We Need to Care
Albert Thomas saw a lot during his service with the 366th
Infantry Division. He was a frontline infantryman, sniper, winch operator, and truck driver. With assignments in Italy, France, and the South Pacific, he was never in one place for long. The worst time for him was in the Po Valley during the Allied drive north of Rome. He saw a lot of men wounded and killed, including a good friend whom he was not able to help during the heat of battle. His feelings of sadness and regret stayed with him:
When it comes down to it we are all just humans here to help each other. Seeing this devastation every day for years takes its toll on you. You come home to things and people don’t understand you. You’re messed up from all the sadness and cruelty you see. I wish today we could care about each other the way we use [sic] to. No matter the money or things you have we are the same. You only live for so long we need to care about each other. That’s what I discovered to be the most important from being in the war.251
We can each benefit from the insights of this veteran who found his own way to cope with suffering. He saw all of war’s destruction: cities and countryside devastated, soldiers wounded and killed, civilians rendered destitute. He struggled with all this and eventually concluded that the most important thing for him was to help other people. It is a blessing to see a good man’s thoughtful reaction to the horrors of war. It gives us hope that we can each struggle through our trials and disappointments to a better day, focusing less on our own misery, and more on caring for those around us.
“Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
—John 13:12–15