By Mark Boorsma

Mark Boorsma is the pastor at Ascension Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.

Most readers know this day as Veterans’ Day, some remember it was Armistice Day until 1954, and some know this date as Martinmas. My grandfather, born Cornelis de Geus in the Netherlands, became a United States Army veteran by a series of wild coincidences. Although he served briefly in the Dutch army, he made a temporary medical leave permanent by signing on as an employee of a ship sailing from Rotterdam to Panama. That’s called going AWOL — absent without leave — and is a criminal offense. So he found it convenient to use an alias in order to evade prosecution; he chose to use his grandmother’s surname instead of his own. All his descendants still wear this alias — Boorsma.

In 1917 the ship on which my grandfather was employed was impounded in the New York harbor, and he found himself among a large number of unwilling conscripts inducted into the American armed forces. They received their basic training in a kind of United Nations of boot camp, Camp Upton on Long Island. My grandfather was very reluctant to accept this turn of events, because his conscription in this foreign army meant the constitutional loss of his Dutch citizenship. Although he grew to appreciate his new life in North America, it was an awkward way to begin.

As a World War I veteran, my grandfather knew well the meaning of 11-11-1918. He grew up in a world that knew this date as Martinmas — Saint Martin’s Day. Martin of Tours was born in the year 316 and died in 397. The best-known story of this Roman soldier is the generous act of sharing his cloak. Meeting a cold and nearly-naked beggar, Martin cut his own military cloak in half with his sword and gave half of it to the beggar for warmth. Later, in an echo of Matthew 25:36, Martin dreamed that Jesus himself wore the half-cloak and gave Martin credit, “for he clothed me.”

If you take the time to ask, and to listen, you might discover that every soldier has heartfelt stories to tell. Some are tales of reluctance and regret; some are stories of valor and generosity. Military service is a deep expression of loyalty to country, and veterans are to be celebrated and thanked today (and every day). Saint Martin — patron of soldiers — also points to that higher and wider allegiance Christ invites: to God’s disguised presence as your neighbor in need.