People in the early twenty-first century seem to struggle to be thankful. One moving story on this topic concerns a seminary student in Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a life-saving squad. On September 8, 1860, a ship called the Lady Elgin went aground on the shore of Lake Michigan near Evanston, and Edward Spencer waded again and again into the frigid waters to rescue 17 passengers. In the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years later he died in California at the age of 81. In a newspaper notice of his death, it was said that not one of the people he rescued ever thanked him.
Today is a day in which we are to be reminded of our creatureliness, our frailty, and our dependence. One of the clearest ways we may express this is to seek to give thanks in all circumstances (Philippians 4:6).
I am sure today you can find much for which to give thanks: the gift of life, the gift of faith, the joy of friends and family, all those serving in the mission field extending the reach of the gospel around the world, and so much else. I also invite you to consider taking a moment at some point today to write a note of thanksgiving to someone who really made a difference in your life: possibly a teacher, a coach, a mentor, a minister or a parent. You might even write to the parish secretary, the sexton, or the music minister in the parish where you worship; they work very hard behind the scenes.
”“The Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall S. Harmon is the convenor of this blog and takes this opportunity to give thanks for all blog readers and participants and to wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving
My thoughts regarding Thanksgiving Day go back to late in 1968, about 30 day’s before that year’s presidential election and a month and a half before Thanksgiving Day. It has to do with the deep looks and smiles of South Vietnamese prisoners of war (POWs) that had just thirty minutes before had been freed from a communist prison camp. I took those pictures aboard one of my PBRs (patrol boat river). I still have them and I still cherish them of a symbol of all that was good about what the U.S. Navy did in the Mekong Delta. This pre-Thanksgiving story of a reason to give thanks follows below.
On 6 October 1968, I was fortunate to be in command of seven PBRs that, along with a SEAL squad and the Vinh Binh Province provincial reconnaissance unit, rescued 26 South Vietnamese POWs from a prison camp on enemy occupied Dung Island on the lower Bassac River. This island was about twenty miles long and enemy forces had inflicted serious casualties on PBRs and Navy Seawolf helicopter gunships from that island over the previous two years, including the loss of a whole PBR crew to a very large NVA style claymore mine and the loss of a whole Seawolf gunship crew when it was shot down over the island. Any friendly force, under battalion size, setting foot on the island could expect to be met with deadly force. Small units like SEAL units, PRUs and PBR patrols always had to carefully plan their incursions close into the island’s waters and onto the island.
This was an a rapidly planned and perfectly executed and an extremely dangerous operation, conducted by 32 PBR sailors and officers, a seven man SEAL squad led by WO Scott Lyons and a 36 man PRU led by a SEAL petty officer. It was carried out under the noses of very strong local Viet Cong forces and a Viet Cong main force battalion bivouacked within two kilometers of the POW camp. There were current reports of U.S. POWs within a twenty mile radius of this POW camp and part of the urgency of our preparations was based upon gaining rapid access to time-sensitive information regarding the ‘where-abouts’ of U.S. servicemen held prisoner by the communists.
It was done with no friendly air support or other supporting naval units. The units that should have supported us were drawn off to support a ‘dog and pony show’ for the visiting Secretary of the Navy twenty miles upstream. Despite the lack of support from seniors in the chain-of-command, we carried this operation ‘off’ with no friendly casualties.
Due to political considerations, possibly related to active and inactive acts of negligence of the Commander Naval Forces Vietnam and his subordinates, a violation of Article 99 of the UCMJ, and the presence of the Secretary of the Navy on a visit nearby, none of the PBR sailors received the slightest bit of recognition for their heroic actions related to freeing the POWs. The SEAL squad participating in the operation had their recommended awards reduced from a Navy Cross and six Silver Stars to a Bronze Star and six Navy Commendation Medals.
There was a motive behind this diminution of recognition of the SEAL squad’s heroism and outstanding performance. I believe that it was done to greatly reduce the visibility of the SEALs acts of valor. Awarding a Navy Cross requires an investigation almost equivalent to a grand jury investigation and the awarding of a Silver Star also requires full disclosure of a great deal of information. Information that in this instance would have been very embarrassing to senior naval officers and naval officials.
But on this Thanksgiving, I still find the ‘thankfulness’ on the faces of the freed South Vietnamese POWs to a reward ‘all-in-itself’ and an affirmation of the courage and competence those who served with me.
Just got up from the table, and want to extend our Thanksgiving blessings to everyone on this forum!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, and thanks to you for all you do!
Happy Thanksgiving, Kendall and elves! I am very thankful to God for what ya’ll do here: for your writing skills, for the time you take to research the news, and for the way you put up with us as we respond to your posts and “communicate” (sometimes heatedly) with one another. 😉
Ditto to the above. Kendall, your graciousness in the way that you maintain this site is alone enough to be thankful for.