was speaking to the cadets of West Point in his final address before retiring? It was Douglas MacArthur. I realize some people called him a demagogue, but he led men into battle like very few other military officers during WWII in the Pacific. If you put yourself into the boots of any 101st Airborne serviceman, you know there are other descriptors of who they were … integrity, compassion, comradeship, bearing fear yet dying with courage, loyalty, and sharing a fox hole making your peace with God.

The spirit of the men of the 101st Airborne is needed today as we see our country losing its values more with every day. My second husband’s brother-in-law came home from the Bulge with a plate in his head and could not walk for the rest of his life.  My uncle Billy saw so much while in that battle that he was never the same man when he returned home. He suffered from what today is called PTSD. Their sacrifices made possible Americans’ desire for a free country, and yet, we denigrate those freedoms with every violent act, every hostile word, every corrupt politician who says, “I’ll make America great again.” Since January 6th, 2021, we should hold as true our oaths to the Constitution, not to one man.

We are a great nation that has lost its way.  Every time I see another unkind or violent act on the news, I am reminded of the 101st Airborne bloods scattered over the Belgian forest. We are not honoring their sacrifices when we let evil forces control the direction of our country. We are not following the Golden Rule to love one another as Christ taught us to do. Every time I look at the flag flying from my flag pole, I stop to thank God for all who have gone before us, who have sacrificed their lives so that I can be free. America is the land of the free and the land of the brave only because service men and women were willing to stand up and fight to their last breath. What are you willing to stand up for and to fight for … our democracy or a dictatorship? America will be what you put into her. My vote is to be free!

Anna Hartt