Memorial Day

Here is one thing in particular I remember this Memorial Day weekend:

I remember "George". He was my landlord who lived downstairs in the house from which we rented an upstairs apartment from. He was a short, stocky fellow who was very cheerful and quite chatty. One would not have surmised that George was a Marine WWII veteran with the 1st Marine Division. Being a Marine myself, we had lots to talk about.

George landed on the island of Tulagi near Guadalcanal Island on August 7th, 1942. George was one of 3,000 Marines assigned to take Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo while 11,000 Marines landed on Guadalcanal. Of the 3,000 Japanese soldiers entrenched on the three smaller islands, only 4 survived. Marines suffered 122 losses. In the early morning hours of August 21st, George was patrolling the eastern perimeter of Lunga when 917 Japanese attempted an ill-fated attack. This became known as the Battle of Tenaru. All but 128 of the Japanese invaders were killed. George survived again only to soon come down with with a near-fatal bout of Dysentery.

On October 24th, George again survived the Battle of Henderson Field under command of Lt. Col. Chesty Puller. Later, on September 15th, 1944 at 0832, George and the 1st Marines landed on "White Beach" on Peleliu which was fortified with 30,000 seasoned Japanese soldiers. George's LVT was hit by a 47mm shell and sank is chest-deep water layered in coral. George and his landing party waded through the water while the Japanese raked the water with machine gun fire. George and his men took "The Point" which was the most heavily fortified fortress overlooking the beach. His joy was short-lived when the Japanese attempted four times over the next 30 hours to retake "The Point". 157 Marines lost their lives on "The Point". George was one of only 18 to live to tell the tale.

On April 1st, 1945, George found himself in hand-to-hand combat fighting through the west-central area of Okinawa known as Cactus Ridge, about five miles north of Shuri. 1,500 soldiers were lost there. George fought his way all the way from the Oroku Peninsula on the west-central coast up to the Motobu Peninsula passing what is now Camp Hansen on the eastern coast. A total of 6,319 Americans died and 61,471 were wounded in taking Okinawa. George survived with grenade shrapnel in his legs after diving for cover when a grenade rolled out of a pill box he had assaulted.

George came home, married, raised his children, worked and eventually ended up retired, drinking sweet tea on his front porch many times with me. As we would sit, he would talk and I would listen intently. An average man, an average life, an extraordinary hero.

Thanks George!

A lesson in humility

As soon as I stopped tumbling after being thrown from the bike Tuesday, I began throwing my helmet and gloves in a fit of very adolescent tourettes. This was a poor example of Christianity for those gracious people who came running to my aid after witnessing the event. It wasn't until the adrenaline subsided and my blood pressure returned to normal that I hung my head in repentence and thanked God for watching over me. I saw this as a revealed character flaw that I must work on. How we react in the moment without time to think reveals our instinct. My instinct was to beat myself up for not having had x-ray vision and responding quicker. If only I had.... Rather, my instinct should have been an instant "Yeah, God!" for not having any broken bones. So, the next time you smash your finger with a hammer, spill coffee on your iPad or hit the gas instead of the brake, train your instinct to give glory to the Creator. It will take the edge off an otherwise inglorious moment.

Agricultural motorcycle riding

Well, I did some involuntary agricultural driving on the R1 yesterday. My body armor saved my butt. I came out of it with a little road rash on my left arm and thigh and a sprained thumb. Outside of a broken fairing, windscreen and cracked tail frame, the bike is ok too. Moral of the story: don't follow too close to other cars so you can react quickly enough to obstacles in the road like storage container lids that other vehicles can straddle! I wasn't able to zig-zag in time to avoid the lid, it washed out the front end and tank slapped the bars sending me into a nice v-shaped ditch with lots of soupy mud. I rode it for about a hundred feet before it launched me off the bike and I was able to slide on my back on the shoulder of the road most of the way before tumbling back into the ditch.

I reinforce my advocacy of wearing your gear folks. I can't say it enough. Helmet laws may be oppressive, armor may be uncomfortable but brain damage would be a real bummer and being dead would really ruin an otherwise good day.

Yea though I ride in the shadow of a muddy ditch at 55mph, I will not fear the storage container lid and asphalt for my God is with me. His grace and mercy are endless.

First time out

Although I blogged briefly quite some time before, this is my first official attempt with purpose. Here you will find questions to ponder on Christianity, motorcycling, marriage, being a "Man Up" man, being an influential father, faithfulness, hope, politics...and any other applicable topic that I find important to share.

Being a Christian doesn't mean claiming perfection. It means acknowledging our imperfection, brokenness and separation from God by our sins, accepting the free gift of salvation and living a life in a constant state of improvement, learning, loving, sharing and displaying the gospel to our fullest ability through Christ. It's about redemption, reconciliation and a new beginning no matter who you are, where you've been or what you've done.