I Cried on Memorial Day

On Memorial day I sat down with my morning newspaper, the Ft. Worth Star Telegram. I hadn't really expected to find anything worth reading in the front (National) section. I never do. I scan the headlines and make a decision whether or not it is worthwhile to read -- it usually is froth with liberal slants -- so I skip most of it. I go on to the Metro section and then to the New York Times Crossword. Something I have been doing for the last 40 years.

But on page 5A, I caught sight of a picture. A picture of a very grotesque-looking man. It intrigued me. The headline read, Wounded Marine Personified Courage.

The man's name was Sgt. Merlin German. The article talked about how Sgt. German was wounded in Iraq from a roadside bomb, burning 97 percent of his body.

I then glanced at the photo again. "Goodness!", I said to myself. "97% and he's still alive?" Then I read on about the three years after he came back where his battle to stay alive was being waged. He never surrendered to the pain of surgeries. He learned to live with it and smile and joke and make others laugh.

At the Brook Army Medical Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, he had skin graft, after skin graft. He had gone from a ventilator to breathing on his own. From communicating with his eyes or a nod - to talking. He had gone from being confined to a hospital isolation bed with his arms and legs suspended - so his skin grafts would take - to moving into his own house and sleeping in his own bed. He always rebounded. No one expected him to ever survive. He just wouldn't surrender.

But I suppose God had a better plan for Sgt. German. This very handsome physical fitness buff with his lady-killer smile, lost his last battle over a simple surgery to add skin under his lower lip. He died.

I was crushed! He was just 22. I sat and cried. The small picture among the print showed Sgt. German in military dress with his perfect face. The picture of a very determined, proud and patriotic man. The big picture didn't seem very grotesque at all.
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