Survivor’s Guilt? Remembrance Musings

She hadn’t yet been born. What would it have been like to be there with her brother and four older sisters and their mother, welcoming their daddy back home from Europe? His military service

Returned Allied Soldier

Courtesy: Daily Mail, UK.

covered the WWII years. Whereas he’d spent the majority of his military service in an engineers’ battalion, doing fortifications and other security work around the UK, his last year saw him in Europe as part of the British Liberation Army.

My wife, May, would like to have heard her dad share stories of his military service, but as is often the case with veterans who’d witnessed tragic scenes, his lips were sealed . . . just wouldn’t talk about them. We understand, however, that he had witnessed horrific scenes amidst appalling conditions in that final year of service, as they moved in to liberate people and prisoners of war in areas which had been under Nazi control.

May's Dad, early 1940s.

He was the lone survivor of four of his hometown buddies who went into wartime service.

Three didn’t return home alive; he did. Whereas ‘survivor’s guilt’ likely wasn’t warranted, I suspect he quietly suffered from it. I wish now that I were able to encourage him to open up and unload the burdens of his heart, but he’s long gone. He died in Scotland in 1977, when we were already living in Canada. Poignantly today I reflect that I’m now the same age that he was when he died.

Are you an Armed Forces vet? Or, is there one in your family or friendship circle? Helping those who carry painful, traumatic memories to find relief requires considerable sensitivity.

Here’s a path that has helped me and many folks to deal with deep and troubling personal concerns: In the quietness of solitude and the sanctuary of my own heart, mostly in private and sometimes with a trusted friend who is a true believer in Jesus, I confess my need, pouring it all out in Jesus’ name to God – my loving Heavenly Father. I sincerely ask for grace to accept His forgiveness for my failures and sins in a spirit of forgiveness towards others. Jesus Christ died and rose again to cleanse and secure forgiveness for me and for us all.

Following through, I seek strength to live in that new reality in a spirit of gratitude.

I’ve found that my burdens are often lightened by following this path. Frequent, daily talks with Jesus along life’s pathway are precious and healthful to me.

War is a terrible thing and surely oughtn’t to be glamourized. It involves more than physical bodies and material armaments; war is a spiritual thing, and involves deep spiritual forces and consequences. Sadly, despite this age of such great enlightenment the dark spectre of war continually stalks the earth.

Let us pray for our nation,

as we remember with respect and commemorate with gratitude those who have paid the ultimate price and those who continue meeting the great cost of keeping our nation “glorious and free”!

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Peter A. Black is a retired pastor – well, sort of retired – and lives in Southwestern Ontario. He writes a weekly inspirational newspaper column, P-Pep! and is author of Raise Your Gaze ... Mindful Musings of a Grateful Heart, and Parables from the Pond -- a children's / family book. ~~+~~