The following is a sermon which was given at First Presbyterian Church in Galesburg on Memorial Day 2013 in honor of William Allen who gave his life for his country in WW2.
Time
To Remember
I
did not attend theology school but I will have you know, I did sleep at a
Holiday Inn Express. Some probably expect me to give a sermon connected to
sports. I did think about a sermon entitled “Jump Shots and Jesus”, but my wife
vetoed that. I even thought about one entitled “Wisconsin and Heaven- The Same
Area Code”, but Carl Strauch warned I might be excommunicated.
I
really appreciate the opportunity to speak this morning. I am going to share a
story involving the death of a soldier in war. This week we saw a tremendous
tragedy take place in Oklahoma. The story of my soldier and of the Oklahoma
tornado, beg the question, ”Why?”
In the book, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” Harold Kushner
states, “It is not because God intended it or planned it. Bad things happen to
good and bad people because we live on earth, and earth is not a perfect
place.”
For
us as Christians, the Bible is pretty clear that faith in Jesus and in
Christianity does not guarantee a good life, but the opportunity for a perfect
eternity.
I
agree with Jewish Rabbi, Jerome Epstein who says, “My understanding of God does
not permit me to accept that every bad or good thing that occurs is a reward or
punishment. There are times when bad things happen to good people. We need
consolation, not anger; love, not hate. The God I serve and pray to daily has
charged me not to blame but to help.”
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under
the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to
uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to
build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to
dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to
speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for
peace.
Time is so hard
to deal with. When we were young, the clock never seemed to go fast enough. We couldn’t wait to get our driver’s
license. We couldn’t wait to get out of high school.
As we have
gotten older, often the clock seems to go too fast. We may even wish we could
turn back the clock. As we get older, there are people we miss. We never quite
get over the loss of our loved ones.
Ben & Ruth Allen putting flowers on Bill Allen's grave. |
The highlights
of life are in our relationships with people. Memorial Day should be a day of
joy. We should be celebrating the blessing God has given us in our
relationships. Memorial Day is a
great opportunity for us to reflect and become inspired by memories of our
ancestors.
I would like to
share the story of my wife’s uncle, William Allen. Bill was born in 1917 and died
in 1945. I never met him but his story inspires me.
William Allen at age 26 joining the Army for WW2. |
In part, I am
drawn to his story because of a series of things he and I seem to have in
common. He was born on April 16 and myself on April 17. He grew up in a small
town, and I grew up in a small town. We were both raised in Protestant
families, him a Presbyterian and me a Methodist. We both graduated from Knox
College, and then both went on to teach at Galesburg High School. And his
little brother Benny, became my father-in-law.
Bill Allen with his little brother, Ben. They are in front of the family farmhouse in Alta. This would have been the last time Ben saw his brother. |
Bill Allen and I
were of different generations, and our lives took very different directions.
I grew up in the
‘60’s during the Vietnam era. My generation learned to question the government,
authority and war. The Ecclesiastes verse we read today was used by me in a
youth sermon in 1970. My sermon was an anti-war sermon saying there was not a
time for war. I had a 2S deferment as a college student so I didn’t HAVE to go
into the military.
Bill Allen was
part of Tom Brokaw’s “The Greatest Generation.” In 1943 at the age of 26, he
was living comfortably as a teacher at Galesburg High School.
The "old" Galesburg HS, located in downtown on Broad St. |
He did not HAVE
to join the Army but he chose to. Since
first hearing the story of Bill Allen, my question has always been, “Why did he
choose the Army when he did not have to?”
Being an English
major, Bill was a prolific letter writer. He wrote letters to people in
Galesburg and to his family, describing his experiences in World War II. The
Allen family saved the letters, and later published them in a book. Those
letters and conversations with Ben have helped me to try to understand Bill
Allen.
Book of Bill Alen's letters- published by his family shortly after the war. |
I was intrigued
as his letters revealed parts of his personality. He had an enjoyable sense of
humor.
·
During basic training, he reported, “There’s one
thing I don’t understand about the Army. They issue you a good comb, and then
cut off all your hair.”
·
He described his training in a Concealment and
Camouflage Course. He wrote to GHS faculty members, “Now I know many ways that
I can hide from the principal when he comes after me.”
When Bill had
decided to join the Army, he delayed his entry. He waited until he finished
directing “A Christmas Carol,” the GHS fall play. He did not want to let his
students down.
While waiting to
be shipped to Europe, he expressed joy in being able to go to plays on
Broadway, as well as later seeing movies in a small theater in England. He expresses
appreciation for the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean, of English flower gardens,
and the French landscape as well as the wonderful figures of French women.
As I read about
Bill, so much still did not make sense to me. He did not seem to fit my
stereotype of a soldier’s personality. Why did he enlist?
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the
Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Going to war was
not his plan. He put aside a comfortable life as a teacher and drama coach, and
plans for going to Northwestern to law school.
R.V. Lindsay,
Supt. Of Schools in Galesburg described Bill’s decision. “He was an artist,
creative, and imaginative. The war in all of its horrible aspects came as an
awful shock to Bill’s finer nature. There was nothing in military that appealed
to anything in his sensitive nature. Yet an inner voice in Bill would not let
him rest.”
Early in his
basic training, he wrote how discouraging it was to realize how few of his
fellow trainees really understood the principles of Democracy and Freedom they
were going to fight for. This made him aware that when he returns, he can
“serve his country best” as a teacher. It appears to me, Bill Allen was always
wrestling not with what HIS plan was, but rather what THE plan for him was.
Psalms 29:11 The Lord gives strength to his people, the Lord blesses
his people with peace.
Psalms 23:4 Even though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod
and your staff, they comfort me.
The loss in World War II was horrible. There
is a plaque near the entrance to Galesburg High School to honor 63 students and
1 faculty member who were killed in WW2.
It
is hard to put the magnitude of this loss in perspective. In Galesburg during
WW2, there was a funeral for a member of the GHS community every 15-20 days.
Bill’s letters
describe the many challenges and horrors of war. He describes wearing the same clothes
and not being able to bathe for over a month, spending the night in a German
house with Nazi soldiers in the house across the street.
He talks of the
anguish of witnessing death of both friends and enemies. When he was filled
with despair, it was his Aunt Mabel he chose to write. He explained this to her,
“Not sure I want my mother to think about these things so you are the goat.
Today was one of those days which will forever haunt my nightmares.”
He goes on later
to tell Mabel about dealing with his best friends death. He writes, ”That’s
another shocking thing about this war- a hero, contrary to fiction and
Hollywood, seldom dies a hero’s death. It’s just an unlucky hit which gets him
when he doesn’t even have a chance to fight back.”
As the war went
on, several times Bill expressed concerns about how the soldiers would be able
to go from being in war to going back to becoming civilians. He lamented, “We
all have a lot of planning for the future and I’ve done a lot of thinking along
that line myself. I fear that I’ll never be able to go back to the classroom
and earn a living there again.”
Christmas card to little brother Ben. He teases Ben that he shot Santa's reindeer in the Louxenburg forest. |
He wrote the
following to his Aunt:
Germany
Christmas Eve, 1944
Dear Aunt Mabel,
I should
be writing home tonight, but my mood is not conducive to uplifting the home front
morale. I'm thinking of all the Christmases of the past and what the day has
always meant to our family. Partly because I'm sentimental and it's such a hard
time of the year to be so far away from all those I love and the prospects of
ever returning seem so remote and partly because I needed the emotional release
after living under so much tension of late; I took advantage of the opportunity
awhile ago and sneaked off by myself and shed a great many tears. I'm good for
another year now and do realize that I've been one of God's favored. To be
alive and whole is all one can ask for these days and that is my blessing.
Love,
Bill.
What gives
someone the toughness to handle this?
On this picture sent home, Bill writes, "This is what made the Jerry's run." |
When I asked Ben
this question, his reply was, “Bill always said he could not have handled it if
he didn’t believe this would be the war to end all wars.” Clearly he was committed to a cause which
he thought was bigger than himself. If we believe in something, we don’t just talk
the talk, but we walk the walk.
1 Peter
4:10 Each of you should use
whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s
grace in its various forms.
It was only in
passing, as if it were not a big deal that Bill wrote to his parents to tell
them he had earned a Bronze Star for heroism. It may be that part of his
motivation for down playing his acts of heroism was to save his mother from any
more worry than she already had. But his humility points out he did not join
the Army for personal glory. His
humility sends the message, “It is not about me.”
As they fought
in France, liberating the country, Bill wrote, “I’ve been flower bedecked and
kissed by enough teary eyed civilians to repay me for all that I’ve gone
through to bring me this far. I might be just sentimental enough to believe
that what I’m helping to do now is by far the most useful thing that I ever
hope to accomplish.”
He was
describing the satisfaction he felt in bringing joy to others. I am sure in the
dark days of battle, one of his inspirations had to have been the images of the
grateful French people.
Bill’s Platoon
had landed in Normandy a few days after D-Day. Bill was originally a machine
gunner on the front lines through the battles as they went across France, Luxenburg,
Holland, and eventually to Germany. Later he was in reconnaissance where his
job involved exploring positions for troop movement. In January of 1945 he was given an opportunity of taking a promotion to desk job away from the
front line. This would certainly mean much less risk.
Bill wrote about
this chance, “It’s the old conflict of whether I think more of my own hide than
I do of the cause for which we’re supposedly fighting. Sgt. Allen’s skin is
mighty important to Sgt. Allen, but as I lay the cold, hard facts out on the
Belgium snow it seems rather foolish to take a qualified man out of the field
and have him win the war with a fountain pen.”
He stayed
fighting with his platoon, his “buddies.”
John
15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.
As his troop was
fighting within miles of Berlin, Bill Allen volunteered to go back to the
company kitchen to obtain hot food for the members of Company D. After the
meal, he again volunteered to return the equipment to the kitchen. In the
darkness, he took a wrong turn. His jeep ran over an American land mind placed
to protect the rear of the troop. He died on April 19, 1945, just 19 days
before VE Day.
Register-Mail article on Bill Allen's death. |
Bill Allen died
during a voluntary mission doing something he thought would boost morale of his
“buddies.” He died serving others.
So why would a school
teacher choose to go to war?
Did Bill Allen
feel hate for the Nazi’s? From the letters, it is obvious he hated what Hitler
and Germany had done and what they wanted to take away. From the letters it is
clear he felt anger toward Hitler for how he had twisted the minds of young
German boys, the same age he had taught at GHS.
But I really
believe the story of Bill Allen and the answer to my question is love. He loved the principles of Democracy and
freedom. He loved the beauty of the ocean, and of the flowers in English gardens.
He cared for the French people they liberated. He loved his drama students and
wanted to take care of them before he left. He loved his family, and he loved his
“buddies”.
Love is at the
foundation of Christian life. Service is an expression of love for others. Love
is what allowed Bill Allen to sacrifice so much and to give so much.
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are
the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
Bill Allen's grave. |
Bill Allen was
born in a “Small Town” with small town values that influenced his life, but
unlike in the song, Bill was not buried in the same small town. Bill’s remains are buried in Margraten,
Holland along with his brother-in-law, Bob Arnold.
Before their
deaths, Bill and Bob had dinner with a grateful family in Holland. The daughter
of this family, Pauline Roukin was five years old when she met Bill in the
middle of WW2.
Pauline Roukin. |
Sixty-eight
years later, Pauline still tends to the graves of Bill and Bob. It is a story
of love and service to others. This summer our family plans to visit Holland,
and Allen will be one of the fourth generation of the Allen family to be hosted
by Pauline and her family.
I would like to
close by sharing something written by a student of Bill Allen’s. Jack Brooking
was a GHS student of Bill’s. Jack went to Holland for Memorial Day in 1952. Brookings wrote an article in the
Register-Mail where he closed with:
“Nestled
somewhere in one of his letters, Bill said, ‘I think of you people often, and
how much you did to make my months in Galesburg among the happiest of my life.
I’ll be back again someday…’ Brooking’s then finished with, “I should like to
think that today he is.”
Let us prayer….
Thank
you Lord for our ancestors. We know we are where we are today because of their
love and sacrifices. During our busy lives, help us to find time to remember.
Give us the strength, the discipline, and the love needed to live our lives in
such a way that we keep Your spirit and the spirit of our ancestors alive.
Lord,
centuries ago You taught our ancestors this pray. And our ancestors passed this
prayer down through the generations to our grandparents, who then taught our
parents, and who then taught us your prayer. So as part of our heritage as
Christian families, we prayer the following just as our ancestors did:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily
bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the
power and the glory, forever.
Amen.
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