Howard William Osterkamp from Dent, Ohio served for nine months of his two-years of service on the 38th parallel in Korea with C Company, 5th Regimental Combat Team.About half-way through those nine months, he was wounded in the leg with schrapnel, and suffered two breaks in his leg, but this was misdiagnosed by Army doctors, and he was returned to the front lines for four more months.
Osterkamp is credited with originating the phrase: “All gave some; some gave all.”
This weekend we celebrate Veteran’s Day – which originated as Armistice Day 105 years ago at the end of the First World War – commemorating the signing of the armistice at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
That day is also the memorial of St. Martin of Tours, who originally was a military man from a military family, and lived in the fourth century.
Pious legend tells us that Martin, seeing a poor beggar in the cold, took his sword and cut his own military cloak in half – sharing it with the shivering man. That night he had a dream where Christ appeared and repeated that well-known phrase from the Gospels “what you did for this the least of my brethren, you did for me.” And upon waking up, Martin saw that his cloak was no longer half, but restored to 100%.
This led to his conversion, and eventually becoming a bishop in France.
Interestingly, the word “chapel” come from the French word for cloak or cape … and refer to the small buildings in villages where St. Martin’s cloak would be displayed for prayer; and to the clergy, the “chaplains” who attended to the cloak as it travelled from place to place.
We remember 19 people who died over the past year, ranging in age from a few weeks to over 100 years old.
As Jesus says at the end of today’s Gospel: “you know neither the day nor the hour.”
During the month of November, the Church calls us to reflect on our own mortality by remembering in prayer those who have gone before us. Indeed, “the souls of the just are in the hands of God,” and that, too, should include us.
When we pray for the souls of the Faithful Departed, we do a good and just thing, knowing that when our day or hour should come, we can count on our family and friends to remember us in prayer when we have gone on to the Lord.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; let us place within His hands the souls of all the faithful departed … those from the past year, and every year. And in honor of Veteran’s Day, let us remember those who died in service to our great nation as well.
Eternal rest …
