{"id":3031,"date":"2026-06-29T19:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3031"},"modified":"2026-06-29T19:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:40:09","slug":"silver-linings-the-ties-that-bind-how-battlefield-brotherhood-embodies-americas-ideals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3031","title":{"rendered":"Silver linings: The ties that bind \u2014 How battlefield brotherhood embodies America\u2019s ideals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

My Dad fought in World War II and my grandfather-in-law fought in World War I. They were ordinary men who didn\u2019t know much about being soldiers. But they did what they were asked to do. Both experienced painful things during these global conflicts, and both eventually returned home to their farms and families after their time in the military. <\/p>\n

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These men were proud of their service but didn\u2019t talk about it very often. They were reluctant to stand at sporting events or concerts when tributes were paid to those who served in the military. They didn\u2019t see themselves as having done anything heroic. They simply answered the call when it came. <\/p>\n

My Dad, Lyle Hill, served in an artillery unit. He didn\u2019t go overseas but was assigned to an East Coast battery unit protecting the Maryland shore. Leonard (Len) Longhurst, my grandfather-in-law, went to France during World War I, called at the time \u201cthe Great War.\u201d There he also served in an artillery unit: Battery E of the 148th Field Artillery. Neither one of them liked it all that much.<\/p>\n

Len was from Woodruff, Utah and after getting drafted went through basic training with other men from small towns in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. They didn\u2019t really know what they were getting into. But they promised to look out for each other. <\/p>\n

When Len was deployed to France, he was venturing into uncharted territory. Nothing was familiar. Nothing except the guys he met in basic training who were determined to keep track of each other.<\/p>\n

Len was separated from his basic training buddies and soon assigned to the front lines. For the 15 months he saw action at Chateau Thierry, Argonne Forest, Marne River, Saint Mihiel and Verdun \u2014 and was eventually awarded five major battle clasps and a stripe for being severely wounded.<\/p>\n

Len was set up as a kind of \u201cearly detection\u201d sentinel to determine if the type of incoming mustard gas meant they should stay in the trenches or get out of the trenches because that type of gas accumulated in low-lying areas making trenches dangerous. Unlike others in his unit, since he had never smoked he could detect subtle differences between these two types of deadly mustard gas. <\/p>\n

After months of fighting and being separated from his basic training buddies, Len became extremely homesick \u2014 to a point bordering on despair. The carnage of war was overwhelming and he longed for something familiar, anything that could connect him to home. He later described to family members praying fervently night after night when he was alone to find someone or something from back home. <\/p>\n

Feeling almost defeated, he was assigned to fetch supplies from a temporary logistics camp. While there, a fresh batch of horses \u2014 among the more than 1.3 million horses and mules drafted by the United States Army during World War I \u2014 were being dispatched to various units at the front lines. <\/p>\n

Len looked at these horses admiringly, remembering his own team of horses back home. Then, he thought he saw a brand he recognized among the new horses. He entered the corral and began searching, milling among the animals, checking the haunches of horse after horse for a familiar brand. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s when he saw the distinctive brand used by a neighboring farm back in Woodruff. Len ran over and hugged the horse\u2019s neck. It was the sign he had been looking for \u2014 a \u201cwar horse\u201d like no other. <\/p>\n

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Rejuvenated, Len returned to his unit. After months of fighting with little progress, Len\u2019s unit was severely gassed. Among others, Len was dragged to a roadside where horse-drawn carts with medics would pass by periodically to pick up the injured. <\/p>\n

Len lay by the roadside with others who were sick or injured. A horse-drawn ambulance passed by, but the wagon was full and could not take any additional wounded to the nearby field hospital. Then, a second wagon stopped momentarily. The medic looked at Len and determined that he likely would not live, so he told the horses \u201cgiddy-up\u201d and began moving on. <\/p>\n

Unexpectedly, an injured soldier on the back of the wagon made the driver stop. He jumped down and shuffled over to Len. It was a buddy from basic training \u2014 one of the guys in their small group that had promised to look out for each other. <\/p>\n

When he got to Len, he dropped to his knees and placed his hands on Len\u2019s head \u2014 asking God to preserve him until they could get to the field hospital. Despite his own condition, this friend lifted Len off the ground and half dragged, half carried him to the wagon, making room for both of them. <\/p>\n

After some weeks, both men recovered and were discharged. They went home together. And as long as they lived, they got together once each year to commemorate that momentous day. A day when a promise made was a promise fulfilled, when a life was preserved by a wounded man who stumbled out of a wagon to help another wounded man lying by the roadside. <\/p>\n

This is my celebration of America: neighbors looking out for neighbors. The true heart of America\u2019s 250-year journey doesn\u2019t reside in marble statues or military might. It lives in the quiet, daily acts of ordinary people living every day not just for themselves but also for their neighbors, their communities, and even strangers in need of help. <\/p>\n

Our history is a story of expansion \u2014 not just of territory, but of the mind and the heart. It is the story of a nation constantly challenged by its own ideals, pushed forward by regular citizens who look at the promise of America and say, \u201cLet us make this truer for more people.\u201d <\/p>\n

So, let us start the celebration now for America at 250 years and then keep on counting. Let\u2019s celebrate the innovators and the dreamers, the creators and the cultivators, the neighbor next door and the communities that bind us together as \u201cone nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.\u201d <\/p>\n

We are the stewards of a magnificent legacy. But the ink on the American story is still wet \u2014 and the next chapter belongs to us. <\/p>\n

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The endearing legacy of America isn\u2019t solitary heroes or imposing statutes; it is ordinary people working together regardless of fearsome obstacles. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nSilver linings: The ties that bind \u2014 How battlefield brotherhood embodies America\u2019s ideals - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3031\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Silver linings: The ties that bind \u2014 How battlefield brotherhood embodies America\u2019s ideals - 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