Stephen M. Osborn, 32°
26 N. Sunset Drive, Camano Island, Washington 98282-8607
theplace@whidbey.net

"Three Servicemen"
Vietnam Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Three years ago, as I listened to a "Remembrance Day" program from Canada, I heard recordings of Winston Churchill, reports radioed from the front lines, and the memories of World War II veterans, I was moved to tears.

I was just a boy during that war. To my friends and me, it was largely an adventure, but I remember the quiet pride and the sadness in the eyes of the mothers who hung a gold star in their window. I wondered if my mom might be next and my big brother gone.

The wars, great and small, were legion this past century. My dad lost his leg in the Philippines in 1913. Then came World War I, the "war to end all wars," where an entire generation died in the trenches. One of my uncles, who lied about his age, was the first and youngest soldier from Oregon to die in that war, at the battle of Chateau Thierry.

Only 20 years passed before another generation went to war to stave off aggression by Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo. We had hardly buried the dead and recovered from the shock of the realities of nuclear annihilation when East and West went at it in Korea. Even though the fighting finally stopped by mutual agreement, the confrontation still goes on. Then came Vietnam. Since then, "little" wars have continued all over the world, like brushfires in the California hills, consuming human and material resources.

On September 11, 2001, we saw the tragedy of the attack on the World Trade Center and its aftermath. Then we watched another war in Afghanistan, which has been swallowing up armies since the time of Alexander the Great, followed by a war with Iraq which, despite declared victory, still goes on. Afghanistan and Korea are heating up again, and we are staring at the specter of yet another major war in the Middle East.

Let us give pause in remembrance of those who died, often alone and forgotten, victims of booby traps and mines, sniper fire or disease and infection, whose resting place is unmarked.

Let us give pause in remembrance for those who survived, maimed in body or soul.

Let us give pause in remembrance for those who survived to carry on, with nothing but memories of which they do not speak.

Let us give pause in remembrance for those whose lives ended abruptly on September 11 and for those who continue to die by war and terrorism.

Let us give pause and reflect so that we might carry out our lives in such a way that love and tolerance might overbalance hatred and bigotry in the scales of life and that the dream of peace might become a reality.

If so, those we remember this Veterans Day will not have died in vain.

Stephen M. Osborn was raised at Mill Valley Lodge No. 356, Mill Valley, California, on 5 May 1984. He is Junior Warden of Camanio Lodge No. 19, Stanwood, Washington, and a member of Walter F. Meier Lodge of Research No. 281, Grand Lodge of Washington. He joined the Scottish Rite, Valley of Everett, Orient of Washington, in April 2002 and is now a Life Member. He is also a member of the Scottish Rite Research Society and the Philalethes Society. A retired Fire Battalion Chief, Bro. Osborn is a lifelong sailor, writer, poet, philosopher, historian, and former newspaper columnist.