The Last Full Measure of Devotion: A Memorial Day Reflection by Col. Ronald Todd Lanman ’59
- Christina DeSantis
- 3 days ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
As we pause this Memorial Day to honor the brave men and women who have given "the last full measure of devotion" to our nation, we are proud to share a timeless reflection written by one of our own. Born out of Colonel Ronald Todd Lanman's three decades of both spiritual and military leadership, this sermon blends scripture, military history, and personal reflections into a powerful Memorial Day message.
Originally delivered for the Sixth Sunday of Easter—coinciding perfectly with Memorial Day weekend—Col. Lanman looks past the politics of war to focus entirely on the magnificent, selfless spirit of those who serve. From the noble examples of Roman centurions in the New Testament to his own memories of a tragic training flight over Denver, he reminds us that the supreme sacrifice is born entirely out of love—love of country, love of family, and love of freedom. Whether serving in the crucible of combat or standing guard through decades of anonymous peacetime readiness, Col. Lanman’s words offer a moving tribute to the military profession and a solemn charge to "us the living" to preserve the liberties they secured.
The Last Full Measure of Devotion
By Colonel Ronald Todd Lanman, USAF (Ret.)
Scripture Texts: Acts 10:44-48 and John 15:9-17
Scripture for the Sixth Sunday of Easter
These texts weren't selected to have anything to do with Memorial Day or the military. They are the regular lectionary texts for the sixth Sunday of Easter, but the fact that they apply this week is just an example that the lessons of the Bible apply not just to one specific little piece of life, but to many big and little pieces; they apply to life in general.
Cornelius and the Centurions: Soldiers of Faith
Context of Acts 10
The five verses in Acts 10:44-48 don't seem to relate to our Memorial Day or the military service in any way, but that is because they are taken out of context. The fact is that all of Acts 10 is about a Roman soldier and Peter. God sent messengers to both the soldier and to Peter to bring them together, as God did to Philip in the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. It is one more example of God teaching the earliest Jewish Christians to welcome Gentiles into Christ's church through baptism.
The Three Centurions
In this story the soldier has a name and a rank. His name is Cornelius, and he is the commander of one hundred men. He is a centurion, one of three mentioned in the New Testament, all mentioned favorably. You remember the second who came to him in Capernaum to have his servant healed, and Jesus said of him, (Luke 7:9; Matthew 8:5)"I tell you not even in Israel have I found such faith." The third was the centurion on duty at the cross on the day he was crucified, who was the first to testify to his divinity, even before the resurrection. He was the one who said, "Truly this man was the Son of God." (Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47)
Jesus' Posture Toward Soldiers
The interesting thing about these stories is that they are historical, not parables, and in them Jesus did not indict or criticize the soldiers, or make judgements about them, about Rome or about war.
Christ’s Commandment of Love
I want to shift from Acts to John and zero in on two verses. There are many lessons in the reading of these nine verses, but for Memorial Day I want us to consider just two.
More familiar to many of you is the King James version:
I prefer the NIV version:
This may seem repetitious, but this is Jesus' commandment to his disciples and to us. It is important. If we are serious about being his disciples, then we must be serious about his commandment. And we must be serious about how we apply it in our lives. We must always think about what Jesus' words mean. What must I do differently in my life if I am to follow his teaching, in this case his commandment?
Previously we have considered the "great commandment" from Deuteronomy and Leviticus: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul; and your neighbor as yourself." We know the second half of this is difficult, and we know the first half is impossible without the second. Now Jesus adds the extreme requirement: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." [NIV]
We know what Jesus did for us, and we know how extreme it was. He said, "Love one another as I have loved you." And in case you don't want to think about what that means, he went on: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." [NIV] Jesus wasn't leaving any room for doubt.
We know what Jesus did for us was extreme, but we make a mistake when we think that this greatest love he spoke of is also rare. It is the greatest love, but it is all around us.
The Greatest Love in Military Service
This ultimate demonstration of love is in reality relatively common. We said on Mother's Day that the supreme sacrifice, this greatest love, is expected surprisingly, of parents, but there is another common example. That example is in the military.
You have all seen movies or read books in which soldiers, sailors, or airmen do very brave and dangerous things. Things that have a high probability of costing one's life. You might argue that such acts are emotional or involuntary responses that a person would not do if given enough time to think. They are irrational. I disagree, but you could argue. You might also argue that such acts have an element of danger and only a probability of death, but not a certainty. You could argue this, but we know there are cases of those who have chosen certain death.
Sometimes people choose certain death even when the good outcome is uncertain. The soldier who throws himself onto the hand grenade to save others isn't even sure they will be saved. The pilot who flies his aircraft away from the city into an unpopulated area rather than parachute to safety does not know if the plane would have hurt anyone if he had bailed out. Young military men and women are brought up in a tradition of sacrifice and selflessness.
A Cadet’s First Lesson in Sacrifice
One of my first lessons came when I was a young cadet, about 19 or 20. One of my training officers lost his one and only engine after takeoff from Lowry Air Force Base. He was over a residential area on the east side of Denver (Aurora). He could have ejected and parachuted to safety, but he didn't. We don't know his final thoughts, but it seems obvious: he didn't know where the plane would crash, so he crashed it into a vacant lot.
His name was Lt. George Frederick, a graduate of the US Naval Academy. I don't remember anyone teaching us we were supposed to die like Lt. Frederick, but he taught us. He set the standard of sacrifice in our young minds. It may have been unspoken and unwritten, but it was crystal clear.
In wartime it is much more common. It happens all the time, and most of the cases we never hear about. One does not have to win the Congressional Medal of Honor to give this greatest sacrifice, to demonstrate this greatest love. I like Lincoln's description in the Gettysburg Address of the brave men who died in Pennsylvania in July 1863, who gave "the last full measure of devotion." Isn't that a beautiful way to describe giving one's life?
The Citizen Soldier Across Generations
In this country we have a long tradition of the "citizen soldier" who pursues a life of family and profession in times of peace and volunteers in time of war to risk his life to protect his country and his family. He knows there is danger to be faced and maybe survived, but he selflessly puts himself in harm's way for an indefinite period. Then when the threat is over and he has survived the war, he goes back to his family and his peacetime work. Clearly such a person goes out of love: love of country and love of family. Some shy away from the word "love" and call it "duty." He knows what he is living for, fighting for, and willing to die for. And those who give "the last full measure of devotion" give the greatest love.
The Spirit of the Modern Military
Today we have a different military. It is a volunteer force. It is not a "cold-war" draftee force, and it is not a force of volunteers in the face of a "hot war" or an imminent threat. It is a peacetime force of full-time professionals and part-time reservists and guardsmen. They serve out of the same love and selflessness as the "citizen soldier."
They are different in one more way: they are today both men and women. They serve and prepare to risk their lives to defend you and me. They do it out of the same love as the generations before them have always done.
From my more than thirty years military service, I can say that Americans serve with a deep respect for the freedom we enjoy, a great faith in the leadership in our democracy (both political and military), and a high regard for the worth of our citizens, the common man. Lincoln said, "God must love the common man because he made so many of them."
Soldiers understand that they may die for some who do not deserve it, but that's OK. And military people don't think of themselves in these terms, but that is what Christ did, die for those who don't deserve it. "Greater love has no one than this...."
Anonymous Heroes of the Cold War
Many civilians cannot imagine the military as examples of love: they can only see them as merchants of death and destruction. But just as Cornelius, the centurion, was a righteous man, so are many in today's military who devote their lives to the service of others.
I think many correspondents embedded with our forces in Iraq had their eyes opened to the magnificent spirit of the men and women in our armed forces. I saw one news report showing hundreds at an outdoor worship service in Kuwait before the war began. The correspondents seemed surprised. I think they thought it was some kind of "foxhole religion." They didn't realize that every Sunday those in uniform gather at small chapels all around the world to worship, even in peacetime.
I see them as Christian Soldiers defending a free people's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and to worship God in peace without interference from anyone else, the government included.
They serve with no expectation of fame or glory or riches. Many of them will spend their whole thirty-year career being prepared for a war they hope never comes. A whole generation, my generation, spent years prepared to go to war with the Soviet Union. Fortunately, that war was won peacefully and never came. There were no medals for bravery and no generals got famous. There will be no mention in the history books.
The people of that generation will be anonymous heroes, who as the famous poet John Milton once said, "They also serve who only stand and wait." They will give their lives, not in an instant of bravery, but anonymously, one day at a time, day after day, year after year.
It is a noble calling, and it is good for us to remember and honor them, both the living and the dead, on Memorial Day.
A Charge to Us the Living
As Lincoln suggested in 1863, it is even more important for "us the living" to be dedicated: for us "the living" to be dedicated to preserving freedom and justice for future generations, for us "the living" to be dedicated to loving God, and to loving each other.
AMEN.
Colonel Ronald Todd Lanman, USAF (Ret.)
Colonel Ronald Todd Lanman, USAF (Ret.)
United States Air Force Academy, Class of 1959
A member of the Academy’s vanguard graduating group—the First Class—Colonel Ronald Todd Lanman left his home state of Kentucky to enter the Academy’s temporary campus in Colorado at Lowry Air Force Base in 1955. Following graduation, he began a distinguished thirty four-year Air Force career marked by operational excellence, strategic leadership, and service across eras of both conflict and quiet vigilance.
His extensive operational experience included serving as a KC-135 Stratotanker pilot with both the 380th Air Refueling Squadron (Plattsburgh AFB, NY) and the 7th Air Refueling Squadron (Carswell AFB, TX). During the Vietnam War, he was deployed as part of the Air Force Advisory Team at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, working closely with Vietnamese counterparts in the 5th Air Division to train and transition crews into operational C-119 and C-123 aircraft. Throughout his decades of active and strategic leadership, Col. Lanman perfectly exemplified the Cold War generation's "anonymous heroes" he so eloquently honors—serving his nation with steady devotion, one day at a time.
See Colonel Lanman's Full Bio
Comments