"The Last Full Measure" by Kim Michael November 2015

"The Last Full Measure"  

By Kim Michael
copyright November 2015





This weekend the US did something it has never done before.  It christened a new ship, the USS Raphel Peralta. What is unique is that the Navy destroyer was not named for a former president, or famous battle, it was named for a sergeant in the Marine Corp.,  and perhaps the first ship to be named after someone who was not born in this country.  Raphel Peralta was born in Mexico and the honor was given to him posthumously after he saved the lives of 12 of his fellow soldiers after being shot and wounded.

As he lay wounded with his fellow soldiers, a grenade was tossed into the room and he immediately took it and cradled it, using his body to shield the blast, and in so doing saved all the soldiers in the room.

In a day and time when heroism is masked by heroes who aren't really heroes, sometimes it is easy to overlook the actions of those who are the real, true heroes of America; men and women who have given what Lincoln described as, "The Last Full Measure of Devotion", acts of unparalleled courage that go far beyond what most of us only aspire to. Raphel Peralta was such a hero.

It is also easy to overlook that there are heroes of every nationality, true Americans, not determined by enthicity or religion, who have a deep and abiding love of America. Raphel was just one.  He came to this country because he and his family wanted to be Americans.  He had only three things hanging on his wall (as reported by an article on MSN). The US Constitution, The Bill of Rights and his certification from the Marine Corp Boot Camp and when the day came that he received his green card, he joined the Marine Corp.

As an American, I find myself often fed up with our politicians, the greed, and the deception that has become American politics. I think every politician who enters public office should have to stand before the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the World War Two memorials and run their fingers across the names of the fallen. They should have to walk among the crosses of the military cemeteries at Arlington and in their home states, and stand among those who have given everything that they, and we, might be free.

In the history of the world, if you add up all who have died in the name of freedom, I doubt the aggregate would even come close to the price America has paid. And I believe, even the hardest of hearts, can not walk that hallowed ground, among those who have given so much, and not be affected by it.