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This week I learned about something new to me called "The Double V Campaign." An African-American World War II veteran named James Strawder recalls the words of a high school teacher who said, "The only way the black man will ever be free is if he is ready to put his blood on the line when the time comes." For Mr. Strawder and thousands of other African-Americans, that meant volunteering to serve in World War II. The double V stood for victory over fascism abroad and racism at home. They believed that by their willingness to fight and die in Europe and the Pacific, they would prove to whites that they were worthy of their full rights as Americans at home. In the early days of the War blacks were not permitted in combat and relegated to often demeaning support jobs – digging ditches, cooking, cleaning latrines, and burying the dead. But as casualties mounted, African-American leaders pressured President Roosevelt to use more black troops in combat. A recent article in the Washington Post tells the story of Harold Montgomery.

The Army began deploying black combat troops, including such storied units as the 92^nd Infantry Division and the 761^st "Black Panther" Tank Battalion, which led a 183-day thrust from France into Germany. Montgomery was in the first contingent of the 92^nd Infantry to land in Naples, Italy, disembarking in the summer of 1944 in pitch darkness.

After a dangerous landing using narrow planks and under strafing attacks by German

fighters…

As Montgomery reached the dock, he began to make out a new sound "like the roar of a crowd in a ballpark," he said. Hundreds of black service troops – cooks, stewards and laborers – had gathered to cheer the arrival of the first black combat soldiers in Italy.

There are many other such stories, of course, including that of the famed Tuskegee Airmen and their commander, Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Through courage and discipline the Airmen, then flying as the 332^nd fighter group did not lose a single bomber they escorted to enemy fighters. But though black troops served nobly in World War II, only one "V" of the Double V Campaign was fully achieved, for black soldiers returned home to find the same racism and discrimination they had left awaiting them. And it would be three years before President Truman fully integrated the U. S. Military.

This weekend marks the convergence of several important observances. Tomorrow is Memorial Day, on which we remember the fallen of all of America’s wars. It will be marked by grand and impressive programs at places like the United States Capitol, and in simple and humble ceremonies in countless small towns across this country. Decoration Day, we used to call it. Also, of particular note was the dedication of the new National World War II Memorial on the Mall downtown. And today is Pentecost Sunday, the Christian celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit in power to the disciples of Jesus, the power that marked the beginning of the Christian Church. But also, we have recently observed the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas – the historic integration of our public schools.

Perhaps the stories I began with are a way of connecting all these important observances. Let me offer several brief observations. First, what they all have in common is freedom. Freedom from tyranny. Freedom from racism. Freedom from oppression. Second, these observances remind us that freedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended. Defended with sacrifice – of one’s own comfort, of one’s dreams, and of one’s life and limb. Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this," said Jesus, "that he give up his life for his friend." The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. And third, the kind of freedom worth fighting for is one in which a true community of inclusion is sustained and defended.

The two scriptures this morning, first the tower of Babel story, and second, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, can be seen as biblical bookends. In the first, humankind is scattered through its arrogance into nations, races, and language groups – capable only of dangerous babble. Humanity is plunged into division and a frightening inability to understand one another. With the coming of the Holy Spirit we read that, filled with new and amazing power, people of different races and nations and languages, suddenly and miraculously begin to communicate, to truly understand one another. And they understand without forfeiting any of their uniqueness. This is the amazing, even disorienting dream of the truly inclusive Christian community – unity in the midst of diversity. And, I would add, of a truly multi-cultural United States of America.

I believe that one of the important messages of this weekend is that we owe a special debt to those of marginalized and excluded communities who fought, and who continue fight for freedom. And it is here that the many heroic stories of the World War II veterans who were African-American, Mexican-American, Japanese and Asian, Native-American, and others, take on a particular power and poignancy. In our own congregation we remember Nasuo Hashiguchi, a Japanese-American interred in the camps at the start of the War, who eventually had a career in U. S. Army intelligence. And we remember Julian French and Archie Freeman, and others of all races for their military service. And while the focus is on the tragedy war at this time, I would include those who take the extraordinarily difficult path of active non-violence – spiritual combat against the forces of exclusion and darkness; people like Dr. King and so many others.

It has been customary at CCC to include a patriotic hymn on Memorial Day Sunday. In the spirit of all these special observances, we will close with a hymn that, while associated with the struggle of African-Americans for freedom, has become for many an important patriotic hymn for all of us. AMEN.

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