Billy Graham wrote in "The Key To Personal Peace"
“One of the powerful, enduring images that my wife, Ruth, and I have of our early years together is of the ticker-tape parades in New York City celebrating the end of WWII. The war was finally over And those who were spared from death by the enemy were jubilant beyond words.
“Millions of multicolored streamers and mountains of confetti rained down on the returning heroes… Friends, family, and fellow citizens danced in the streets to express their own happiness and excitement.
“Emotions ran extremely high – unfettered joy, exuberant hope for the future… But the emotion that ran deepest, causing tears to rush down the faces of moms and dads, grandparents, and even stalwart soldiers – from privates to generals – was relief. The war was over … there was peace at last.”
Some of you remember the joy in those parades.
But Dr. Graham did not mention another emotion present in those times. The sorrow of those whose sons, husbands, fathers; daughters, wives, mothers were not coming home. The sorrow of soldiers for their brothers buried on battlefields or graves across these states. The sorrow of those weeping for the massive loss of life in the war.