Compassion

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

Nathan Hale

Of all the places associated with America’s War for Independence, none embodies the nature and scope of its human suffering, sacrifice, and ultimate triumph than does Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. No battles were fought here, no bayonet charges or artillery bombardments took place, but during the winter of 1777-78 thousands of American soldiers died here nonetheless. The story of Valley Forge is the story of a nascent army’s epic struggle to survive against terrible odds, and against hunger, disease, and the unrelenting forces of nature. George Washington himself described what happened there in a letter he wrote on April 21, 1778:

Without arrogance, or the smallest deviation from truth it may be said, that no history, now extant, can furnish an instance of an Army's suffering such uncommon hardships as ours have done, and bearing them with the same patience and Fortitude. To see Men without Clothes to cover their nakedness, without Blankets to lay on, without Shoes, by which their Marches might be traced by the Blood from their feet, and almost as often without Provisions as with; Marching through frost and Snow, and at Christmas taking up their Winter Quarters within a day's March of the enemy, without a House or Hurt to cover them till they could be built and submitting to it without a murmur, is a mark of patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be parallel'd.

The story of Valley Forge is also a story of compassion, for the Winter Soldiers who lived, trained, and died here would not have stayed on through these incredible hardships were it not for their patriotism and their compassion for their families and for their comrades in arms. A true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love, and the legendary bloody footprints in the snow at Valley Forge bear witness to that principle.

The compassion of Valley Forge has continued to be shown by America’s fighting men and women in countless other, often nameless places throughout the world. Some, like Bastogne in Belgium and the Chosin Reservoir in Korea, also have become recognized symbols of the willingness of our warriors to endure and prevail against incredible hardships and near-impossible odds. Others have almost been forgotten except by those who fought and suffered there. But no one should ever forget the sacrifice and compassion of those who died for their friends and for all of us.

The thousands of nameless soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen who fought and died in the snow-covered wastelands and freezing oceans and skies of the world have given us the greatest gift of all, acts of compassion unto death:

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13 KJV

From Chapter 5 of No More Patriots
Copyright © 2015 by Howard T. Uhal
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