MINT-AND-CORN COUNTRY, INDIANA — For the past couple of years, on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, I have linked to a heart-wrenching, tear-eliciting piece by Chris Jones from Esquire. I did so again in the post below, but, lest it be lost to the reader amidst the content of that piece, I offer a separate note here for it. It tells the story of the last homecoming of Sgt. Joe Montgomery, an Indiana boy whose last vision was of neither family nor hometown, not of an Indiana sunset (surprisingly beautiful) or a meandering ditch — with great fishing —hidden in the woods, but of the Euphratean Gahenna.

“The Things That Carried Him”:

“Before the service, I noticed that [Montgomery's wife, Missie] had been keeping her distance. She had this look on her face,” Pinckney recalled. “And in my mind, she was not dealing with the death of her husband, so I decided to approach her. I went up to her and said, ‘How are you doing?’ And with a straight face, she said, ‘Fine.’ I said, ‘Missie, look at me. You’re not fine. It’s okay not to be fine.’ That’s when she started crying, when I told her it was okay to cry. And we just pulled into each other. I just hugged her, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. That was her letting go. And I wanted that. I wanted to connect with her.”

And some past reflections of mine.

God bless America. Please.

Filed under: war