On June 10, 2011 word began to spread around our community that a marine from Stanley had been killed while on foot patrol in Afghanistan. Everyone soon learn that Lance Corporal Nic O’Brien had been killed the day before by an IED while on foot patrol and that his best friend Josh Cawthron had been seriously injured. I had heard students from our youth ministry talk about Nic before. I knew from their conversations that this was an exceptional young man. He graduated boot camp with honors and during training he out shot everyone including the officers.
I have always taken a lot of pride in my country, though I have never served in the military I make it a point to personally thank anyone I see in public in uniform. As we began to get detail of Nic’s memorial service and I began to understand the impact that this marine’s death had on many of my student I knew that we had to step up and do something to honor this hero.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS9lqvenwjk[/youtube]
Having seen Bishop Gary Burd’s leadership on such events I contacted him and he put me in contact with Pastor Billy Pinson. A few days before the memorial service I contacted the state captain of the Patriot Guard for North Carolina, Ronnie Faggart to see if there was anything that our youth group could do to minister to the riders during the day of the memorial service. Ronnie invited our youth group over to participate in the deplaning ceremony and the procession from the airport to the church. What an incredible opportunity to honor a true American hero.
Over thirty-five of our teenagers and young adults joined several hundred bikers and emergency personnel on June 20 to bring this solider home and to honor his sacrifice. Pastor Pinson was able to bring the M25 banner up for us to display. The banner simply reads, “Churches of America thank you for serving!” I have never been as overwhelmed with emotions as I was that day as we stood in that hanger and watched as Nic was brought home. Seeing how the marines honor and handle the body of a fallen solider was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Several hundred people, all with an American flag lined the wall of that building. No one moved or made unnecessary noises as we honored Nic and showed our support for this family.
After the ceremony at the airport we made the 20+ miles trip to the church. Countless police officers and other emergency personnel blocked all intersection along the highway. Thousands of citizens lined the highway with poster, flags, banners, etc to honor this fallen solider. As we rode in this procession, we saw huge American flags hanging from overpasses, veterans saluting this solider, senior citizens braving the heat, and countless families and individuals take time to pay their respect and honor this soldiers for his sacrifice, all of our students were moved to tears and totally speechless as to the patriotism of so many people in our community.
Several thousand people gathered at the church to pay respect to Nic for his sacrifice. Nearly 1,800 people filled the church to support this family and pay tribute to Nic. Nine hours after we began our mission to honor Nic we were on our way back home. Completely drained, our students were overwhelmed at the outpouring of support and love for a young man who so many of them knew. Several of my students were puzzled as to why no other churches were there to support this family. So few churches understand how blessed they are to be able to gather and worship freely without backlash or risk of persecution. The Patriot Guard and other organizations have stepped up to do what the church should be doing. As a father and a youth pastor I never want my children or students to take their freedom to worship and live in a free nation for granted or to forget that without the sacrifice of men and women like Nic we could very quickly be forbidden to worship like we do.
Nic was laid to rest on June 28 in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. Sec. of Defense, Robert Gates, and Admiral Mike Mullen both attended Nic’s burial to pay their respect. Amazingly, Josh, Nic’s partner who was wounded in the attack also attended Nic’s burial. On July 2, several hundred citizens gather to retire Nic’s number 55 baseball jersey at a local baseball game. Nic will never be forgotten in our small town, and I hope that after this war is over we will never forget the sacrifice of the countless men and women who have fought in this all past wars to ensure that we will never have to go to bed at night with bombing and gun fire from terrorist going on outside our house.
With all of her flaws and imperfections America is still the greatest nation on planet earth and the church is God’s mouth piece and should be leading the way to give honor where honor is due. I pray no more communities will have to go through what our community has gone through, but if your community is next to experience this will your church be ready to respond?
Please pray for Josh Cawthron as he continues to heal and for the O’Brien family as they face the months and years ahead.
