Thoughts on Freedom

The 4th of July is a little over a week away, and I wanted to write my thoughts on it today.  You will know why as you read further.

I know you have heard the term “as American as apple pie!”  Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., I will share in a funeral service for a very unique man who passed away at 92, a retired Army Colonel who was, you guessed it, “as American as apple pie!”

His obituary says something of this, “Colonel Stanley Turk is resting in the arms of the Lord, after a long, fully-lived life in service to his country, community and family.”

Stan, or Colonel Turk, was born at the end of WW I, grew up in Itasca, Texas, where he picked cotton.  He entered the army in 1935 as a private and became a Battalion Commander of the 26th Field Artillery Battalion by the end of the Korean War.  He served all the way through WWII, from Normandy into France through the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne, until he was wounded in action on March 16, 1945 and evacuated to England. Much of this was in support of General Patton’s Armored Division.  As soon as he could, he returned to his unit, becoming known by his men as “Full-service Turk.”  He continued to lead his men all the way to the end of the war earning the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.  He would win many more citations and medals before the three wars he would be a part of ended.

He entered the Korean War almost on its first day where he became a Battalion Commander.  Now remember, he started out picking cotton and as a private in the Army.  He also suffered serious wounds in this war and again returned to his unit.  He led this battalion until the Korean War ended.  At this point, he had spent a great deal of his life fighting for his country.

As career Army, he was once again called on at the later stages of his military duty to enter the war in Vietnam.  Here his years of experience were put into use as he evaluated the needs and requirements of this new time and a new way of war, bringing back information that might be used by the Army at this difficult time in the history of America.  Stan was born during war and fought for America in three major wars.

After his Army retirement, he met Barbara and was married at the age of 61.  They celebrated 23 years of married life, spending much of it in this area where he began a new business and enjoyed golf as well as his church.  As he found his way to hospice, one of our lay chaplains, John, dropped by and asked if he could read Psalm 23 from the Bible.  Stan said, “We don’t need the Bible to do that,” and began to quote it from memory, “The Lord is my shepherd . . .”  I kind of imagine he had prayed that same prayer many times on the battlefield.

This year as we celebrate Independence Day, your freedom and mine, think of Colonel Stan Turk.

As they say, freedom is not free; men like Stan fought for it for us.