Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor, My Daddy, Bert Echols, fought during WW2 on the Atlantic Front. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge. My siblings and I heard many accounts of the dangers he and his buddies faced.

On Friday, October 13, his buddy in the same fox hole told him, “Echols, if I am killed, I want my body shipped back to the States, do you hear me?”

Daddy heard and remembered and after Grupin was killed beside him that day, Daddy told his commanding officer his friend’s final request.

Ittookyearstofindoutifthatrequestwashonored.Itwas. After returning to Cass County, Texas, Daddy went to the neighborhood store where Carmen Mae Thrower worked, we behind the counter and, with a room full of customers, kissed her for the first time, asked her to marry him, and on December 6, a few days later, they went to the office of the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta and married.

For years afterwards, Daddy suffered nightmares from his combat experiences. To say he remembered the European Conflict would be a vast understatement. His children, grandchildren, and anyone else who would listen to him, heard about being in German Dairy Barn with snow on the ground and contracting double pneumonia and many other experiences.

My husband, Ron Dillinger was in Southeast Asia for 18 months during the Vietnam Conflict while I attended East Texas Baptist. The Linden-Kildare Class of 1968 lost one of our own, Jerry Sims, before we graduated. It was his second tour of duty protecting his commanding officer. Jerry took the bullet and died instantly. His body was brought back to Cass County and the funeral service was held at the First Baptist Church of Linden because it would accommodate the greatest number of mourners. The Gospel of John 15.13 NKJV reads as follows: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” -- Jesus My Father-in-law, Dwight Dillinger, was part of the Manhattan Project. He helped load the atomic bomb on the Enola Gay. All of it was Classified Information and Dad was required to sign a document stating he would not speak of his part of the project. His unit was flown to an island and brought back on a boat. Since he had been sworn to secrecy, Dad did not talk about his wartime activities in the Pacific Front. Daddy & Dad were welcomed back home as heroes. Ron was not.

In order to ride free on a plane from Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, Airmen were required to wear the Military Blue Uniforms.

From the Philippines, they were flown to Anchorage, Alaska for re-fueling and changed to a commercial chartered flight destined for San Francisco, California.

As they deplaned, war protesters threw rotten tomatoes as they walked down the steps. Draft Dodgers. Not until the First Gulf War did many who had served in Vietnam begin to have some closure to the way they were treated upon returning.

Many in our family have served and we appreciate their service more than we can say. A glimpse of what the Lord Jesus Christ willing did on the Cross at Calvary. Henrietta Mears (1890-1963) said these inspiring words: wonderous, troubledicent in the eyes of men.”

Christians who are Veterans share their love of Jesus in many ways, only sometimes with words.

Praising God for His Presence in our wonderous, troubled worldfullofbravemenandwomenwhowearuniforms symbolizing the Land of the Free in 2025 in Jesus’ Name,

- Nan Echols Dillinger