Chaplain Larry Haworth

[danausmc]

Here's my article for our 11th Armored Cav vets paper, Thunder Run. I thought you might like to peruse it:

PARADES

“Everybody loves a parade!” That may be a cliché, but that’s because it’s true. Check Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or check the Rose Parade where hundreds of thousands crowd the parade route to watch those beautiful (and expensive) floats go by. Millions more watch it on the tube, me included. When I was a teen-ager (I have a long memory) a bunch of us went over to Pasadena for the Rose Parade. We stayed out all night cruising and having a good time (of course, we were causing no trouble - what were you thinking?) We even knew one of the princesses on a float. What joy! We knew a princess - and she knew us.

When I was a kid parades were especially great. The popular circus parades were before my time - they were in my dad’s time. When I was six or eight years old during World War II, the best parades were soldiers going off to war. They looked so proud- straight and tall, marching in formation, rifles across their shoulders, flags flying! Young as I was I still easily remember how patriotic we were and how fine the soldiers looked as they paraded by. I don’t remember if they had marching bands. I do remember how great the soldiers looked and how impressed I was as a boy.

Fast forward to the early 1980s. I was the Community Chaplain in Schweinfurt, Germany. Duty was tough and life was demanding. We had most of the 3d Infantry Division in Schweinfurt with its battalions of infantry, armor, and artillery plus the armored cavalry squadron. Those were the days of patrolling the East German border where we had the sector out of Coburg. The border’s gone now, but in those days it was the Iron Curtain frontier of freedom and we knew it. There was the normal amount of griping and problems, but morale was good. It was the period following Viet Nam so morale was a lot better than in those days, which you might remember. One thing I remember clearly is the unit parades. Yes, the parades. Soldiers worked all day in fatigues, of course. Having a combat mission far forward meant long hours and hard work. Pride was there but it wasn’t thought much about, except for the commanders and first sergeants who wanted to keep their unit’s pride strong and morale high. Whenever we had a change of command ceremony or official parade with a pass in review, I could see clearly that every trooper, dressed and sweating in his class A uniform, was proud to be a soldier in the United States Army. You may not have thought of it that way at the time but I hope you agree now. Parades brought out the best and finest in the troops. Each one looked strong and fine, he was on display for what he was - a professional fighting man committed to the cause of freedom anywhere his country called him. Life in the Army may or may not have been so great in it’s daily routine. But line up the soldier in his class A dress uniform with hundreds of his buddies, and what he feels is pride. Pride in himself, his buddies, his country, and what they stand for. Now we have many more women in uniform. The same applies. That’s what I believe. That’s what I saw.

Now back up a few years, between WWII and the 1980s to the period of the Viet Nam War. Everything was different then. I joined the Army as a chaplain in 1966 and retired in 1992. I’m of the Viet Nam era and proud of it. If I had it to do over, I would. The Viet Nam soldier may have gotten a bad rap, but we know it for what it was, a bad rap. We had a tough assignment - fight a war where the government wouldn’t claim victory and a media that wouldn‘t tell it like it was. We’ve talked about this before. What we’ll talk about here is the public parades as in “Welcome Home.” That’s the subject of this conversation. Or, should I say, “What parades?” I don’t recall any. Do you? What I do remember is soldiers being drafted or volunteering because they were going to be drafted, or volunteering because it was, for them, the right thing to do. Most soldiers, even in those days, were truly patriotic. For that war, most were trained, then immediately shipped off to Viet Nam. They (you?) fought, did what they were supposed to do, did it well (regardless of what some would say), then came home - alone. No parades, no bands, no welcoming committees, no official thanks, no nothing. Nothing good or positive, that is. Too bad. Yes, that was too bad. Too bad for the country, too bad for history, too bad for all who love a parade.

Huh? Too bad for all who love a parade? That‘s right. Viet Nam soldiers didn’t have parade one. None. Nada. Nul. But it doesn’t stop there. “What?,” you say. “Explain yourself, chaplain.” OK. Recall that I retired in 1992. Desert Shield and Desert Storm were fought in 1990, give or take a few months. Parades, parades, parades. And bands and parties and welcoming committees and government thanks and lots of credit for a job well done - all the things the Viet Nam soldier didn’t have. But everybody still loves a parade. That‘s right. Consider this: the extravagance of Desert Storm parades were largely because our country was trying to make up for the rotten reception they gave their Viet Nam warriors. I’ve talked about this before so won’t repeat much. But hear this, those parades were for our kids. Which is what Desert Storm troopers were - our kids. In my opinion, the parades were really a way of celebrating all vets, of celebrating what our military is all about, anyway. Besides, our kids deserved those parades.

Now our grandkids are coming home. They get parades too. Be happy! They aren’t getting credit in the media for all they‘re doing, but Americans are happy for them anyway. When they stand in full dress formation, when they march in review, when they march in the Rose Parade or their hometown parade, it’s a great sight. It makes us proud to be an American. It makes us proud to be a soldier. It makes us proud to be a vet. Right? Right.

I’m reminded of another parade a long time ago. It’s recorded in the Bible. Here’s the write-up: “The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest!’ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21:6-11, NIV) (A week later Jesus was illegitimately tried, condemned, crucified, buried, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven, all to provide eternal life and purpose for whoever would accept it).

It’s easy to see that people love parades, from the “parade” we call the Triumphal Entry in the Bible to the Rose Parade with soldiers passing in review.

God bless you. God loves you. So do I.

Chaplain Larry Haworth -
176 Rainbow Drive, #7627
Livingston, Texas 77399
LEHaworth@aol.com

[danausmc]

YOU ARE IMPORTANT

How often do you call somewhere and, instead of a live human voice answering, you get that all-too-familiar, “Please hold, your call is important to us”? I get it too often. I’ll admit, though, that I’d rather hear a recorded voice than just a busy signal. And, I do hope that the recorded voice is speaking for the human and that my call really is important to them. But I sometimes wonder.

Please take these written words as coming from the heart of a real person, namely me, when I say, “you truly are important.” We live in an age of synthetic voices, recorded messages, canned speeches, superficial come-ons, and awful sales pitches. It seems that, no matter where we go, what we do, or what channel we surf, someone is there saying how important we are. Trouble is, it’s not always so clear whether we are important to them because we are intrinsically important to them or whether they just want to get something from us. How much junk mail do you receive? How much spam clogs up your email? You know you’re important to the senders of this unwanted stuff. You also know that you’re important only because they want something from you, mostly money. Not that they are or are not worthy organizations or people, but they may or may not even know you. You are important, not for yourself, but for what they want from you.

On the other hand, as I already said, you truly are important. Like, when you call a friend and get their answering machine. They aren’t home at the time and the answering machine says to leave a message and they’ll call you back. Then, a while later, they actually do call you back. That makes you feel important to them, doesn’t it? Of course, it does. That’s because when you’re important enough to your friend that he or she goes to the trouble to return your call, you are reassured that you are important enough for them to take the time and effort to call you just as they were important enough to you to make the call to begin with. My wife and I recently moved into a retirement community where we knew absolutely no one. However, everybody who lives here is retired military, the kind who are usually easy to meet. We quickly became friends with our neighbors. They began calling us whenever they would be away to just let us know what was going on with them. They were interested in what was happening with us too. We were important to them and we felt it. They were important to us, for sure. Within days of moving to a new home we’d gained new friends! How can you beat that?

I assure you that you are just as important as our new neighbors or as we or as anyone else. Think about it. Your importance isn’t dependent on how you feel about it. I remember some years ago when I was in a real funk. I was going through a hard time and I really felt down and very unimportant to anyone, except maybe to my immediate family and they were clear across the country. Then, a friend, who I’ll never forget, said to me, “Larry, if you knew how others feel about you, you wouldn’t feel that way about yourself.” That was well over thirty years ago. I assure you that the same applies to you. You are important. You are important in and of yourself. You are important just because you’re you. You’re also important because someone loves you. You are important because you have something worthwhile to someone else, whether near or far. It may be great or it may be small. You may be overwhelmingly talented or you may be normal like most of us. But you are important. You may or you may not feel it, but you are.

Finally, let me remind you that you are important because God made you and He says you are important. You are not an accident. You were planned by God and you are loved by God. Whether you feel it or not, you are loved and you are important. If God said you are worthy and you are loved, then you are. Jesus said in Matthew 10:29-30, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penney? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” The Bible also says, in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son….” The world includes you and me. That’s how it is.

Indeed, you are important. So am I. Never forget that. OK? OK.

God bless you. God loves you. So do I.

Chaplain Larry Haworth

San Antonio, TX 78239
LEHaworth@aol.com

[danausmc]

SPENDING MONEY

These days money is prominent on our minds. The other day the subject of Vietnamese money came up. I have no idea why. I don’t even remember who I was talking to (maybe myself). It got me to realizing that I couldn’t remember what Vietnamese money was called. You might remember, but you’re probably younger than me and have a better memory. When I came home from Viet Nam I brought some of their money as a souvenir. Later I remembered what it’s called. It’s called piastres for the small and dong for the big denominations. It came in paper or coins, didn’t it? Maybe you brought some home, too.

I started thinking about how we spent money in those days in Viet Nam. Naturally, there was a lot of variety because different people were in different situations. Some troops were stationed at places like Long Binh or Da Nang where they had PXs and clubs where you could spend freely. Others were out in the bush where there wasn’t much to buy except maybe gadgets or rice bread from the village mama-sans or the “services” of the you-know-who girls that rode out on the back of the red Honda 50s to give you an opportunity to spend a quick five bucks. (Chaplains aren’t supposed to know about boom-boom, but what can I say?) Fortunately, it wasn’t every trooper who blew his bucks that way, but life was what it was and not something else. You know what I mean.

I just remembered MPC. You’ll recall that we had those US government issued wallet size certificates that substituted for American cash. They were called script in WWII. Is my memory serving me well? You decide. MPC meant Military Payment Certificate, right? I think the military didn’t want us to scatter green-backs around Southeast Asia so we had MPC which the Vietnamese people weren’t supposed to have. To make sure, the military would expire the MPC occasionally to make them harder to pass along to the Vietnamese people. If the people had MPCs they became worthless at the expiration date and they’d have to start all over getting more from the GIs. On the other hand, GIs could get some of their pay in piastres or dong and spend it that way. It must have worked OK because troopers always had whatever the mama-sans sold and the red Honda 50s kept coming, especially around pay-day.

That leads me to another American money substitute: C Rations. “Whaaat!,” you say? I say, “That’s right.” Cs were like money. Not exactly money, but something to barter with, which means to trade, in case you don’t recognize “barter.” If you’re cav, you’ll recall that we had mucho C Rations. If you’re a grunt, you won’t know this but you can take my word for it as I make it routine to tell the truth. Cav (armored cavalry) troopers usually had Cs by the case on board their tanks and ACavs. Also, on board their M548s, M578s, M88s and other assorted armored vehicles. I’ll remind you now, not that you forgot, that it was common for troopers to trade Cs that they didn’t want for things that they did want which the mama-sans, baby-sans and other sans had for sale. You traded C rations, especially ham and eggs, for rice bread or a mirror. I’m sure you remember because how could you forget?

Sometimes you could get to the rear to hit the PX (unless you, for some reason, were stuck in the bush without a break). PXs in those days had some wonderful bargains. I know because I took advantage from time to time. Two of the best bargains I’ve ever purchased in my life were in those PXs. Once I bought a great Seiko watch for $17.00. That’s right, seventeen buckaroos! That watch was great! I wore it for a couple of years and gave it to my brother. When I went back for my second tour I bought another Seiko. This time it cost me $47.00, a lot more money but it had an alarm. I wore that one for years. Have you priced a Seiko lately? The main huge bargain I took a pass on was Noritake china. I was a bachelor and thought I didn’t need fancy dishes. What a dumb thing to think. They were selling a service for eight (or was it twelve?) for less than $100.00. That’s one hundred dollars, green backs, American money, not dong or piastres. I’ve been sorry ever since for that financial blunder. Oh well, at least you know what I’m talking about. Whether or not you bought any bargains, like maybe a camera, I don’t know.

A different angle about money in Viet Nam, was most GIs didn’t give it a whole lot of thought. Some did, of course. We had a great savings program that Uncle Sam was wise enough to provide. That was where we could put as much of our pay as we wanted into a savings account and they’d pay ten percent interest as long as we were in country. You have to admit, that was a pretty good investment, even for those days. I took advantage of it. I hope you did too. After all, where else were you going to put your pay, not that it was so much. I know some of you sent money home to help your family. That was more important, of course.

I also recall that many troopers didn’t really care much about whatever money they actually had. After all, no one knew what tomorrow would bring considering the circumstances. Once when I was at Quan Loi, our forward support base, I was in our helicopter pilots’ hootch. They were always friendly and let me sleep on someone’s cot whenever I came through overnight. Some of our pilots were playing their regular poker game and having a bit of relaxation. One hand got kinda out of control. The pot got so big that it made them nervous. It was really funny, at least I thought so, when they all decided to stop the hand and give everyone their cash back because the hand had gotten “out of hand.” There was just too much money in the pot. So they made everybody happy by starting over. They might not have put a lot of value on money over there in the circumstances, but they were still friends, wanted to remain friends after the game was over, and they weren’t stupid.

We all learned about life in Viet Nam where life was basic and money was not first priority. Surviving, looking out for buddies, remembering family at home, and taking care of hurting people, and such matters were more important. I won’t go on because you know. But I’ll point out that in the Holy Bible God has something to say about money too: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. (Isaiah 55:1-2, 6-7)

Someday I’ll get out my old piastre, dong and MPC souvenir collection again. It brings back significant memories for me. Mostly memories about what’s really important. Does it for you?

God bless you. God loves you. So do I.

Chaplain Larry Haworth
San Antonio, TX 78239
LEHaworth@aol.com