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| Blue Angels July 2010 Pensacola Beach, Florida |
Today I was surprised by the lack of patriotism I saw during the course of an otherwise normal day at work. Even working at a Federal building I noticed nothing announced within emails or posted on bulletin boards.
To me December 7th, 1941 will be a day that forever changed the course of life for millions of people around the world. For families whose loved ones enlisted, this day marked the start of a new beginning in America. The Greatest Generation was just starting to break ground and grow roots and make an impact for the world that is still felt today. What makes that generation so special is that they didn't have to talk about their experiences, they didn't want or need the attention. They simply did what was asked of them to the best of their ability and that was the end of it. Countless Servicemen went decades before mentioning their experiences during The War. Some speak even less often of this time, even after 69 years.
To me December 7th, 1941 will be a day that forever changed the course of life for millions of people around the world. For families whose loved ones enlisted, this day marked the start of a new beginning in America. The Greatest Generation was just starting to break ground and grow roots and make an impact for the world that is still felt today. What makes that generation so special is that they didn't have to talk about their experiences, they didn't want or need the attention. They simply did what was asked of them to the best of their ability and that was the end of it. Countless Servicemen went decades before mentioning their experiences during The War. Some speak even less often of this time, even after 69 years.
Joseph Earl Cook was one of these men. Grandjoe, as we grandchildren call him, enlisted in the Navy soon after this day at the age of 18. He was stationed in Pensacola, or near the area, for flight school training and once that was completed he flew PB-Y and PB-M planes on reconnaissance missions in the Pacific. Mostly these took place in the East China Sea and also near Japan. He wrote in his journal during this time about the impact this had on such a young man, him only being 19 or so and being entrusted with the lives of comrades. Grandjoe also recounts the story of his commanding officer wanting him to fly with him on his plane within the squadron and then the plane he was supposed to be on being shot down and everyone dying. For Joseph Earl Cook the experience of The Pacific radically molded the man he would become later in life. He would shape the lives of his entire family and offspring by the years he spent serving our great country.
I mention how grateful I am for those that have gone on to Heaven, and I sincerely mean it when I say it. Grandjoe will always be my hero. A man who embodied the call to arms in a time when the country needed him. I've been so lucky to have a previous job where I worked on military installations. Being able to see our men and women training and preparing for a not so certain future has reinforced my sense of pride for the USA.
There's also another reason for my patriotism. For about as long as I can remember I've been going to see the Blue Angels fly in Pensacola with my family. Grandjoe was the catalyst for these trips and he will forever be the reason I go as often as possible for the rest of my life. I hope to take my kids and show them the planes that he flew in the Pacific and retell the few stories he told me while he was still here. I actually have felt that he is the reason I have a great sense of direction and can very easily understand spatial relationships. He being a pilot, direction comes as second nature, and I too, think this is something he passed down to me.
Who knows just how much the course of time was altered when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It was God's plan that Joseph Earl Cook come back from the war and attend and graduate from Auburn Polytechnic Institute where he would meet his wife and then they would start a family. This is where I come in a bunch of years down the road.
And that's why December 7th is special to me, and always will be.
His graveside funeral this summer will live with me forever. The currently enlisted Navy serviceman and women that attended the service playing taps was a chilling reminder of Grandjoe's sacrifice to our country. The beautiful and absolutely perfect Red, White, and Blue American Flag draped across his casket as the highest symbol of honor and gratitude possible on Earth made me proud to have been of his blood. The folding of the flag, the presentation of it to my grandmother, and she stating "On behalf of the President of the United States and the Chief of Naval Operations, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your husband's service to this Country and a grateful Navy." -this brought chills to my whole body.
It was a personal call to never let our nation forget the sacrifices of our service men and women and their families. The tears were symbols of regret for him not being fully capable of understanding my gratitude towards his service, and me never being able to tell him again.
So if you think of December 7th as just another day on the calendar, or one of the shopping days before Christmas..... stop and examine just what a profound impact December 7th, 1941 might have had on your grandparents or parents. It just might have been the reason you are here.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
-MCC
And that's why December 7th is special to me, and always will be.
His graveside funeral this summer will live with me forever. The currently enlisted Navy serviceman and women that attended the service playing taps was a chilling reminder of Grandjoe's sacrifice to our country. The beautiful and absolutely perfect Red, White, and Blue American Flag draped across his casket as the highest symbol of honor and gratitude possible on Earth made me proud to have been of his blood. The folding of the flag, the presentation of it to my grandmother, and she stating "On behalf of the President of the United States and the Chief of Naval Operations, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your husband's service to this Country and a grateful Navy." -this brought chills to my whole body.
It was a personal call to never let our nation forget the sacrifices of our service men and women and their families. The tears were symbols of regret for him not being fully capable of understanding my gratitude towards his service, and me never being able to tell him again.
"There's only two people who's ever died for me, laid down their life just so I could be free. They both went through hell, beared crosses and shells, and both got back up again after they fell. They never pick the fight but they're there to pickup the pieces.
God only knows who we'd be without Soldiers and Jesus"
So if you think of December 7th as just another day on the calendar, or one of the shopping days before Christmas..... stop and examine just what a profound impact December 7th, 1941 might have had on your grandparents or parents. It just might have been the reason you are here.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
-MCC
