Freedom-At What Cost

Today a great number of Americans and Europeans pay tribute to the thousands who died on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. The European continent was being strangled by a political mindset that sought to destroy the ideal of personal freedom and democracy. The Axis powers had already killed close to ten million people and their plans included the entire planet.


Brave men swallowed their fears and jumped into the waters that had come ashore at Normandy for thousands of years. Now the waters were running red and hundreds of men lie dead and dying, adding to the crimson waves that advanced and retreated on the sand. As every minute passed into eternal history the cost of freedom was rising.


Over the coming months thousands of young men will die. Some young men will die mercifully instant. Other men, as young as 18 and 19, will pass into eternity with thoughts of their mom, their favorite Sunday dinner, the face of their girlfriend, moving across their dimming eyes.


I write this today because I have had the highest honor of knowing a few men who swallowed their fears, jumped into the ocean, walked through jungles, all to defeat the evil design of totalitarian madmen.


I have written before of my father and four of his brothers who volunteered to face the brutality of war. My grandma Galloway believes her boys came home alive due to her praying for them each day. Yet, their were thousands of moms praying for the safe return of their boys only to receive the letter from the War Department with typed letters formed into words that declared the death of their son.


My dad came home from the war in the pacific. The only physical difficulty that he dealt with was the fungal infection that he and thousands of soldiers encountered. He suffered from cerebral malaria as well, the scars of the malaria remaining in his brain. Today my dad would have been diagnosed with PTSD, as would hundreds of thousands of soldiers.


I cherish the American flag presented to the family at my dad's funeral. Some day, when I have a place of my own, and I will fly his flag on very special days.


Tedd Galloway is a former missionary and is currently the pastor at West Adrian Community Church. His book, A Mother's Heart Moved the Hand of God, has been released through, Morgan James Publishing. You can follow Tedd on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. His website is, www.teddgalloway.com