“1943,” he said, extending a wrinkled, steady hand.
“2014,” the basic training graduate responded, smiling and shaking his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
There were lots of moments like this Tuesday as the Billy Graham Library hosted its first ever Veterans Breakfast—a free meal and message to honor veterans of all ages.
The oldest in attendance was Porter Morgan, a 92-year-old World War II veteran who wore a cream and black Air Force hat tipped back on his head. The youngest was Brandon McAlister, tall and buzz-headed, fresh out of basic training this summer. McAlister thanked Morgan for serving; Morgan wished McAlister well in the Army.
More than 130 people attended the breakfast, some with spouses and children in tow. Strangers pat each other on the back and showed off their military T-shirts when they found someone else who was part of the same branch.
Library Vice President Tom Phillips shared with the group that his father was in the military, and now he has a son and daughter in the Air Force. Phillips formally thanked each branch, as well as veterans’ spouses.
McAlister came with his parents, Patrick and Kathy, both veterans of the Army. His dad served 12 years in places like Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and was awarded a Purple Heart.
McAlister knows the military isn’t easy, but also knows God can use him there and is eager to share his faith with his comrades.
“While I was in basic training, I had some people that didn’t even believe there’s a God,” he said. He added that he’s already had opportunities to share the hope he has in Christ.
That hope is a precious commodity for veterans who often experience things that non-veterans just can’t understand.
“There’s stuff in our lives that weighs us down. There’s stuff we’ve never talked to people about,” special guest John Cass said.
Cass, who heads BGEA’s Internet evangelism ministry, spoke to the crowd as a Desert Storm veteran, but also as a Christian. Tuesday wasn’t special only because it was Veterans Day, he said, but because 23 years ago that day marked his “spiritual birthday”—the day he committed to follow Christ.
“I am honored to call you brothers and sisters in Christ … and in service,” he said.
Cass told the story of how two white phosphorous grenades whizzed past each side of his head one day in battle. And how He knew only God spared his life. It wasn’t long before that day that he had asked God to get him through war and he would serve Him.
But it’s not just the physical battles God is interested in. He’s also interested in calming people’s inner battles through a real relationship with Christ.
“He can change your life,” Cass said, and give you a fresh start.
He encouraged anyone wrestling with the past to “finish it” by giving it to God.
That message resonated with one woman in the crowd: Angella Beckford-Days of Chester, South Carolina, who was an Army nurse for 10 months after college. She left the military to attend grad school where she met her husband and now has five children. But she remembers the strong calling she felt to join the military and sometimes feels like her service was cut short.
“He talked about feeling like you have unfinished business,” she said about Cass’s message, “and that’s a part I feel is unfinished because I really wanted to serve.”
But she gleaned something else from Tuesday’s message, too. That she has to trust God’s leading, even if it takes unexpected turns.
The military is definitely one place that has some unforeseeable challenges.
“If you don’t know the Lord, you’ll know the Lord when you get in combat—when you don’t know if you’re going to live,” Charles Hamilton said. Hamilton, of Charlotte, served in the 87th infantry under General Patton and was one of three World War II veterans at the Library breakfast.
Another was Master Sgt. Henry Holley, who served as a Marine in both World War II and the Korean War. Holley, who has worked with BGEA for decades, led a prayer Tuesday (in his original military uniform) and acknowledged his fellow Marines with a hearty “Hooah!”
“We wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the veteran,” he said, adding that we have to fight for the freedoms that we have.
Porter Morgan, the oldest veteran there, remembers fighting for that freedom like it was yesterday. He entered the Air Force at 21 and served from 1943-1945 in the European Theatre. He remembers gunner school, the B-26s and once waiting four days for the wind to change direction so his group could get to their destination. He also remembers the three weeks spent on choppy seas traveling from Europe back home to the U.S.
And how he couldn’t wait to get home.
“I had a sweet little lady waitin’ for me,” he said. That was his wife of 62 years, Wilma, who he met in first grade. She passed away in 2008.
Life has had its ups and downs, but Morgan’s advice to younger veterans is simple: “Let the Lord lead you in whatever you may do. … If you’ll trust in God and look to Him for all things, everything will be made possible.”
