Memorial Day Remembrance

Posted on 5/30/01 by Sue Jenkins - gbc@sanmarcos.net …"love is strong as death….Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it." - Song of Solomon

My dear Denny,

It seems strange to be writing a "love letter" to you which you cannot read but which the whole world can. Today is the day our nation has set aside to remember you and others who have made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. We can never forget you as "The effectiveness of a man's life is measured by the marks he leaves on others at his death" (anon.). Your devoted love has certainly "marked" me, and I have experienced the truth of what Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld knew, "Absence abates a moderate passion and intensifies a great one--as the wind blows out a candle but fans fire into flames."

Thirty-three years ago when they changed your "Missing in Action" status of seven-and-a-half weeks to "Killed in Action," I wanted to join you in Heaven right then, but God had a better plan. He has filled my life with Tommy, the most understanding husband imaginable, and our four daughters: Joanna (28), Susanna and Deanna (25), and Lorianna (23). God has also blessed us with three sons-in-law and one grandson, and another grandson is due in September. Though they have not yet met you, they also have been affected by your life. I think about Heaven a lot and what it will be like when we are all together there.

Life continues to be an adventure as I wait to learn whether the excavation team which was recently looking for you and the other eight men on Phou Louang Mountain there in Laos were able to recover your remains. I am so hopeful that we can give you a proper burial after all these years.

God's grace sustains me as you knew it would. I agree with what you wrote to your parents just two weeks before your deployment, "You know, circumstances and geographical locations are no problem with our God. There are no accidents with God in His dealings with those who trust Him. I believe He places us in particular situations in order to fulfill His own purposes for our lives, to teach us needed lessons, and to use us as a channel of His Light in dark places. 'His way is perfect!'"

Until we meet again,

Your loving wife

Denis Leon Anderson