This month marks the official beginning of summer. For most kids and teachers, it means school is out. Vacationers are fanning out all over to sample this country’s remarkable breadth and beauty.
June is also the peak month for weddings in the United States, with more taking place in June than in any other month, followed by August, September and October.
On June 16 we observe Father’s Day. This reminds us of the vital importance of fathers and the fact that they’re quite different from mothers, whom we celebrate on Mother’s Day in May.
If you need any more evidence of the crucial role that fathers play, try handing out Father’s Day cards at any prison. There’s great demand for Mother’s Day cards, but no takers for the Father’s Day version.
Weather-wise, in northern climes like Maine or Minnesota, June is when you actually start believing that there is zero chance you’ll get a frost that will doom your petunias or kill your reseeded lawn.
And on a more serious note, this year, June 6 is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when the allies invaded Normandy, France at enormous cost and began liberating Europe from Hitler’s Nazi occupation.
The National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, does a wonderful job year-round commemorating this crucial event that saved Western civilization.
The town, which fittingly was called Liberty when founded in 1782, was chosen because of the Bedford Boys.
Thousands of American towns lost sons, brothers and fathers during D-Day, but Bedford (population 3,000) lost 22 young men—the worst per capita loss in the country.
Nineteen were killed in the early hours of D-Day at Omaha Beach and another three died later. Their stories were immortalized in Alex Kershaw’s 2003 book, “The Bedford Boys: One American Town’s Ultimate Sacrifice.” About 100 other Bedford residents also died during WWII, according to the Memorial.
If you’ve seen the Hollywood movie version of Cornelius Ryan’s magnificent book, “The Longest Day,” one vignette is hard to forget. The allies, who had committed 156,000 ground troops from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and France for the invasion, sent in 1,200 aircraft that dropped 15,000 paratroopers behind enemy lines the night before.
One of them, US Army Pvt. John Steele of the 82nd Airborne division, had his parachute get snagged on a church steeple in the French village of Sainte-Mère-Église. Portrayed in the movie by actor Red Buttons, he plays dead and prays the Germans won’t see him. He is captured, but escapes four hours later to rejoin his division as it takes the town. The real-life Steele was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
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A replica of a parachute and a mannequin of Pvt. John Steele hang from the steeple at the Church of Sainte-Mère-Église in Normandy, France. Steele survived D-Day and went on to be awarded a Bronze Star. (Courtesy of J. Seffern.) |
Visitors even now can glance up and see a parachute hanging from that very steeple with a mannequin representing Pvt. Steele. Because of the weather, it has to be replaced periodically at great cost, and instead of being the original green, it is white so people can see it better.
Col. John Seffern, a friend of mine who lives partly in Texas and partly in Maastricht, the Netherlands, has funded it out of his own pocket for years. A decorated USAF flyer and airline captain, now retired from both, he feels it’s important to mark the tremendous sacrifices made by the men of D-Day.
In recent years, Tim Niehaus, president of the Miami Corp, a company that makes longer lasting material for the chute, has lent a hand, along with Texas Guardsman Travis Millhouse.
June 19, now celebrated as Juneteenth, is a federal holiday. It marks the day in 1865 when enslaved black people in Galveston, Texas, learned about the Emancipation Proclamation and their new freedom.
As June unfolds in America, you might notice that instead of red, white and blue, many businesses and other institutions display rainbow flags in every way imaginable. That’s because if they don’t, they could provoke the wrath of the most intolerant and aggressive so-called civil rights movement in our history.
This is the one insisting that children be exposed to Drag Queen Story hours, that some of the kids be drugged or surgically mutilated to “become” the opposite sex, and that all children must be given graphic sex education regardless of parents’ beliefs.
There has been considerable pushback lately, such as Bud Light’s disastrous loss of sales over its transgender influencer, and Target’s pullback of some store displays of “pride” merchandise.
I doubt the Los Angeles Dodgers will repeat last year’s absurdly evil feting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of men dressed as nuns who spew hatred and obscene abuse on Christianity and Catholics in particular.
Perhaps the blush is off the woke rose and we can get back to honoring the things that deserve honoring each June, such as God’s institution of marriage, fathers, emancipation and the patriotism and sacrifice of the men of D-Day.
Next time we’re confronted with the latest corporate cave-in or seeing a pretend church proudly display a rainbow, we might do better by glancing up to see if the real thing is spanning the heavens.
That’s the one with the timeless message that God keeps His promises.
This article appeared originally here.
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