The Other Day, I was Touched by a HERO OF WAR!

Posted:  8 Feb 13

HEROES ARE TO BE FOUND EVERYWHERE!  

SOMETIMES, YOU JUST NEED THE LUCK TO ASK

THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

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1.  BACKGROUND

A couple of days ago, I attended a "Coast Guard Officers Association" luncheon at Coast Guard Base Alameda.  The featured speaker was the "big boss," Vice Admiral Paul Zukunft, Commander of the entire Coast Guard Pacific Area, headquartered there, at the Base.  As would be expected of one who rose to the top of an awesome advancement process -- the best and the brightest -- it was a spell-binding and thoroughly edifying privilege.

I was seated at the table with three of my old friends -- one, Bill Davis, I hadn't seen in 33 years, since we served together in the old Coast Guard Cutter Glacier. Turns out, Bill and VADM Zukunft were classmates at the CG Academy in New London, CT -- and boy, did that make me feel old (just for a second or two).

VADM Zukunft's predecessor, VADM Manson Brown, was an ensign (then, lieutenant-jg) who served with Bill and me in Glacier -- I could tell, even then, that he was going to wear stars -- I just didn't imagine that Admiral Brown would wear three (and maybe even four) of them!  He may well become the Coast Guard's first black Commandant! (I really don't feel that old, so far, thank God, even though I was six years senior to them ... for a little while ... till our life-courses altered.)

Another was a former Commanding Officer of mine -- and now a long-time best friend, Roy Henderson, Lieutenant Commander, retired.

The third was David Desiderio, retired Commander, whom I only knew by great reputation, back in the old days -- but became friends with, in recent years.  I noticed that he was wearing a beautiful gold-star device in his lapel.  

I am so glad I asked him about it.

2.  THE GOLD STAR

The Gold Star Lapel Button, also referred to as the Gold Star pin, is distributed to members of the immediate family of a fallen service member by the Department of Defense.

• The pin is distributed according to strict Department of Defense guidelines for service members who have lost their lives in conflict or in support of certain military operations. 
• The Gold Star has also appeared on flags, as was popular during WWII, which families would hang in the window to indicate that a loved one had been killed overseas. 
• Gold Star Families, those included in this Registry, are individuals who have received the Gold Star Lapel Button from the Department of Defense for the sacrifice of their loved one.

3.  THE DESIDERIO GOLD STAR

Commander Desiderio blessed our table with a portion of the story, recounting the remarkable deeds of his father, who won the Medal of Honor, during the Korean War -- at the cost of his life.

His father, Captain Reginald B. Desiderio, U.S. Army, (September 12, 1918 – November 27, 1950), justly earned his honored place in that most exclusive of clubs, The Congressional Medal of Honor Society. (I've included the links, so you can see for yourselves)

4.  LUCKY, LUCKY US!

Among other things, these heroes, who turn the tide of battle, even laying down their lives for their comrades, do things that reverberate down the ages.

• Large populations now exist (who wouldn't, otherwise), "only" because these warriors saved the lives of future fathers and mothers
• Wars turn out differently and society flourishes, rather than darkens
• Their great acts inspire more of the same
• They teach us well, by demonstrating how freedom and human dignity exact awesome costs for their preservation -- and make us search our souls to see whether we could have done such deeds, ourselves -- to truly rise to the occasion
• They leave a legacy of honor that blesses their descendants and shapes their lives -- and the lives of those whom these others, themselves, touch -- ALL OF US -- connected together into the single great human chain-reaction which IS us...

"THESE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE"

I am so glad I asked.  Thank you, David, for sharing a story that deserves to be told, heard, and relished -- forever.  And thank you, Captain Desiderio, sir, for this "last full measure of devotion."


David Nelson

10 Feb 13 / Sun -- An After-Thought:  

This morning, while thinking of heroes, I awoke with the words "alter of freedom" ringing loud and clear within my mind -- uttered by another of the selfless ones who have blessed this Republic and world.  

President Lincoln, even while fully engaged in conducting one of the pivotal events in all of human history, our Civil War -- found the time and decency to care about the feelings of a mother, believed to have lost 5 sons in that sadly necessary upheaval.  (In a very real sense, he was feeling the loss of hundreds of thousands of sons, himself -- including two of his own)

He tried to lighten her tragic burden with words intended to give her loss some deeper meaning so that her reasoning mind and soothed soul would help her bear up to the unbearable.  

With his extraordinary gift of eloquence, he not only accomplished this -- he added yet one more treasure to the vast, rich store of goodness he bequeathed to our entire species -- once again demonstrating the great and enduring power of good words and acts, when used heroically.

Here, see for yourselves.

DN


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