Veterans Day: A Focus on Greater Love
By Sara Meyers, Communications Specialist
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”. John 15:13
This Veteran’s Day, we pause to remember those who have shown great love through service to the military. Some lost their lives and some missed a lot of life in their time served. I think of my father who served in the US Marine Corps. I think of my friend who served as a US Navy Seal for 10 years. I think of my grandfather, Harold Calhoun, who served in the Army in World War II.
My grandfather stands out because he served during the war that included a draft, battles on multiple fronts, and he did it all with my grandmother (“Mimi”) at home waiting for him to marry her. My “Grandaddy”, as we called him, served during a war that called for a draft in 1940 and was expanded after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. As a result of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted, thus postponing his plans to attend college at Texas A&M University and marry Martha Ashlock. Answering the call to serve, he was sent overseas 
as part of a US Army infantry division to assist the battles waged in Burma alongside Allied Forces. The atrocities he witnessed there and the injury he sustained due to shrapnel hitting him in the leg and abdomen would mark him for the rest of his life.
When he returned home to the US at the end of the war, he planned to marry my grandmother and move down to attend Texas A&M with thanks to the GI Bill signed into law on June 22, 1944. My grandmother noticed my grandfather was not emotionally or mentally well and without therapeutic resources available at the time, encouraged him to share openly and even journal about his war experiences to find relief from what we would not call post-traumatic stress. She was concerned that if he did not know how to navigate forward, he would struggle in a life with her as they sought work after college, family, church life and more.
By the grace of God, my grandfather was able to move forward and the two married in 1946. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1949 and they went on to raise a beautiful family that now “rises up and calls them blessed” as the Proverbs tell us.
Before my grandfather passed, there were only two times I had ever seen him cry in my life: when he talked about how proud he was and how much he loved his children and his five grandchildren; and when he recounted heartbreaking moments from the war.
On this Veteran’s Day, I experience two emotions: first, I ache for the ways my grandfather suffered because he was not given the proper tools to navigate his post-traumatic stress. I also ache for the ways he and my grandmother experienced conflict because they did not have language to navigate what would be helpful to them emotionally and mentally.
Secondly, I feel so much gratitude that today there are many more resources for those who have served their country. They will carry these experiences throughout their life, and I applaud our nonprofit partners that are providing life-changing services to them. I think about the service dogs for veterans who enable them to navigate every situation with more peace and independence. I think about the men and women who served gaining confidence again through equine therapy as a result of the unique relationship between a person and horse. I think about veterans taking part in service to community, starting businesses, building families, and continuing to serve us while adapting to civilian life. “Our nonprofit partners have come alongside them so that these veterans know they never have to walk alone and they have purpose that continues in civilian life.”
When Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” He was talking about love and sacrifice. Ultimately, He was telling them He would soon lay His life down for us all because of His great love for us.
I have no doubt He was also thinking of those would give their lives later on for the same reason—great love. He wants us all to live sacrificially, but in reality—we know most of us will not have to risk or lose our lives for that love.
If you know a Veteran today, would you thank them for their service in person or by phone? They have indeed loved greatly and in return, our response should be deep love and gratitude to them.