COLUMN: Sacrificing careers, sacrificing lives

Friday I wore my Glenn Miller birthplace museum shirt to work. The weather was expected to be warm, which it was, so I wanted to be comfortable which that shirt provides. As the day passed and I heard more references to the Memorial Day holiday weekend, I realized it was the right thing to wear.

Miller was born in Clarinda but the family left during his childhood and eventually ended up in Fort Morgan, Colorado, about 45 miles from where I grew up. He supposedly had his best game in high school football against the school I graduated.

Some may argue a little, but Miller established the Big Band sound in the late 1930s. Next weekend the annual Glenn Miller music festival is in Clarinda including his band that is still in existence. The festival was not held the past two years because of COVID. It’s good to see it back.

Miller had great success with his music. He had something people wanted and were willing to pay. He had regular radio concerts. His songs were converted into movies. The man was making tens of thousands of dollars in record sales by the month. Some music historians say Miller was at rock star status long before America knew what rock star status meant. World War II came and Miller changed his tune.

He enlisted in the military and was given the mission of entertaining the troops in Europe. He gave up what we easily call success for the stress of war. He and others hoped his music would be a much needed break for the troops from the war.

In December 1944 Miller boarded a small aircraft from England to fly to France to prepare for another show. He never made it. Rumors fly for the reasons. The plane was never found but there is speculation whatever remains of the plane are still on the floor of the English Channel.

Miller is not the only one.

Another Iowa native, Bob Feller, finished his sixth season pitching for Cleveland when he heard the news about Pearl Harbor. The events influenced him to put his solid baseball career on hold. He put down his glove and picked up his Navy uniform. Baseball historians do wonder how much better his baseball stats would have been if he would not have been in the war until its end in 1945. I wonder how many people he inspired or gained even more respect from because he put baseball, a game, on hold for something greater. After the war, Feller was never known to have regretted his decision.

The first person to reach rock star status also put his status on hold for service of the country. Elvis Presley enlisted in 1957, a time when nothing significant worldwide was happening. Some wondered how insignificant his time in the military would be. Young Elvis may be a bit more easy to watch than what he was like in the 1970s with gained weight and some substance use problems. He has fans on both sides of his career. After he was in for three years, Elvis returned to his music skill and popularity. No matter what you think of Elvis, he should be respected for giving his career up for his military time.

Like Feller, Pat Tillman put his pro football career on hold after three seasons to serve his country. After 9/11 and the coinciding NFL season, Tillman, 25, was offered more than $3 million for three more years to play in Arizona. He turned it down wanting to join the Army. I would hope his training in the NFL would have helped him get through Army training. But tackling players 6 foot-whatever and weighing 250 pounds or so running at full speed can’t be compared to finding the right position in a gun fight. Tillman lost his life in April 2004 in Afghanistan.

There are others at various levels of success and popularity who put it all on hold for some time in the military.

Monday, I went to Bridgewater knowing longtime friend and Nodaway Valley graduate Clinton Eshelman, who has been in the National Guard since 2004, was the featured speaker for the town’s service. Clinton has his own success as he and his wife have a flower and vegetable business outside of Winterset. Clinton occasionally has to leave his job, the plant business and his wife for training. He’s been to Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s told me some of the stories about the action he saw, or was told by others during their tours. His speech Monday was a memorial to those who he knew of and had died in action.

Maybe Memorial Day should have another definition, especially using with the word memorial. That holiday should always be in our memory so we won’t forget those who did serve and sacrificied. It must be recgonized more than just a Monday in May.