Hershel
W. “Woody” Williams and 2,892,935 others
By Ed Maier, Former Andersen Partner
I recently saw a news story about the passing of Mr.
Hershel W. “Woody” Williams. He was a
corporal in the United State Marine Corps whose actions during the battle for
Iwo Jima in 1945 earned him the Medal of Honor. He was the last surviving Medal
of Honor recipient from World War II.
As we
celebrated our independence this July 4 weekend, I thought about Mr. Williams
and his fellow Americans who served in our military since our country’s
formation in 1776. It provoked me to do
a little bit of research. Since the
American Revolutionary War, our country has lost 1,354,664 military personnel
in various “wars”. Another 1,498,240
were wounded and 40,031 are still missing in action. Put another way, these personal sacrifices
equate to a city that today would be the third largest in the United States,
when compared to the 2020 census.
We honor the memories of our military personnel when
we celebrate different holidays like the 4th of July, Memorial Day
and Veterans Day. Individual families
also honor them when they miss them around the dinner tables on special
birthdays, other holidays and anniversaries. But there are also many of us who
do not have any of these memories because we were fortunate enough that none of
our loved ones had to make this kind of sacrifice. Whether or not we have lost someone recently,
or generations ago, we should take a few minutes to remember and honor what
they did for us.
We have a good amount of political and social
turmoil in our country these days. Some may consider that it occurs too much,
but it has existed throughout our young history. The sacrifices our service men
and women made have protected our right to peacefully engage in differences of
opinion. It is appropriate to honor them
and not forget the privileges they have protected for us. They suffered, and in 1,354,664 cases, gave
their lives for the freedoms and rights we continue to have today.
On this 4th of July, I took a few moments
to read two of the most famous speeches delivered by our greatest President, Abraham
Lincoln. He delivered these at the dedication of
the Gettysburg Civil War Cemetery and in his second inaugural
address. I ask you to please read them in their entirety.
Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address
November
19, 1863
“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought
forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged
in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived,
and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that
war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place
for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate—we cannot
hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can
never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave
the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth
of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth."
Lincoln’s
Second Inaugural Address
March
4, 1865
"Fellow countrymen: at this second appearing to
take the oath of the presidential office there is less occasion for an extended
address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a
course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four
years during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on
every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention
and engrosses the energies of the nation little that is new could be presented.
The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends is as well known
to the public as to myself and it is I trust reasonably satisfactory and
encouraging to all. With high hope for the future no prediction in regard to it
is ventured.
"On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it ~ all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place devoted altogether to saving the Union without war insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war ~ seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
"One eighth of the whole population were
colored slaves not distributed generally over the union but localized in the
southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest.
All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen
perpetuate and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents
would rend the Union even by war while the government claimed no right to do
more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected
for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither
anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the
conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph and a result
less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same
God and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any
men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the
sweat of other men's faces but let us judge not that we be not judged. The
prayers of both could not be answered ~ that of neither has been answered
fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of
offenses for it must needs be that offenses come but woe to that man by whom the
offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those
offenses which in the providence of God must needs come but which having
continued through His appointed time He now wills to remove and that He gives
to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the
offense came shall we discern therein any departure from those divine
attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him. Fondly do
we hope ~ fervently do we pray ~ that this mighty scourge of war may speedily
pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the
bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with
the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said 'the
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
"With malice toward none with charity for all
with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to
finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who
shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which
may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations."
I trust that most, if not all of you, have at some
point in your life read the Gettysburg Address.
A lesser number may have read the Second Inaugural Address, but I hope
you did just now. Think about it. Our nation had just ended the worst war, the
greatest conflagration, in its history. Of the 2,852,904 total military casualties
I referred to earlier, 1,129,418 were in the Civil War alone—a whopping
39%. This was a greater number than our
country suffered in World War II.
Northerners might have expected Lincoln to chastise the South in this
address. Southerners might have believed
he was going to blame everything on them and praise the North for its strength
and perseverance.
Instead, he sought reconciliation. In today’s
vernacular, he did not say to the South: “You are Red. You should be punished
for your sins against humanity.” Nor did
he say to the North: “You are Blue. You are the righteous. You should be rewarded for your moral courage
and strength.” I hope and pray all of us can think and act a little more like
President Lincoln. We must look beyond our individual beliefs to better
understand those of our fellow Americans.
I thank the spirit of Mr. Williams for his
service. And I am thankful for the
service of all those who sacrificed, and those who were affected by those
sacrifices, to allow us the freedom to hold and express our beliefs—peacefully
and with respect for each other. When we talk in thousands and millions, it is
sometimes hard to relate to the magnitude of the individual sacrifices
made. But each individual who gave their
life or suffered other casualties of war had families and friends back home who
were deeply affected. We owe all of them
our gratitude. We must engage in
peaceful discourse to resolve our differences.
Thank you for taking the time to read my
thoughts. If you have any comments, feel
free to write me at edmaier46@gmail.com With summer vacations upon us. If you are
looking for a nice, easy read, you can go to www.amazon.com
and pick up my book – Think Straight. Talk Straight.
The data and the speeches I provided above came through the services of Google and Wikipedia if you are interested in searching for them yourself.