May No Soldier, Sailor, Marine Go Unloved

July Fourth. Our nation’s 235th birthday this year. A national holiday. A day off work. A day of patriotic displays, fireworks, and parades.

John Adams, our second President, wrote that Independence Day: “will be celebrated by succeeding generations as…the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty."

Deliverance from the oppressive British rule to the freedoms we still enjoy to this day. Solemn acts of devotion by men and women willing to die for those freedoms.

I’m reminded of Marine Lance Cpl. Ben Hardgrove and The Soldiers Angels when I think of “solemn acts of devotion.” Ben survived two tours of duty as a Combat Infantryman in Iraq as a member of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines in Twentynine Palms. But he came close to death right on our own streets in early 2006. Closer than he’d ever been patrolling the violent streets in Iraq.

The night he got home, Ben did what all good marines do. He called his mother Jamie Woodard in Paris, Texas. “Mom, I’m standing in front of the PX dressed in civilian clothes. I am so happy to be home. I love you, Mom.” Hours later Ben was fighting for his life after being hit by a car in Yucca Valley. A car driven by a retired marine who, like Ben, served his country but in another war four decades earlier. Ben’s injuries, including a fractured skull and two collapsed lungs, put him into a coma and on a ventilator.

Doctors gave little hope Ben would live in anything but a “vegetative state” Ben’s Mom visited him at Desert Regional Hospital but had to return home to take care of her five other children.

Then the angels appeared. They prayed for Ben and comforted him as he lay in a coma in his hospital bed, eating through a feeding tube. One of the angels whispered to Ben, “If you want to leave marine it’s OK. We will take care of your family.” Ben suddenly sat upright, grabbed the angel by the shirt, his blue eyes looking through her as if to say, “I’m not going anywhere just yet.” Did Ben hear the angel? Only he and God know. Ben came out of his coma after a little angel, an 8 year old angel, read to him at his bedside. Not knowing if Ben could hear her soft, gentle words the little angel read on nonetheless.

Ben’s back home in Texas now. Physically he is far from the man who laid in the hospital bed in Palm Springs in 2006. He cannot speak but he talks by typing words on a computer. His mother, Jamie, says, “He continues to type the word A-L-I-V-E.” He cannot walk alone but with a walker can "walk" for 15 -30 minutes a day. Ben is a fighter. Ben is a marine. Early in his recovery his family spent Thanksgiving with Ben. When they walked into his room, his sister blew a kiss to him. Ben blew one back. Back atcha marine!

Angels are described in the Bible as “messengers of God” who protect us and
carry out God’s tasks. Soldiers Angels are a group of volunteers who provide
aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States armed services,
veterans and their families. Is there really a difference?

If you’d like to know more about Soldiers Angels visit their website.

"There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter…suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways." - Mother Teresa