In Memory of Gary Sowell

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

“You [God] will increase my honor and comfort me once again.” (Psalm 71:21)

“…you will be remembered by the LORD your God.” (Numbers 10:9)

On this Memorial Day, my thoughts return to the great uncle I wish I could have known. In the early 1940s, Gary Sowell left the dark-sand soil of Kershaw, South Carolina, the rural farming community of his youth, and never returned. While serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II, his plane went down and he was lost at sea. My 90-year-old grandmother still gets misty-eyed when she speaks of her brother. She keeps his black-and-white photograph framed in her living room. Crisply uniformed, he smiles a broad smile of clear-eyed promise. I wonder, behind the eyes, how deep the awareness ran of the sacrifice that might be required of him. I never had the privilege of meeting or knowing the man whom I would have called “Uncle Gary,” but I have seen his face, his kindness, his courage, and his love embodied in his sisters and brothers (my grandmother, great aunt and great uncles). Today, especially today, I give thanks for his willingness—and for the willingness of so many, many others—to serve heroically, selflessly, bravely, and all too often sacrificially.

Heavenly Father and gracious Lord, we offer deep gratitude for all who have served, and for those who continue to serve, in the armed forces. We pray for the families of those who have lost loved ones, that you would shower them with comfort and hope. And we thank you again for the ultimate sacrifice: the suffering and death of your son Jesus, who laid down his life to rescue the lost from the power of sin and death. Amen.