Archives for 2022

Good morning,

Nothing feeds, nothing refreshes, nothing delights my soul!

(James Smith, “Precious Things from the Everlasting Hills”)  Play Audio!  Download Audio

“My meditation of Him shall be sweet!” Psalm 104:34

The Lord Jesus is the subject of my meditations. Not a day passes but my thoughts are occupied with Him. Forget whom I may, I never forget Him. Nothing feeds, nothing refreshes, nothing delights my soul, like vigorous meditations on Jesus. I dwell at times on . . .
  the glories of His person,
  the riches of His grace,
  the merit of His blood,
  the transcendent glory of His righteousness,
  the tenderness of His sympathy,
  the constancy of His love,
  the vastness of His resources,
  the greatness of His power,
  the glory of His offices,
  the prevalence of His intercession, and
  the grandeur of His second coming,until I am enamored with His beauty, and enraptured with His love!

My meditation of Jesus is sweet! I think of Him upon my bed, and meditate on Him through the watches of the night.

Jesus is the solace and joy of my soul.

When all is dark within me,
when all is dreary around me,
when all is discouraging before me–
He fills me full of joy with His countenance.
One look from His eye,
one word from His lips,
one breath breathed on my soul–
relieves, restores, and makes me happy.

He is the river of pleasure, in which I sometimes bathe!
He is the Eden of delights, in which I sometimes walk!

Take away Jesus, and my soul droops, desponds and dies!
Give me Jesus and the enjoyment of His presence, and I can do without any other Heaven!

He is the joy of my brightest days, and my solace in my dreariest nights!
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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Coming daily and hourly to Jesus!

(James Smith, “Wealth for Souls” 1859)  Play Audio!  Download Audio

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things!” Philippians 3:8

All true Christians know Christ, not with a mere theoretical knowledge, which may be obtained from books; but with a knowledge which the Holy Spirit works in the heart. We know Christ . . .
  in the glory of His person,
  in the perfection of His work, and
  in the riches of His wondrous grace.
We so know Christ, that He stands out before us as the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely One. And the more we know Him, the more intimate we wish to become with Him!

We not only know Christ, but we need Him. And the longer we live, the more we need Him. Nor do we merely need Christ, but we need everything in Christ, or that Christ has. We need . . .
  His blood to cleanse us,
  His righteousness to clothe us,
  and His Spirit to sanctify us.
We need Christ daily, hourly!

As we need Christ, so we come to Christ.
Not once for all, but we continue to come.
We must come to Him . . .
   in every trial,
   in every trouble, 
   in every conflict,
   to unburden our minds,
   to find rest for our souls.

We come to Him . . .
  for wisdom,
  for strength,
  for holiness.

Much of experimental religion consists in coming daily and hourly to Jesus.

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest!” Matthew 11:28
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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

When God blesses, what should our response be? We should immediately thank Him. The next two weeks, we will look at 10 people in the Bible that did just that.

They exulted, praised, thanked, and honored God.

Le Ann Trees wrote this and I added the complete Bible passages.

If God has blessed you, thank Him.

10 People in the Bible Who Remembered to Thank God 1-5

1. MIRIAM

Miriam, the older sister of Moses and Aaron, gave thanks to God while playing her tambourine and dancing with joy with the other women whom God saved from the Egyptians after they crossed over the Red Sea

“And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.²¹ And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”           (Exod. 15:20-21).

2. HANNAH

Hannah gave a long prayer of thanks to God in 1 Samuel 2 because God granted her petition for a son. Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah and her husband, Elkanah, brought him to Eli the priest to be dedicated to the Lord.

“And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.² There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.³ Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.⁴ The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.⁵ They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.⁶ The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.⁷ The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.⁸ He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them.⁹ He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.¹⁰ The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. (1 Sam. 2:1-10).

3. DAVID

David gave thanks to God after winning his battle against the Philistines.

“And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:² And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;³ The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; thou savest me from violence.⁴ I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.⁵ When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;⁶ The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;⁷ In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.⁸ Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.⁹ There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.¹⁰ He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.¹¹ And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.¹² And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.¹³ Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.¹⁴ The Lord thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.¹⁵ And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.¹⁶ And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.¹⁷ He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;¹⁸ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.¹⁹ They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.²⁰ He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.²¹ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.²² For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.²³ For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.²⁴ I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.²⁵ Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.²⁶ With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.²⁷ With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavory.²⁸ And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.²⁹ For thou art my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness.³⁰ For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.³¹ As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.³² For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock, save our God? ³³ God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.³⁴ He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet: and setteth me upon my high places.³⁵ He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.³⁶ Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.³⁷ Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip. ³⁸ I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.³⁹ And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet. ⁴⁰ For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.⁴¹ Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.⁴² They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.⁴³ Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.⁴⁴ Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me. ⁴⁵ Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.⁴⁶ Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.⁴⁷ The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.⁴⁸ It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me.⁴⁹ And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.⁵⁰ Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.⁵¹ He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore. (2 Sam. 22:1-51).

4. SOLOMON

King Solomon thanked God for all he had done to provide for Israel in his prayer of dedication for the temple.

“And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;)¹⁵ And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,¹⁶ Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.¹⁷ And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.¹⁸ And the Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart.¹⁹ Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name.²⁰ And the Lord hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.²¹ And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. (1 Kings 8:14-21).

5. THE AUTHOR OF PSALM 111 

The author of this beloved psalm begins with the following words: Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Psalm 111 is filled with praise for Gods wondrous works. The psalmist ends by reminding people that God’s praise endures forever.

“Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.² The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.³ His work is honorable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.⁴ He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.⁵ He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.⁶ He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.⁷ The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.⁸ They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.⁹ He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.” (Psalm 111)

LE ANN TREES

Le Ann is a writer, editor, speaker, wife, and mom who enjoys the Southern California lifestyle, including flip-flops, the beach, riding electric bicycles along the 101, and an occasional salted caramel Americano from Lofty Coffee in Solana Beach. She is exceedingly grateful for both the loving kindness of many people and the sound Christian doctrine that helped her to keep on living after her son died in a skiing accident in 2006. She holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Westminster Seminary California. Le Ann is managing editor of Beautiful Christian Life.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Heaven’s great store-house!

(James Smith)  Play Audio!  Download Audio

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ!” Ephesians 1:3

“The unsearchable riches of Christ!” Ephesians 3:8

The Lord Jesus is Heaven’s great store-house, in whom is laid up all treasures, and from whom we are to receive all our supplies!

All that we can need,
all that we can enjoy, and
all that we can desire–is in Christ!

All the perfections and attributes of God, are in Him:
  justice and grace,
  mercy and holiness,
  love and power,
in all their fullness are in Him, and are displayed by Him.

All the promises of God are in Him, confirmed by His death–to be fulfilled by His hand.

All the blessings of grace, and all the riches of glory, are in Him! He possesses and He bestows them.

All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him, and from Him we must receive them.

All saving offices are in Christ, for His people.
He is our Surety, to pay all our sin debts.
He is our Substitute, to impute His perfect righteousness to us.
He is our Redeemer, to ransom us.
He is our Mediator, to reconcile us to the Father.
He is our Physician, to cure all our soul-diseases. He heals the diseases . . .
  of the mind; as our Prophet, He imparts saving knowledge,
  of the conscience; as our Priest, He gives peace us with God,
  and of the will; as our King, He governs His people. 

All we need, therefore, is in Christ!

All God intends to bestow, is in Christ!

To Him therefore we should apply for all, and from Him we should expect to receive all.

Every need, should send us to Christ!
Every desire, should lead us to Christ!

In all things, we should have to do with Christ. Everywhere, we should realize the presence of Christ. In a word, we should daily make Christ in our experience, what God has made Him to us in His Word–-our Alpha and Omega, our first and last, our all in all. Everything should lead us to Him, and everything should serve to endear Him to us, who is at once our present fountain, and our everlasting portion!

“And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus!” Philippians 4:19
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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Afterwards you will understand!

(James Smith)  Play Audio!  Download Audio

“You do not understand now what I am doing, but afterwards you will understand.” John 13:7

We are to walk by faith, not by sight.
We are to trust His heart, when we cannot trace His hand!

We are to believe Him, when we cannot understand His mysterious workings!

The Lord is now working in nature, providence, and grace–and He does many things which we do not understand at present. But when His work is complete, and it lies stretched out before us in the light of eternity, we shall then. . .
  comprehend His design,
  admire His wisdom, and
  adore His divine workings!

Beloved, is God cleansing you by fiery trials, or causing you to pass through deep waters? Are you at a loss to know what His design is, or where the present affliction will end?

Be still. Wait His time.

There is a divine working time, which is the present;
and there is a divine revealing time, which is to come.

The wisest Christians are often in the dark now, but the simplest Christians will see all things clearly by and by.
A little more patience, a little more faith–and all will end well.

“We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God, and who are called according to His purpose!” Romans 8:2
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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

98-Year-Old WWII Veteran Finally Honored for Fighting Japanese in Philippines

Daniel Crowley receives Combat Infantryman Badge nearly eight decades later

by Aaron Kassraie, AARP, January 6, 2021

Nearly eight decades after defending the Bataan Peninsula from invading Japanese forces and subsequent years suffering as a prisoner of war, WWII veteran Daniel Crowley, 98, finally received his Combat Infantryman Badge for his service with the Provisional Army Air Corps Infantry Regiment.

“The event that is happening here today is nearly 76 years late in coming,” said Gregory J. Slavonic, acting undersecretary of the Navy during the Jan. 4 ceremony at Bradley Air National Guard Base in East Granby, Connecticut.

Crowley was assigned to Nichols Field (today’s Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport) in the Philippines in 1941 as part of the U.S. Army Air Corps. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, Japan also launched offensives against U.S. military facilities throughout the Pacific. Armed with an antiquated machine gun, the untrained Crowley was made a provisional infantryman and asked to help defend the base against the Japanese advance.

After being forced to abandon the airfield, the surviving ground crew and airmen were made members of the Provisional Army Air Corps Infantry Regiment on Bataan.

‘Slight technicality’

“He was a combat infantryman, but he didn’t sign up with combat infantry — he signed up with the Army Air Corps — and that was the slight technicality which kept him from getting the award,” said Kelley Crowley, Daniel’s wife.

The Combat Infantryman Badge, awarded to infantrymen and members of Special Forces with the rank of colonel and below who served in active ground combat, is something Crowley never thought he would receive. Until recently, though, the Army had resisted giving the award to provisional soldiers who fought on Bataan. Crowley made his last attempt at obtaining the honor a few months ago.

“I wasn’t the only one, remember — there were thousands like me who were designated something else. When the war started, they suddenly had to become infantryman, without any training,” he said.

After the Bataan Peninsula was overrun by Japanese forces in April 1942, Crowley’s unit made its way to the town of Mariveles to surrender. But in a bid to avoid being captured, he and a number of soldiers hid in the breakwater near shore until nightfall, when they swam three miles to Corregidor Island in Manila Bay. There Crowley fought alongside the 4th Marines, but he became a prisoner of war when U.S. forces surrendered in May.

From POW to sergeant

As a prisoner of war, Crowley was subject to forced labor by his Japanese captors. He was sent from the Philippines to Japan aboard a “hell ship,” where approximately 300 men were held in the dark, made to lie in their own waste, with little food or water for 11 days. In Japan, Crowley was forced to work in some of the country’s most dangerous copper mines.

“It takes a very special person to continue to persevere through the most haunting of circumstances; it takes certain depth of character to put yourself in harm’s way for your fellow warriors and for your country,” Slavonic said before also awarding Crowley with the POW Medal.

There was yet another recognition awaiting Crowley as the ceremony continued.

“When the Army began digging into Dan’s history and service, they uncovered that Dan was promoted to the rank of sergeant,” said Slavonic.

Crowley was made a sergeant in 1945, but he had been given an honorable discharge before the order reached him. 

“I have to say that to be able to do this today is a rare and humbling opportunity for me as the undersecretary of the Navy. To be able to recognize Dan for his many sacrifices and accomplishments,” Slavonic said. “He truly represents the members of the greatest generation who did so much and asked so little from their country.”

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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

Sons of Tuskegee Airman Recall Father’s Lifelong Passion for Flying

Herb Jones Jr., a pioneer in aviation, could be found at the airport well into his 90s

by Aaron Kassraie and Emily Pickren, AARP, Updated February 2, 2022

It wasn’t until Herb Jones III and Rodney Jones got older that they understood the impact of having a father who was a Tuskegee Airman.

“He never really talked about it in the context of the historical significance of the Tuskegee Airmen, which we found out about a lot later on in life,” said Rodney Jones. “When the Tuskegee Airmen finally started to receive a lot of long-overdue recognition and accolades from the country and the rest of the world.”

The Tuskegee Airmen consisted of young Black men like Herb Jones Jr., born in 1923, who enlisted during World War II to become the country’s first Black military pilots. They trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. Despite racism, segregation and doubts over their abilities, the Tuskegee Airmen went on to fly missions during the war. Their success ultimately contributed to the desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces.

But rather than representing the pinnacle of his aviation career, being a Tuskegee Airman was just the beginning for Jones, who turned his passion for flying into a string of accomplishments over many decades.

“That’s been a recurring theme throughout his lifetime as it relates to his Tuskegee Airmen experience, [which was] a springboard to almost 70-plus years of a wonderful aviation career,” Rodney Jones said.

One of their father’s early mentors was Chief Alfred Anderson, the primary instructor at the Tuskegee Air Field. The pair originally met when Anderson gave Jones some of his first flight lessons in Arlington, Virginia, during his teenage years. Jones grew up in nearby Washington, D.C.

“My father was a protégé of Chief Anderson and remained friends with Chief Anderson throughout his 70-year career in aviation,” said Rodney Jones, “which he really attributed to his Tuskegee experience that led to other ventures, all in the field of aviation.”

Career takes flight after WWII

Despite their military service and training in the U.S. Army Air Corps, a precursor to the U.S. Air Force, Tuskegee Airmen were denied the opportunity to become commercial pilots for major airlines upon returning home after the war.

“So rather than, you know, mope on that, my Dad moved to the next step,” said Jones III.

Jones Jr. spent three decades training aviation cadets at the Columbia Air Center while working for the Civil Air Patrol, from which he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He eventually became a co-owner of the Columbia Air Center, the first Black-owned and operated airfield in Maryland.

Retirement from the Civil Air Patrol didn’t leave him grounded. In 1972, Jones and four others purchased a 100-passenger DC-7 aircraft and created the International Air Association, a Black-owned airline. It offered flights to New York, Houston, Miami, the Bahamas and Trinidad.

“My brother and I have fond stories of that. We were the baggage handlers, we were the food providers,” said Jones III. “Nothing like that had been done in the States by African Americans, and we were very proud of that. We thought it was just something cool. We didn’t understand the history that we were involved in at the time.”

The airline’s board of directors consisted of the brothers’ father, aunt and some neighbors from their community in Washington, D.C. The airline operated out of National Airport in Washington and later Martin State Airport outside of Baltimore.

Training the next generation

“In his later years, his whole focus was on young people, exposing them to the field of aviation and allowing them the opportunity to fly,” said Jones III.

In 1987, his father, then in his mid-60s, opened a private flight school of his own, Cloud Club II, where he trained approximately 200 students, many whom did not know he was a Tuskegee Airman.

“I think my father was probably most proud that there were a number of women who he had trained, who ended up with careers as military pilots, commercial pilots, air traffic control individuals and folks who actually had long careers in aviation,” said Rodney Jones.

Even after he truly retired once and for all, Jones still went to the airport every day — sometimes two times a day — well into his 90s.

“Like clockwork, from 11 o’clock to 2 o’clock, you could go down to the airport, and you would see his car parked there,” said Jones III. “He watched folks flying, landing, taking off, talking to the folks. Each and every day up until he was 95 years old, driving himself to the airport every day.”

When the brothers expressed concern about their father driving at his age he would reply, “I’ve been a pilot for decades, and you’re going to tell me that I can’t drive my car? How many accidents have you had?”

Lt. Col. Herb Jones Jr. passed away on Aug. 26, 2020, at the age of 96.

Aaron Kassraie joined AARP.org as a staff writer and associate editor of veterans’ content in 2019. He previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA TODAY and Al Jazeera English.

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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

Civil War Surgeon Only Woman in History to Receive the Medal of Honor

The story of abolitionist, prisoner of war and physician Mary Edwards Walker

by Aaron Kassraie, AARP, Updated March 4, 2022

In the 161 years since the country’s most prestigious military decoration was instituted, the Medal of Honor has been presented to over 3,500 service members but only one has been a woman, Mary Edwards Walker, M.D.

At the start of the Civil War, Walker, one of the few practicing female doctors at the time, arrived in Washington, D.C., seeking a position as a surgeon for the U.S. Army. She went to meet with Secretary of War Simon Cameron wearing a bloomer-style outfit, which incorporated trousers and represented her interest in equal rights for women.

“She did not present herself looking the way a very traditional 19th-century woman would look. So that I think doubly startled Cameron,” said Theresa Kaminski, professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and author of Dr. Mary Walker’s Civil War. “He refused her right away. He said that women didn’t belong in the Army. He could barely tolerate the notion of women as doctors.”

Instead of returning home to upstate New York, Walker went from hospital to hospital in Washington to volunteer her services. She finally found a doctor, J. N. Green, M.D., at the Indiana Hospital (located in Washington’s Patent Office Building), who accepted her proposition. Green offer to pay her out of his own salary, but she declined and only asked for a place to sleep.

“The soldiers seem to hold her in pretty high regard. And the officers that she encountered generally felt the same way, as long as they weren’t military officers,” Kaminski said. “She had more trouble with the male doctors than she did with the regular officers of the U.S. Army.”

A closer look at Walker’s tour of duty

As a person who believed in gender equality, not a widely held opinion at the time, Walker’s clothing was not just a statement but a form of convenience for the work she wanted to do. The uniform that she made for herself mimicked what a commissioned union medical officer would wear.

“I think part of it was the practicality. And maybe another part of it was a way of her pushing gender equality, saying that men and women should be able to pretty much wear what they wanted to wear without clothing being labeled,” Kaminski said.

While Walker was able to successfully push boundaries with her style of dress and occupation, she was never able to become a commissioned officer within the Army. However, she did secure a paid position as a civilian-contracted assistant surgeon.

In the spring of 1864, Walker was stationed at Lee and Gordon’s Mills in Chickamauga, Georgia, an area held by U.S. troops that was very close to Confederate territory.

“She was encouraged to go out and treat southern civilians who hadn’t had access to medical care in a long time,” Kaminski said. “She would go out into the countryside, often on her own, knowing how dangerous it was to treat civilians who were in need.”

While out on her own she would listen for any information on troop movements and brought the intel back to her commanding officer, who presumably passed it up the chain of command.

During one of her forays into enemy territory, Walker was captured by Confederate soldiers and held as a prisoner of war at a female military prison in Virginia. Her imprisonment caused negative effects on her health, including problems with her eye, which prevented her from continuing to perform surgery after the war ended.

Receiving the military’s top honor

Walker and her supporters brought her desire to be a commissioned officer to the attention of President Abraham Lincoln. However, after Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson did not feel that it was in his power to provide her a commission in the military. Instead, he awarded her a Medal of Honor.

“The grounds upon which the Medal of Honor could be awarded were broader than they are today and rather ambiguous in a number of cases,” said Ed Lengel, chief historian for the National Medal of Honor Museum. “It did not necessarily have to be combat service to qualify for the award, i.e., not just wartime service, but service actually under fire. Although, in many cases, Mary Walker came close to that.”

After the Civil War, many service members wrote their congressmen stating that they deserved the award, which pushed the military to tighten its eligibility parameters on who could qualify to receive the top military decoration.

“Pressure could be applied within the military to get a medal awarded to them simply by pulling strings. So there were quite a few egregious cases,” said Lengel.

By the beginning of the U.S. entry into World War I in 1917, a review of Medal of Honor awards resulted in 911 individuals being stripped of their award, including Walker. However, she was among the few who refused to return the medal and continued to wear it until her death in 1919.

Behind the scenes, a campaign was launched in the 1920s to get Walker’s medal restored. The efforts intensified in the 1970s, including a local campaign in her hometown of Oswego, New York. Eventually, the reinstatement of her medal was supported through a bipartisan effort in Congress and posthumously restored by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

Centenarian Julia Parsons, who spent war deciphering German messages, refuses to accept limitations

by Aaron Kassraie, AARP, March 1, 2021

A parade in Pittsburgh on March 2 celebrated the 100th birthday of native Julia Parsons, a World War II veteran who for decades maintained that she worked a quiet, ordinary desk job during the war. In reality, her job was anything but ordinary.

Parsons was one of thousands of women whose little-known story of deciphering encrypted messages sent by the Japanese and German forces played a pivotal role in helping the Allies win the war.

From college to code breaking

Fresh out of Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1942, Parsons read in the newspaper that the Navy was accepting women for a unit called Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, or WAVES. After joining and completing three months of general training, Parsons was sent to a communications annex in Washington, D.C.

When her group was asked if anyone spoke German, Parsons responded that she took two years of German in high school.

“That hardly qualified me for much of anything in the translations line,” Parsons told AARP, “but they sent me right off to the section where I worked decoding the German submarine traffic, which is what I did until the end of the war.”

Because the premise of WAVES, established in 1942, was to fill certain military roles to free up more men to fight overseas, almost all of the service members who worked decoding enemy messages were women.

“Although we did have four or five men in the office, most of them were mathematics professors,” said Parsons. “They were very nice, but they were not regular Navy people.”

Using one of the first computers, called the “Bombe,” Parsons assisted in uncovering messages that the German High Command sent to its submarines. Decoding would reveal where submarines planned to meet, their mission destinations and the weather conditions. More mundane personal messages that would have typically been sent by mail related to family deaths, new babies and upcoming weddings were also decoded.

Parsons, in her early 20s at the time, got an apartment in Washington with another woman who worked in the Japanese section of the WAVES. However, despite their curiosities, the two would never talk about their respective work with one another.

“Everybody was united against Hitler,” Parsons said, so no one pried each other for information.

When the WAVES weren’t decoding messages for the Navy, Parsons recalls going to Hains Point, a park in southwest Washington, where people would ride horses, rent boats, fish and enjoy picnics. On other occasions she remembers going to the theater, parties and dances.

“I loved Washington. It was so nice. And there wasn’t much traffic then either,” she said. “Our lives were so simple compared to now.”

Decades of secrecy

Parsons credits the war with bringing women into the workforce. But after serving in such a fascinating job, she found it difficult to return to normal life.

“I couldn’t believe I was back in a kitchen,” she said.

Nonetheless, the WWII code breaker remained tight-lipped about her time in Washington for over 50 years until a trip she made back to the capital in the late 1990s to visit a friend she had made while serving.

The pair visited the National Security Agency’s (NSA) National Cryptologic Museum in Maryland, where, to their surprise, they saw the machines they used to decode messages on display.

“We were just shocked because we had no idea it had been declassified,” she said. “For 30 years we could have been talking about it but we didn’t because we knew we weren’t supposed to.”

According to Parsons, the Navy told her that it didn’t keep track of where anyone was after the war so it was unable to tell the former code breakers that the program had been declassified.

Today, the retired lieutenant is a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She lives alone and tends to her house with “no problems at all.”

As a member of the Veterans Breakfast Club (VBC), a nonprofit dedicated to creating communities that listen to and share veterans’ stories, she has spent the past year attending Zoom calls with veterans from different eras living all around the world.

“There have been veterans on (Zoom) talking, which we would not have if we were still meeting in the restaurants. So, this has been an advantage of this year of the pandemic. It’s been really great for me,” she said.

As a result of her service, she was able to get her second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital and recently went to the supermarket for the first time in about a year.

“Everything was still the same. A whole year later. It’s still the same and the lines are just as long. Nothing has changed,” she said.

The significance of becoming a centenarian – there are fewer than 100,000 in the U.S. — didn’t register until her birthday approached.

“The 100 struck me. I thought, ‘For heaven’s sake. How did this happen?,’” she said. “You live day after day, and all of a sudden, you’re 100. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve never had a serious illness. It’s an odd feeling. It’s really odd.”

She said she doesn’t feel 100 at heart and still thinks the way she always has throughout her life.

“Don’t ever admit you can’t do anything if you haven’t tried to do it,” she said. “Old people just kind of accept their limitations and drop out. My whole theory on my longevity is that I just kept telling people, ‘I can still do that.'”

Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English.

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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning,

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

This week I will tell you about some of those veterans.

Vietnam Era Veteran Roger Ross, now 79 years old living in St. Louis, enjoys the VA benefits he earned as an Air Force cook and recalls fond memories serving his country. “I enlisted when I was 18. I wanted a better life for myself, to learn and get experience for a better job after service. I got to travel, see places that I’d never been. Overall, I have lots of good memories. I met good friends and served under exceptional sergeants and officers. I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” says Ross. Though he and a friend enlisted together in May 1961, they never saw each other after bootcamp at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. He earned a Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon yet says the only time he ever shot a gun was during basic training. “I had good eye and a steady hand.”

Ross left active duty in 1965 and remained in the Air Force Reserves from 1966-67. He returned to St. Louis, married and had two children, Rozlyn Elaine and Gary. After working several jobs including at department store Famous Barr, he had a longtime career and retired from the City of St. Louis. His wife Curlie B. Ross passed away January 21, 1999.

Ross did travel as he intended and lived on many bases including Walker AFB, formerly Roswell Army Airfield, in New Mexico known for the Roswell UFO incident, an event that occurred long before he was there. He was also stationed at Travis AFB in California where he was released from active duty. Once, Ross was even part of an airman’s vocal group that won a base talent show, singing, two songs made popular by the Turbans, “When You Dance” and “Let Me Show You Around My Heart.” Alas, the group didn’t advance at the next competition but Ross had fun nonetheless.

There were also sad, tense and challenging times. He recalls around the Cuban Missile Crisis in Fall 1961. The crisis in Cuba centered on conflict between the United States, led by John F. Kennedy, and the Soviet Union, led by Nikita Khrushchev, and Soviet ally Cuba, led by Fidel Castro. The Soviets were arming Cuba with missiles equipped with nuclear warheads ready to fire on the United States. In retaliation, Kennedy ordered a blockade of Soviet ships bound for Cuba. Roger Ross and his fellow air force cooks worked 12-hour days from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. to support airman and their many flying missions. “We did what we had to do to serve pilots, ground crews and guys guarding planes working all hours of the night coming into the mess hall,” says Ross. Most of Ross’s active duty was at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam where he cooked with other airman and some local Filipino civilians who were hired to work in the mess hall. He was there November 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was shot and killed. “All the guys were really sad, black and white guys alike. Kennedy was a popular president especially among blacks who saw Kennedy furthering civil rights.

Serving as an Air Force cook earned Ross the Air Force Good Conduct Medal and VA benefits. 

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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com