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Why
No "Peace on Earth"?
lt's
o
beautiful message: "Peace
on
earth, good–
wi/1 toward
men."
Here is why
man
has never been
able to make it
come
true
-
and how it wi/1 be
S
PRI NG \X'EATHER
cloesn't usuaJiy
come ro W ashington,
D.C.
unri l
about mid-April. And Friday,
March 27, 1970 was no exccprion.
Thar day, a cool brcezc gentl y swayed
rhc sril l barren m:cs rhar lincd Arling–
ron Nacional Ccmercry, rhc largest
milirary burial ground in rhe Unired
Srares.
Through rhe endless sea of whirc
and gray grave markcrs moved a fu–
neral procession. Thc color guard and
precision drill rcam, followed
by
seven beauriful whire srallions pulling
a Aag-drapcd caskcr. rcscmblcd rhe
ceremony held for rhc: !are John F.
Kennedy. Only chis was March in–
secad of Novembcr, and almosr sevcn
years larer.
Jusr behind rhe slowlv moving cn-
SOLDJER TAKES TIME OUT
from the
fury of bottle to kneel in proyer omidst
the rubble of o bombed-out cothedrol
in the oreo neor Quong Tri, South Viet-
nom.
Auociated Preu
PLAIN
TRUTH
December 1972
brought to earth in our time!
by
Williom R. Whikehort
rourage, in an official U. S. Army sralT
car, rode rhe grieving parenrs of che
deceased. Their son. a you ng Anny
helicoprer pilor, had been killccl jusr
days earlier in Vietnam, anorher cas–
ualty of che war.
To che hundreds of onlookcrs vis–
iring che cemerery rhar day, ir lookcd
like jusr anorher of rhe countlcss mil i–
rary funerals resulring from rhe Indo–
China confl icr. But forme, ir was rhe
mosr rraumaric day of my life. You
see. rhe parcnrs in rhar
~raff
car were
my parenrs. The funeral was for my
22-year-old brorher, Mark.
Why
Did Ir
Happen?
On Tuesday of rhe prececling
week, rhe gianr CH-478 helicoprer
my brorher was Aying was shot clown
in Q uang Ngai province on Sourh
Viernam's central coasr.
All
five men
aboard were ki lled almosr insrantly.
l vivid1y recall che pcrplcx ing,
angry rhoughrs rhar racecl rhrough
my mind rhat day in Arlingron.
"Why did he have ro die?
lt
jusr
docsn'r make any sense.
Ir's
so insane,
such a rragic wasce! Why do men
have ro fighc? W hy can' r men senle
rheir cl ilTerences sorne orher way?
W hy do mcn have ro have di ffer–
cnccs? W hy can'r men live rogerher
in peacc?''
Counrlcss farhers, morhers, hus–
bands. wíves, brorhers, and sisters
have asked rhe same nagging c¡ues–
rions down rhrough hisrory as war af–
rer war has raken irs bloody
roll
in
human líves. Think of che coundess
rimes rhe) have been left witb only
quescions and rhe furile, empty search
for a peace rhar never carne.
Thcse c¡ucstions are more piercing
rhan ever roday. Why can ' r men
achieve peace? Why can'r men find
the
wa_y
that produces peace?
Does such
a way cvcn cx isr?
1c's abour ríme, particularly during
ch is so-called season of "peace on
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