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At Walter Reed Medical Center
in Washington DC recently the Sergeant Major of the Army, Jack Tilley, was
with a group of people visiting the wounded soldiers.
He saw a Special Forces soldier who had lost his right hand and suffered
severe wounds of his face and side of his body. The SMA wanted to
honor him and show him respect without offending, but what can you say or
do in such a situation that will encourage and uplift? How do you
shake the right hand of a soldier who has none?
He decided to act as though the hand was not missing and gripped the
soldiers wrist while speaking words of comfort and encouragement to him.
But there was another man in that group of visitors who had even brought
his wife with him to visit the wounded who knew exactly what to do.
This man reverently took the soldiers stump of a hand in both of his
hands, bowed at the bedside and prayed for him. When he finished the
prayer he stood up, bent over the soldier and kissed him on the head and
told him that he loved him.
What a powerful expression of love for one of our wounded heroes!
And what a beautiful Christ-like example! What kind of a man would
do such a thing? It was the wounded man's Commander-in-Chief, George
W. Bush; President of the United States.
This story was told by the SMA at a Soldiers Breakfast held at
Red Arsenal, AL, and recorded by Chaplain James Henderson,
stationed there. |
