It was August 1969, and the heat was oppressive. I went to the guard shack to meet Staff Sergeant Tom Smith (not his real name) to iron out the details of personnel assignments for that night’s perimeter security. We were situated on a hill overlooking the city of Danang in Vietnam.
I was a new guy on the hill, all of 19 years old, and Sergeant Smith was giving me the benefit of his 10 years of experience as a Marine. He was a likeable man who talked about the upcoming mission and about the house he and his wife were having built in North Carolina. Sarge went on and on about his new son, who had been born three months after he had gone overseas. He looked forward to holding his boy for the first time – but it was not meant to be.
Three hours later Sergeant Smith was involved in a terrible accident of war that ended his life and changed mine forever. Through his selfless act of heroism, more than 200 Marines were saved that day – I was one of them.
I had been brought up with Christian values but the secular world had made it easy for me to offer God a back seat in my life. After that incident I realized that, even at 19, I was not invincible and I had no idea how many days God would allow me on this earth.
It’s been more than 40 years since that day, and I have never once forgotten the sacrifice of Sergeant Smith and the opportunity he gave all 200 of us. He paid the ultimate price so that we could live.
For me each day is a gift, and I try to use my gifts wisely.
Joseph Hardwick
US Marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima, 1945
No comments:
Post a Comment