Memorial Day is a time for reflection, gratitude, and solemn remembrance. We honor the courageous women and men who’ve given their lives in service to our nation, acknowledging the big sacrifices made by them and the households they left behind. Today carries a deep emotional weight, particularly for these with private connections to navy service. As we pause to replicate on their legacy, it’s value inspecting how we help those that proceed to serve and the households who stick with it after their loss. One insurance coverage firm that performs a major function within the lives of navy households is the United Providers Car Affiliation (USAA).
Based in 1922 by a bunch of Military officers who couldn’t discover insurance coverage protection because of their high-risk standing, USAA was created to serve the distinctive wants of navy personnel. Over time, it has grown into a robust monetary establishment, providing not simply auto and banking companies but in addition property insurance coverage for properties and belongings. USAA’s advertising and identification are rooted in service, honor, and dedication to those that serve or have served within the navy. Its Memorial Day webpage is a touching tribute, encouraging guests to replicate on the vacation’s that means and take heed to tales of fallen heroes. USAA desires to be seen not simply as an organization however as a neighborhood constructed round shared navy values.
For a lot of navy households, USAA is a trusted companion and one which understands the actual challenges they face. These embrace frequent relocations, deployments, and the emotional and monetary complexities of life tied to navy obligation. Their properties could sit vacant for months whereas a service member is abroad. Property could also be broken in disaster-prone areas close to navy bases. Relations could must handle claims whereas juggling the tasks of elevating youngsters and holding down jobs, typically whereas grieving the lack of a beloved one in uniform. These are usually not hypothetical situations. They’re actual circumstances that complicate the insurance coverage claims course of in very human methods.
My father and sister each served within the navy. I beforehand famous them in a Memorial Day put up, Remembering Coast Guard Signalman 1st Class Douglas Munro. Additionally they love telling me that USAA insures them.
Whereas searching USAA’s Memorial Day tribute web page, I got here throughout a quote that stopped me in my tracks: “I’m not afraid to die, I simply hate the considered not seeing you once more.” The phrases have been highly effective, intimate, and deeply human. They struck a chord with me, not simply due to their emotional gravity, however as a result of they jogged my memory that there are deeply private tales of sacrifice and love behind each flag-draped ceremony and public tribute on Memorial Day. This was a soldier’s remaining ideas, provided within the darkest of moments, to the individuals he beloved most.
The quote was attributed to Lieutenant Tommie Kennedy of the U.S. Military Air Corps, who lived from 1923 to 1945. Intrigued, I regarded deeper into his story. Lt. Kennedy was captured by Japanese forces in 1942 throughout World Conflict II and was among the many 1000’s of American and Filipino troopers compelled to endure the Bataan Loss of life March. This was a grueling journey marked by hunger, beatings, and abstract executions. After surviving that ordeal, he was held as a prisoner of struggle beneath brutal situations. In January 1945, he was positioned aboard one of many notorious Japanese “hell ships” used to move POWs to Japan in inhumane situations.
In his remaining act of affection and braveness, Lt. Kennedy wrote a letter to his dad and mom on the backs of two household pictures. In it, he expressed his timeless love, remorse at not with the ability to see them once more, and remaining directions for find out how to use the cash he had saved. He prompt they purchase a turkey ranch and requested that his nieces and nephews be cared for. He additionally talked about fellow troopers and requested that they be remembered. In some way, that letter made its method residence, a fragile however enduring testomony to a younger man’s power, coronary heart, and readability in his remaining moments.
For readers who’re on this story, here’s a hyperlink to the letters.
On this Memorial Day, we do nicely to honor the fallen. One of the best ways to honor the reminiscence of those that gave all the things is to make sure that the guarantees made to their households are usually not damaged. Memorial Day is a time of remembrance, but it surely may also be a second to recommit ourselves to justice, service, and the American values we declare to carry pricey.
Thought For The Day
“This nation will stay the land of the free solely as long as it’s the residence of the courageous.”
—Lelmer Davis
