Like tens of thousands of soldiers from across America, our father fought the forces of the Axis in World War II.
His name was Clarence Villnow. His immigrant parents homesteaded a small dairy farm on the shores of Farm Island Lake in Aitkin County.
His ship off loaded in Calcutta, India. His company of Army Corps of Engineers moved through India, China and Burma. In Burma they built a road from Ledo to connect with the Burma Road. Merrill's Marauders fought through, supplied by it.
While bulldozing through the Burmese jungle, Dad wrote a poem which I believe is reflective of our countries struggles today. Truth is absent, a pawn in political wars. Our Constitution challenged and weakened, the rule of law daily tested. Divisional hate speech the norm. Our Congress polarized, unable to govern. The Statue of Liberty's message forsaken. Our nation torn apart.
"Truth on the scaffold
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Wrong power on the throne
But that scaffold sways the future
And behind lies the dim unknown
Stands God within its shadow
Keeping watch above over His own."
Clarence Villnow
Burma, 1942
Profoundly Christian, dad meant all of us.God's own. No matter nation, skin tone religion. All are his children. His creation.
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Our heavenly father instructs us to care for all. Especially the poorest, the sick, the homeless, all children. Those escaping terror in their native lands. To treasure His earth, His family. No exceptions.
Our sacrifices are heart felt. Young lives given in their time. From the Revolutionary War to the present, for what a humble Ronald Reagan described as a, "shining city on a hill."
We shame the better parts of our history, as we engage in behaviors and policies that threaten this Democracy.
Peggy Villnow Carlson
Deerwood Township
