The quiet little park in Cupertino, Calif., is a world away from the mountains of Afghanistan where a Chinook helicopter was shot down in 2005, killing all aboard ”” including Navy SEAL James Suh.
Most Sundays, including this Memorial Day weekend, visitors to this place of manicured lawns and graceful red maple trees will find James’ father, Solomon, 72, sitting on a bench.
He will be reading a Bible and gazing now and then at bronze sculptures of his son and another Navy SEAL that are the centerpiece of a veterans memorial. James, who died at age 28, is depicted in full battle gear crouching beside a close friend, Matthew Axelson, a Cupertino native who also died in the mountains that day.
An incredibly important reminder, I think, at this time, when a much publicized Navy Seal success story has gotten so much air time. It all comes at a very high cost–may we never forget that, and may we never forget them, and their families.
Never. Amen.
Memory Eternal