Editor’s Word: The Greatest Generation

Rudy Gray

Rudy Gray

With this July issue we are paying tribute to members of the “Greatest Generation.” Particularly, we are focusing on those who served in the military, especially those who fought in the Pacific and European theaters of war. The Fourth of July is a national holiday, and we can certainly pause and give thanks to God for those who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy.

Over 16 million Americans served in World War II. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there were only 325,574 remaining in 2020. That number is less than 300,000 today. On average, 296 veterans die each day. The average age for a soldier in 1944 was 26, but many young men enlisted when they were 17. In 2020, there were 4,000 World War II veterans living in South Carolina. In the next few years, the Greatest Generation will be gone.

Those of this generation who are living today have seen more change than any group of people in United States history. They produced a birth rate so large that their children became known as the Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964 — over 76 million of us.

In what was called the war to end all wars, they left their homes in defense of freedom. True stories from that group abound. Twenty-year-old Guy Whidden was a paratrooper and machine gunner with the 502nd, 101st Airborne Division, who jumped at 300 feet in the attack at Omaha Beach. A bullet hit the prayer book in his pocket on his way down and stopped at the last page. The night before the jump, he cut his hair into a mohawk to intimidate the Germans. He was ordered to cut it before the mission began. In 2020, at age 96, he had his hair cut into a mohawk again as a tribute to his fallen comrades.

In that same attack, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, an African-American unit (the military was segregated at this time), fought bravely against the German forces. Medic Waverly Woodson Jr. was wounded but continued helping over 200 soldiers for 30 nonstop hours before he collapsed from exhaustion.

Charles Norman Shay was a Penobscot Indian and medic assigned to the First Division 16th Infantry Regiment. He said his “duty was to save lives.” Bullets were hitting all around him on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion, but he was not injured. However, 65 percent of the men in his unit were killed.

Over a million American soldiers were killed in that global war. They fought for others. Over 6 million Jews were exterminated by the Nazis. Many more would have perished if the U.S. and other nations had not stopped the evil madness of Hitler-led Germany.

When I think of the sacrifices that millions of people have made to give us the greatest opportunity to live free and blessed lives, I am humbled. When I realize God is a sovereign God and chose to bless America, I am amazed. Underneath the patriotism surrounding Fourth of July celebrations is the realization that we are blessed in order to be a blessing. Our nation today, like our Southern Baptist Convention, is divided. We face a culture that is driving us to, basically, commit suicide as a nation.

I am old enough to believe that this nation came into existence by the grace of God and that if we continue for years into the future, it will be because of the forgiveness of God for our disregard of His truth and His blessings. The true church needs to repent for our sins, return to a healthy relationship with Christ, and reengage a culture that seeks to eliminate our views and beliefs from the mainstream of education, government, and even the family. Now is not the time to retreat into silence or despair, but to take a stand in the truth with the disposition of love.

I like songs such as “God Bless America,” “America the Beautiful,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But I love songs that tell the story of Jesus and His amazing love. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is greater than the great sacrifices of the Greatest Generation. I think most of them would agree.

Celebrate the Fourth of July holiday and remember those who fought and died to give us this liberty, but, above all, stop and thank God for His Son and the eternal freedom He gives us through the new birth.