Memorial Day Motivations

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

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“Saving Private Ryan” has been called the “greatest war movie” ever made. I know it certainly seemed realistic to me when I saw it. It made me appreciate what soldiers went through on D-Day in 1944. The storyline for “Saving Private Ryan” has Captain John Miller and some soldiers survive Omaha Beach and then are pulled away from their duty to search for Private James Ryan. Their mission is to bring him out of harm’s way so that he can go home as the last surviving son of the Ryan family.

The movie is loosely based on a true story of the Niland brothers of Tonawanda, NY. America had established the “Sole Survivor” policy after the five O’Sullivan brothers died on the same Navy ship in WWII. The policy essentially states that if a family lost sons due to war, the remaining son did not have to serve. [Greg Timmons, “Saving Private Ryan: The Real Life D-Day Backstory.” History.com; 7.1.2019]

Some observations from which we will make some applications in honor of our Memorial Day.

1. Their Mission was a Man – Private James Ryan

2. There was a great, sacrificial cost to rescuing Ryan

3. The final words to Ryan from Captain Miller who was Killed In Action saving him: “James, earn this. Earn it.” That is, “Live a life worthy of the efforts and sacrifices of Captain Miller and his men in rescuing him.”

4. The value of a man and of a family

5. Motivation for living – at the end of the movie, Ryan, his wife, and children visit Miller’s grave at Normandy, France many years after the war. Ryan speaks to the grave: “Every day I think of what you said to me on the bridge, and I’ve tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough.” He then turns to his wife and says, “Tell me I am a good man.” She replies, “You are.”

Memorial Day should be a profound holiday to Americans on many levels:

• Personal, especially if we have lost someone in combat

• Family

• National

• Even a spiritual level

We owe so much to the Patriots who have been willing to lay down their lives for us. “Saving Private Ryan” is the story of his fellow soldiers saving a family’s lone survivor. Nothing was held back, not even loss of life, to save him.

There seems to be a blend of guilt and gratitude that motivated Ryan to live a good life and be a “good man.”

It seems to me that this blend of emotions should also be motivational for us. In fact, citizens of the countries that America has freed should feel the same emotions as well. But we Americans have lived freely because of the willing sacrifices of American Patriots all the way back to the American Revolution – our War for Independence. They fought for Liberty – for themselves and their posterity – us.

You may recall the famous speech of Patrick Henry when he spoke to the second Virginia Convention regarding the hostilities with Great Britain and said:

“. . . Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Henry’s speech roused the Convention. It also declares to us the high view that he and other Patriots had of Liberty and the price that they were willing to pay.

This is further echoed in a letter from George Washington to the people of South Carolina (Circa, 1790):

The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity.

I think that many Americans today do not appreciate the Liberty we have because they did not pay the price for it. It’s easy to toss Liberty away when you didn’t pay for it.

Our Founders reveal their request for a liberated republic and in many of their writings, they declare their dependence on Providence (God) in the process. George Washington bore this out on numerous occasions. Consider his sentiment in a letter to Pastor John Rodgers, June 11, 1783: