As we approach the upcoming holiday, it’s time to remind everyone not to go around saying, “Happy Memorial Day.” Nice thought on most other holidays. But not this one.

My inspiration for this article is owing to a long time friend, Dr. Walt Larrimore. Perhaps you remember Dr. Walt as a frequent medical guest with Dr. James Dobson on the Focus on the Family radio broadcasts. I’ve enjoyed having Dr. Walt on my radio programs as well.

Today, the good doctor continues to inspire others with regular blog posts. And he’s written an excellent book titled, At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse. It is prose about his father that took over 15 years of researching, writing, and rewriting.

What I will share below is a story from a recent blog post by Dr. Walt. It is titled, “MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE – Unforgettable messages from remarkable WWII Heroes.” The edited portions are shared with Dr. Walt’s permission.

Lucian King Truscott Jr. served in WWII between 1943 and 1945.  He was one of only two US Army officers to command a division, a corps, and a field army in combat during the war, serving mainly in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO).

On Memorial Day, May 30, 1945, after WWII in Europe was over, Lt. Gen. Lucian Truscott Jr. — then commander of the US Fifth Army, delivered what may well be the most moving and iconic of all Memorial Day addresses. Instead of facing the crowd of dignitaries gathered at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, Truscott turned his back on the audience and delivered an extraordinary apology to the roughly 20,000 American soldiers who were buried there.

It’s worthy to mention that according to historian Nicolaus Mills, there is neither a transcript nor a recording of Truscott’s speech — not even among his official papers at the George C. Marshall Research Library in Virginia. Fortunately, journalists who were there reported on the event.

The famed WWII combat cartoonist Bill Mauldin wrote about Truscott’s speech and called his apology unquestionably memorable. His account went as follows:

“When Truscott spoke he turned away from the visitors and addressed himself to the corpses he had commanded here. It was the most moving gesture I ever saw. It came from a hard-boiled old man who was incapable of planned dramatics.

The general’s remarks were brief and extemporaneous. He apologized to the dead men for their presence here. He said everybody tells leaders it is not their fault that men get killed in war, but that every leader knows in his heart this is not altogether true.

He said he hoped anybody here through any mistake of his would forgive him, but he realized that was asking a hell of a lot under the circumstances. . . . he would not speak about the glorious dead because he didn’t see much glory in getting killed if you were in your late teens or early twenties.

A separate account was filed by the legendary war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Lke Mauldin, Pyle was embedded with the men about whom he wrote. According to biographer James Tobin in Ernie Pyle’s War: America’s Witness to World War II, Pyle wrote:

I couldn’t help but feeling the immensity of the catastrophe that has put men all over the world, millions of us, moving in machine like precision throughout long foreign nights — men who should be comfortably asleep in their own warm beds at home. War makes strange giant creatures out of us little men who inhabit the Earth.

Many of the people Pyle wrote about never made it home. Neither did he. The Associated Press reported he died on April 18, 1944, after a Japanese machine gun bullet pierced his left temple.

Once again this year, my wife Rhonda and I will seek out a graveyard on Memorial Day to find burial sites of those who willingly served in wars for our country. Many never to return.

It’s a stark reminder of Jesus of Nazareth’s words,

“No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, HCSB)

What the war dead gave, we can never repay.

(*If you are so inclined, the Camp Butler National Cemetery is near Springfield, and the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery is in Elwood, Illinois.)

**You can read more of Dr. Walt’s blogs at drwalt.com.