|  The
Ideal Soldier
by Norman Fulkerson
It is not every day that one meets a veteran
of World War II much less one who was present during the
historic battle for Iwo Jima. But I knew something was different
about Norbert Arnold as he approached me during a presentation
about Fatima at his cousin’s home in St. Mary’s,
Pennsylvania.
He appreciated the chance to venerate the
large pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima that day. “Looking
at her mantle” he said, “brought back a lot
of memories.”
There was a reason for this.
He is the son of German immigrants and
was blessed to have a pious mother who gave him very valuable
advice before he left for war. “Ask Our Lady,”
she said, “to surround you with her mantle.”
Mr. Norbert Arnold poses beside
the Fatima statue |
Being a good son, Mr. Arnold did as his
mother asked. As he faced the many trials of war, he often
reminded Our Lady to do just that. This was made much easier
by the fact that he always carried a small leather pouch
which contained not only his rosary but also miniature statues
of Saint Joseph and Our Lady.
Miraculous
Assistance
Towards the end of the war, he and his fellow soldiers were
low on everything including food and water. Mr. Arnold decided
to leave the safety of his foxhole to obtain supplies for
his men from the headquarters a short distance away.
Upon leaving headquarters with his supplies,
an officer yelled out: “Arnold, you forgot your water.”
Already weighted down, he decided to leave the water for
a return trip. While walking to his foxhole, a can of pineapple
fell out of his jacket. When he returned to get the water
he had left behind, he tripped on the can. Instead of continuing
on to headquarters which would have been the most logical
thing to do, he decided to take it back to the fox hole.
A moment later, the headquarters received
a direct hit from a shell which killed everyone. The explosion
sent shrapnel flying in all directions. One three-inch piece
went spinning through the air until it hit, and tore into
Mr. Arnold’s jacket.
“If it would have hit me in the face,”
he recounted, “it would have killed me.” Upon
further examination he found that the shrapnel did considerable
damage to his jacket but left him perfectly unscathed.
He later attributed this to Our Lady and
remembered what his mother had told him.
The Breaking
of a Myth
As I looked into the eyes of this 84-year-old Marine, I
could not help but admire him as he recalled these miraculous
events with such unpretentiousness. Here was a man that
truly represented the ideal soldier. He not only answered
the call of duty to his country but remained a man of faith
conserving that which is most important to a Catholic: a
love of God and devotion to Mary Most Holy.
Men with faith such as this often go unnoticed.
The current trend is to portray American soldiers as mere
beasts who take delight in bringing pain and suffering to
those they combat. This negative image was only enhanced
with the lamentable episodes at Abu Ghraib, about which
the mainstream press gave more than ample coverage. Photos
of flag draped coffins and sordid stories of prisoner abuse,
generously provided by the media, depict America as an “imperialistic”
country only concerned with flexing her muscle in the conquest
of weaker nations. This is the last place one would expect
to find anything closely resembling the ideal soldier.
However, the ideal American soldier can
be found wherever Americans have serviced. A few facts from
our military history prove this.
“I'll
say a mass beneath it”
This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the battle at Iwo
Jima and there are few Americans who have not seen the famous
sculpture which immortalized that battle. Everyone knows
about the flag raising, but few know about the Catholic
Mass celebrated immediately afterwards. This fact was related
in the book, Battlefield Chaplains Catholic Priests
in World War II, by Donald F. Crosby, S.J.1
He narrates how anxious Marines, as they
approached Mount Suribachi, quipped: “Wouldn’t
it be nice to plant the flag on top!” None of them
balked when Fr. Charles Suver suggested something even better.
“You get it up there,” he said, “and I’ll
say Mass under it.”
Days later he kept his promise. As curious
Japanese popped their heads from cavernous hideouts, seasoned
American soldiers, with rifles locked and loaded, united
their sufferings with those of Our Lord in the unbloody
renewal of the sacrifice of Calvary on the summit of Mount
Suribachi.
Father Crosby relates many similar stories
where soldiers, entrenched in battle, practiced their faith,
requesting confession and communion. In one such incident,
a group of soldiers in a foxhole were killed from a direct
hit only hours after receiving sacramental absolution from
the Church.
Devotion in
Vietnam
Similar examples were also found in the Vietnam War. They
provide a clear contrast to the fabricated image of Vietnam
veterans as drug-abusing baby-killers.
Sam Gallaher was there and as a personal
friend often told me stories of his adventures. He is never
so eloquent as when he speaks of the consolation he received
from the sacraments of the Church.
“Every six days we would have mass,”
he explained. The soldiers would construct the altar themselves
by stacking their ruck sacks on top of each other. “You
would look forward to it because it was the time you could
escape [the war]” he said. “I never attended
mass, like I did when I was in Nam.”
He did his duty, stayed close to God and,
in spite of his 6 feet 8 inch frame which made for an easy
target, miraculously survived the war. He, like Mr. Arnold,
attributed his safety to Divine Intervention.
Equally impressive are two facts about
Col. John Ripley, one of the most decorated living Marines.2
He almost single-handedly stopped a North Vietnamese offensive
at the village of Dong Ha. He does not fail to credit the
intercession of our Lord and His Holy Mother. When he was
out of strength, he turned to them. “Jesus, Mary,
get me there” was his own improvised version of the
rhythmic chants often used by Marines.
Diorama depicting Capt. John
W. Ripley hanging under the Dong Ha Bridge over the
Cua Viet River, as he placed explosives, under fire,
in full view of the North Vietnamese riflemen and
tanks poised to attack across the bridge. The enemy's
firing came to a stop when the bridge blew; they would
not cross at Dong Ha.
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While speaking to a TFP audience about
this incident he was brought to tears when recalling that
among the civilians in the village of Dong Ha he saved,
was a school full of innocent children. This tender solicitude
for the weak and defenseless was an essential characteristic
of the medieval knight but often overlooked when exhibited
by an American soldier such as this.
“Ranger
Rosaries”
Skeptics will disregard what has been pointed out thus far
as examples of “old devotions” and noble attitudes
perhaps practiced long ago by a few, but now discarded in
favor of a “my-way-or-the-highway” attitude
often attributed to the American soldier.
Critics such as these have not heard about
what Sgt. Frank Ristaino and his ten children are doing.
Realizing the consolation of the rosary
in time of combat, they came up with the unique idea of
the Ranger Rosary. The soldier’s rugged and
often grueling life was the main consideration for the creation
of these Marian military beads. The final product was a
rosary made with an almost indestructible parachute cord
and the necessary camouflage color for use in the field.
These rosaries are now found all over Iraq and other battlefields.
It
is the type of rosary a soldier can hold in one hand while
gripping an M-16 in the other, providing him the means to
honor Mary and, at the same time, fight terrorists attacking
innocent civilians.
What began in Sgt. Ristaino’s living
room in the late nineties has grown a lot. With the help
of schoolchildren, rosary guilds, and a variety of other
Catholic organizations, over 30,000 rosaries have been produced
thus far.3
One military chaplain, whose identity was
concealed for security purposes, wrote back to express his
appreciation:
The soldiers have been briefed on the
importance of devotion to Our Lady and we rely on her
protection. The battalion has already undertaken to program
a trip to Lourdes as soon as we return safely to Germany.
Your rosaries have been a huge
hit with everyone. Words cannot express the gratitude
we feel for all of the hard work that you and your rosary
making team have gone through to support our mission here
in Iraq. Though the violence continues unabated, I am
sure that things would have been worse had it not been
for the constant intercession of Our Lady. Your efforts
have helped to increase the devotion to her intercessory
powers.4
Not Even Pat
Tillman is Spared
Contemporary society is so racked by scandals which consistently
place individual gratification above man’s obligations
to God. Few would think to look towards our armed forces
for examples of the contrary. Their brand of knightly honor
is passed over in favor of negative news.
Even Pat
Tillman’s unselfish sacrifice was briskly downplayed
with the excuse that, “he would not want all the attention.”
Much attention would later be given to the fact
that his death was the result of friendly fire. (As if that
takes away from the sacrifice he made by forgoing a hugely
lucrative NFL contract.) His heroic tale is now callously
presented as merely a means of the military, “to foster
a patriotic response across the country."5
Patriotism is a virtue and one that becomes much easier
to practice when inspired by such examples as this.
Perhaps this was the reason for my enthusiasm
when meeting Norbert Arnold. He is an elderly gentleman
who has carried with a great degree of dignity something
of the ideal American solider as he reaches the end of his
life.
Conclusion
Mr. Arnold is now being treated for physical ailments that
come with age and the lingering pains of war in the form
of post traumatic stress syndrome. Yet he relates all this
with an admirable patience and an attitude which can only
be defined as supernatural. “When I say my morning
prayers,” he said, “I am ashamed to include
myself.” Such is the self-sacrificing attitude of
a man who is still alive thanks to Our Lady.
On the 60th anniversary of the battle
for Iwo Jima, I felt deeply honored to shake the hand of
one who had been involved in such a noble endeavor. True
soldiers such as he are an image of the medieval knight
who accomplishes his duty no matter the hardships. He defends
the weak and helpless and does so primarily because of his
love of God. These are the qualities of all those mentioned
above.
Amidst the barrage of disparaging
propaganda belittling the efforts of our men of arms, I
believe we should be looking at the ideal American soldier
among them. Their dedication and pious devotion is a tale
so often untold.
In the modern armies in our secular
world, one would hardly expect to find soldiers inspired
by the knightly idea and religious devotion in the United
States of America.
Yet it is the part of the paradox
of our fascinating society. Amid the selfish hedonism of
our day, this ideal soldier is a shining example of something
found “only in America.”
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