I have just returned from men's retreat outside of Woodland Park with The Gathering and Band of Brothers Ministries. I am still processing the spiritual and relational truths imparted there so stay tuned for a serious post in that regard. This is only a quick note to describe what will likely be one of the most memorable moments of my life. I am not easily star-struck, but as may be gleaned from my near-reverential post about Lt Colonel Shivers, I have an immense amount of respect for the men who battled and fought for this country, particularly during WWII.This weekend I was honored to be able to shake the hand of Ed "Doc" Pepping, surviving member of Easy Company, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during the Normandy landings. For any of you who still lack historical perspective, Easy Company was one of the most successful, highly decorated and consistently effective units in the entire European theater. I guess I might also mention that Easy was also the subject of the HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers" from Stephen Ambrose's book by the same name. Ed, holder of a Bronze Star for valor himself, is a hero from a near mythical company, within a legendary Airborne Division. He is simultaneously fiery and approachable; gruff and loving; confident and humble. Taking nothing away from the rest of the weekends program, I would have paid the entire cost of the weekend to sit and talk to Ed for all 2.5 days. He was kind enough to write a personalized note to Aaron Hildreth, who is the closest to an Easy Company groupie as I know.
This was by no means the only valuable moment of the weekend and I hope to have more insights into this retreat as the days go on, but if nothing else, I have gained another reader whose opinion and ministry I deeply value and respect (thanks Wes).
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Matt I love your heart, thoughts and questions. I too am still processing the weekend. Ed Pepping is a great example of God calling out men to speak into the lives of others on a very personal level...life and death.
ReplyDeleteThis was scratched / written on the walls of the "Hanoi Hilton" by some of America's bravest.
"Freedom has a taste to those who fight, and almost die, that the protected will never know."
May we never forget. God bless America and may God bless you.
Your brother, Steve
Fatty,
ReplyDeleteI love reading all your stuff, but am particularly interested in your military flavor (for obvious reasons). We'll have to talk sometime about some of the folks I got to meet / hear speak in Alabama, and some highly recommended books. I did see you recently visited our site, and I definitely read the comments (not many are posted). I need to find more time (HA) to put some meaningful thought into some of my writing on our site. Then again, it is mainly there to keep everyone up to date with our rugrats.