It was a moment of hate s vicious victory  but also the launching pad for one of the greatest successes of love, good will and compassion in all of history. With similar impact every such memory bears many strong and positive elements certain to make the future better. Was this our finest hour? Not likely. Yet the memory contains the seeds of future glory. Finding oneself at the center of a vital historic moment is a distinction neither to be sought or desired but to be invested in an enduring lesson to be shared with all. That which follows is a true story about real people. However, most of them will remain unidentified here in the interest of preventing further pain.
 

When in early 1942 the first awful message of sacrificial death in World War II came crashing  and bruising into El Dorado Springs (Cedar County) MO., it landed in my lap. Already once rejected in my attempt to join the military on Dec. 8, 1941,  at one of America s darkest hours, I was faced with the necessity of delivering the bitter news to my next door neighbors. At that time I was just beginning a new part-time, after-school job as a clerk at a leading tourist hotel. By token of that assignment I also became the town telegrapher, which meant I must receive, translate into readable copy every telegraph message for any local residents and deliver it. A vital young man had left that home to serve in the U.S. Navy air arm. That day we learned that only his lifeless remains would return. The message, as so many that would follow, began,  We regret to inform you . . . .
I rang the bell and his sister, who was among my new classmates at El Dorado Springs High School, promptly appeared at the door. As one of the most difficult tasks in my life, I read the message in full and then held her and shouted for her parents and tried to console them and shed tears with all with a sense that I had become for that moment a member of that family. The son and brother who was the subject and who was a recently acquired acquaintance of mine had been one of the two members of a dive bomber crew that had tumbled from the sky over the Pacific downward just inches too soon in a failed attempt to return to the deck of an aircraft carrier. A Japanese bullet had achieved its purpose
 

The extended period of mourning that followed was a community-wide affair that revealed an intense compassion and regret that altered the lives of every person who shared it and reshaped the life of the community forever after. It did not end until after a lengthy period the body, sealed in a tight glass-covered casket was brought home to rest at the heart of the city in the municipal building and finally to a burial site only a few blocks from his home. Even beyond, his fate was the principle emotion of the community.
 

It was a time that brought virtually all Americans together, a time when all differences, including political, were put aside and virtually forgotten so that total attention could and would be applied to dealing with the enemy and returning the globe to a place of peace, security and hope.
 

For all of us present then and for all Americans for many years to follow, the shining example of courage exhibited by that young man and the many others that followed literally led the nation and determined its future.
 

I felt obliged to tell the details at least this one more time because our nation now faces another moment of terrible danger. The response of Americans in 1942 and thereafter contains the ultimate example of the right answer to any and every such challenge. Please, before it is too late, let us learn and apply the lesson of that moment of high passion so that all present Americans may share again in the triumph of peace that resulted then.