Welcome to the Posey Circuit Court
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Welcome to the Posey Circuit Court
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GAVEL GAMUT by Judge Jim Redwine
“WAR IS _____!” General William Tecumseh ShermanErnie Pyle was born August 03, 1900 near Dana, Indiana and attended Indiana University. He hit the beach with the troops at Normandy, France on D-Day (June 06, 1944) and was killed by a Japanese machine gunner on the Pacific Island of Ryuku on April 18, 1945. Pyle won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on World War II (1941-45) from the viewpoint of an ordinary infantryman. In his book Here is Your War, Pyle wrote that soldiers usually asked him two questions: “When do you think we will get to go home?” and “When will the war be over?” Pyle covered WWII, but he indicated that there is a universality among soldiers who face combat. They want to go home, they don’t want to die and they are mostly concerned about letting down their comrades. Acknowledging that while war can be “vastly exhilarating,” and that, “There is an intoxication about battle…,” he realized that war had changed him and everyone involved whether on the front lines or the home front. “When you’ve lived with the unnatural mass cruelty that mankind is capable of inflicting on itself, you find yourself dispossessed of the faculty for blaming one poor man for the triviality of his faults.” This sense of tolerance and empathy for the frailty of others shines through most of the people I have known or read about who survive combat. This “there but for fortune” thought is apparently finely honed by personal observation of what we humans are capable of doing to one another in war. Posey County has been blessed with many people who have learned these valuable lessons. From the Revolutionary War (1775-83) veterans who helped establish Posey County’s first settlement up through our military personnel serving today, Posey County has contributed more than its fair share. I have already written about some of our Civil War (1861-65) incidents. And, soon after that war ended, Francis C. Green who was born in Mt. Vernon on September 04, 1835, won the Medal of Honor while serving in the cavalry against Native Americans in the Arizona territory in 1869. Sergeant Green served with Company K of the 8th Cavalry. He is buried in the town of Erin, Tennessee where an impressive memorial commemorates his service. His monument is on that county’s courthouse campus and includes mention of Mt. Vernon, Indiana as his birthplace. Posey County has a proud tradition of honoring and thanking those who serve our country in the military. We have a monument to the fifteen Revolutionary War veterans buried in Posey County. This engraved granite stele and the impressive marble statue to Civil War (1861-65) and Spanish American War (1898) veterans are both located on our Courthouse Campus. In 1927 Posey County dedicated the Memorial Coliseum to honor the Veterans of World War I (1914-18). Since1927 we have had World War II (1941-45), the Korean War (1950-53), the Vietnam War (1964-73), the Gulf War (1990-91), and our current war, The Iraq War (2003-?). We have placed impressive and well deserved plaques to our veterans from WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam in the foyer of the War Memorial. As yet, we have not recognized our Gulf War and Iraq War veterans. So many Posey County citizens have served our country through various branches of the military in every conflict that it is not possible to give each one credit in this column. However, for the next few weeks I plan to write of a few representatives who, for me, stand for all who deserve our honor and gratitude. I hope that should anyone know of others that they wish to recognize that they will not hesitate to write their own article and submit it. The old Rough Rider from the Spanish American War, Theodore Roosevelt, described all those who serve their country as follows: The Glory Belongs to the One Who Serves“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” |
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