What 4th of July Means to Me and My Family

By Holly Meriweather

I have vivid memories of the events surrounding the death of my uncle after he was killed during a training mission while flying the British-made Harrier aircraft off the coast of Cherry Point, North Carolina. I was eight years old and playing in a softball game when men in a dark sedan came to tell my mother that her brother was dead. Something went wrong and the plane had to be aborted, but his ejector seat failed. My brother and I didn’t know what was going on, but we got to ride home in the back of my dad’s truck, which we were never allowed to do. The rest of the night was a blur of people trying to console my aunt and not knowing what to say to my cousins who had lost their father.

My uncle was twenty-eight years old when he died. He understood patriotism and military service from his father – who was my grandfather – and three uncles who served in the Korean War.

On the paternal side of my family, my granddaddy left his wife and three-year-old son – my father – to serve in the Navy on a supply vessel that went into Nagasaki to clean up the devastation of the atomic bomb. Not long after returning home from the war, he began to have occasional rashes. Forty years later, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and treated in a VA hospital. By that time I was old enough to understand that the cancer was likely due to the nature of his military duties. He died at the age of sixty-four.

At both funerals, there was a 3-gun salute, an honor for fallen soldiers that you can never forget.

Patriotism wasn’t emphasized or discussed at length on either side of my family, but somehow I knew that military service, respecting the American flag, and saluting soldiers was important. I think my adult children would say that a sense of patriotism was passed down to them as well.

Sadly, our culture has walked away from God, country, and sacrifice and replaced it with Atheism, national hatred, and self-absorption. The only answer is redemption through Jesus Christ.

On this fourth of July, Lord, help us remember our Savior who gave the ultimate sacrifice, those in uniform who keep us free, and God’s provision for our wayward country.