Patriots Day Celebrated with Stories of the Sacrifice of America’s Heroes

BATON ROUGE — Chili Chef Extraordinaire Bill Smith confided afterwards that he had quietly prayed for good weather.  And though heavy thundershowers were predicted throughout the day for Friday, April 19, by mid-morning, the ominous gray clouds parted, and for lunchtime, the sun brought a welcome warmth to the brisk Spring noonday gathering at LSU’s Rural Life Museum for the purpose of celebrating Patriots Day.

Jim Hogg and his talented son, James, joined by fiddle, Clay Johnston entertained the 70 attendees upon their arrival with a medley of patriotic tunes.

The event was sponsored by American Judicial Alliance (AJA), a non-profit organization whose mission is to awaken the conscience of one nation under God. AJA dedicates gold-imprinted commemorative Bibles to America’s courts in keeping with a 100-year-old tradition begun in 1906 by Justice John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911).  A little known tradition, the “Harlan Bible” is maintained by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Curator, and its multiple flyleaf pages bear the signatures of all justices in succession shortly following taking their oaths of office. See ajatoday.com for details.

Dr. Jere Melilli, Senior Pastor of Christian Life Fellowship, home to the Patriot Memorial Center, welcomed luncheon attendees with a purposeful invocation.

Then history buff Clay Johnston issued a stirring reminder of why Patriots Day is worthy of remembrance and celebration. For it was on April 19, 1775, that brave colonists in Lexington, Massachusetts confronted British soldiers who aimed to seize their arms and ammunition. “The shot heard ‘round the world” was fired that morning and America’s war for independence began.

Retired Judge Darrell White, President of American Judicial Alliance, the Luncheon’s sponsor, welcomed guests with a sobering observation, extracted from Speaker of the House. Robert Winthrop’s 1849 speech delivered at the Annual Meeting of Massachusetts Bible Society:

“All societies of men must be governed in some way or other.  The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government.  The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint.  Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet.”

AJA’s Vice-President, Bill Smith then read some reminders of how and why earlier generations of Americans revered the Bible.

Bob Bell, a retired Navy officer and author of Between Here and Eternity, a fascinating book that recounts his near-death experience following a tragic automobile accident that claimed the lives of his wife and daughter, gave glimpses of how fortuitous circumstances during America’s War for Independence often made the difference between victory and defeat.

Richard Perkins, father of Family Research Council’s President, Tony Perkins, recounted the inspiring example of Declaration of Independence signer Caesar Rodney who rode 80 miles from Dover to Philadelphia through the night and in a rainstorm to break the tie vote between Delaware’s other two delegates (Thomas McKean and George Read). At the time, Rodney suffered from disfiguring facial cancer by siding with the patriots he signed own death warrant by cutting off best source of medical treatment in England.

Richard Perkins also issued an impassioned call for older Americans to do their duty to teach patriotism to the next generation.  He said, “I am reminded of the scripture, ‘That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children.’” (Psalm 78:6).

Retired Judge Luke Lavergne, said that this is his country, and he is proud to have served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force.

AJA Advisory Board member Jerry Dumas then introduced his former LSU football coach, Paul Dietzel, a World War II bomber pilot. And Coach Dietzel in turn introduced his son, Steve Dietzel, and grandson, Paul Dietzel, III.

Ann Jennings introduced guests Anna Sanders and Shirley Avant who are members of Women Veterans of Louisiana. This ministry consists of women who served in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard from WWII to present. Their main mission is to stand honor guard at any woman veteran’s funeral in the State of Louisiana.

Ann Jennings also spoke of her mother, Irma Darphin, who served in England and France during WWII as a nurse with the 127th General Hospital.

Other speakers included Eddie LeBlance and newspaper editor Woody Jenkins.

Louisiana Family Forum’s executive director, Gene Mills concluded the lunch gathering with a stirring prayer of gratitude over God’s providence and blessings. Mills reminded those in attendance that the liberties we enjoy were purchased with the blood, sweat, and tears of our forefathers and exhorted today’s generation of Americans to rekindle that same patriotic courage and perseverance on behalf of America’s posterity.