"Thank You for Your Service"

By Linda Lee Greene

Memorial Day, May 25, 2020

When commissioned to paint an image of Jesus, artist Leonardo da Vinci chose a young man as his model whose beautiful face was full of innocent light and love. Years later, the artist combed the streets of Florence in search of a man who appeared ugly, dark, and hateful enough to use for his model of Judas, the Great Betrayer of Jesus. Da Vinci found the perfect subject, and in response to his request of the man that he model for the painting, the man replied, “Don’t you recognize me, Maestro? Years ago, I was your model for your painting of Jesus.” One can only imagine the circumstances that befell da Vinci’s cross-starred model that had changed him so greatly, and it is a fitting metaphor of the profound impact that life, especially deeply traumatic life-circumstances, can have on people of every persuasion. This is especially true of our warriors in the armed forces.

World War II gripped the throat of humankind when I was born, and too soon afterwards, the Korean conflict spewed its never-ending pox upon the world, followed in my teen- and young-adult years by the Vietnam War. As I mothered my two babies, terrifying and shocking images of American boys and their allies, as well as innocents caught in the crossfire, being maimed and/or killed in that doomed Vietnam conflict flashed across the screen of my television. In current times, the slaughter rages on in the desecrated streets and countrysides of Afghanistan, Syria and other places, and again, we cringe in horror at the carnage on our monitors and screens. 

Idealistic, or angry, or desperate, or naïve, but nevertheless fresh-faced young people sign up for military service and soon discover that it is a far different experience than membership on a football squad or volleyball team. Like da Vinci’s model for his artwork, life in the form of World War II altered greatly the men and women of my parent’s generation, and their young brothers and sisters succumbed to a similar fate in the Korean War. Not enough can be, or has been, said about the horrific consequences sustained by our brave fighters in Vietnam. And today, as our lovely young guardians walk among us on prosthetic legs, or carry their babies in artificial arms, or cower homeless in shadowed corners lost irretrievably to their former selves and society, adrift in incurable brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorders, let us pray for them; let us help them. Let us also honor the brave warriors who never made it back home. 

This year, let us pay a special tribute to our precious armed forces veterans who were taken from us by a silent enemy called Covid-19.©