Memorial Day is the most solemn of our national holidays.  The solemn tribute began in 1866 when three Christian women from Columbus, Mississippi, decorated the graves of Confederate soldiers there and at the same time laid flowers on the graves of the Union soldiers buried in the cemetery.  At the insistence of his wife, General John Logan, then Army Chief of Staff, issued an official order shortly thereafter proclaiming Memorial Day an annual day of remembrance for our nation’s war dead.

From the days of the Revolution, through the struggles of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam, the first Gulf War and the present War on Terror, the strength of our nation is in the spirit of its men and women who fought and died for a nation determined to know its ancient liberty.  4,435 combat deaths in the Revolutionary War, 2,260 in the War of 1812, 1,733 in the Mexican War, 140,415 on the Union side in the Civil War, 74.524 on the Confederate, 385 in the Spanish-American War, 53,513 in World War I, 292,131 in World War II, 33,667 in the Korea War, 47,393 in the Vietnam War and 148 in the Persian Gulf War.  Over 4,410 have died as a direct result of hostile action in Iraq since March 19, 2003, with 2,184 more in Afghanistan.  The loss of life to American military men and women in all of our nation’s wars exceeds 1,340,000.

On the first few days after D-Day in June 1944, 6,603 Americans died in combat; 4,000 alone on the first day.  Iwo Jima, lying midway between Guam and Japan, is less than five miles long.  On that island, a detachment of Japanese troops were ordered to dig in the mountain fortress and to die to the last man.  The assault on Iwo Jima was the fiercest landing fight the world has ever seen.  The Japanese kept up an incessant rain of death upon the attacking American troops on the beaches.  Navy and Marine casualties exceeded 22,000; the Japanese counted more than 20,000 dead.

On the sacred soil of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the battlefield was a sea of carnage.  In three days of fighting, Confederate losses were 3,900 killed, and 24,000 wounded and missing; Union losses were 3,100 killed, and 20,000 wounded or missing.  Those soldiers listed as missing simply vanished, ground up in battle disappearing into the soil.  In November 1863, several months after the battle of Gettysburg, its military cemetery was dedicated, at which President Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address.  There are 120 national military cemeteries in our nation.  From Arlington on the Potomac to the Golden Gate , from St. Augustine in Florida to Sitka, Alaska, as well as on many other burial grounds elsewhere around the world.  The war cemeteries in Normandy hold the remains of 9,386 American soldiers.  On hallowed soil, as in the hearts of the American people, the memory of these gallant men and women, who made the supreme sacrifice, is enshrined forever.  In a letter written by President Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby, who lost five sons in the Civil War, the President wrote: “May our Heavenly Father assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.”

On this Memorial Day, we must not mourn that these men and women died, but rather, we must thank God that such as they lived.  This is also why the Veterans Administration scandal involving the lack of care for our neediest veterans is so despicable.  The veterans survived, but many have been treated with utter disdain and shameful callousness by governmental bureaucrats.

Mariam Ibrahim Yahia, a pregnant woman of 27, was sentenced last week to death by hanging in Khartoum, Sudan, for converting to Christianity.  Mrs. Ibrahim was also convicted of adultery for having married a Christian man.  Her husband, Daniel Wani, is an American citizen.  (Yes, you read that correctly.)  The sentence for her “adultery” will be 100 lashes.  The Honorable Judge Abbas al Khalifa asked Mrs. Ibrahim whether she would return to Islam.  She replied that “I am a Christian,” upon which Judge al Khalifa handed down his death sentence.  In response to the verdict, the embassies of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands have issued a joint statement expressing “deep concern” about the case, and urged Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion.  Sudan, however, follows Islamic sharia law.  In response to the “deep concern” expressed by the Western embassies, a Sudan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abu-Bakr Al-Siddiq stated that “Sudan is committed to all human rights and freedom of faith granted in Sudan by the constitution and law.”  That is good to know, but deeds speak much louder than words.  And Mrs. Ibrahim is the wife of an American citizen.  In an emailed statement to Mere Comments, the Embassy of Sudan in Washington, D.C., stated the following:

The Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan in Washington DC has noticed with regret some of the  official statements and media coverage on the case of the Sudanese citizen Mariam Ibrahim  Yahia, as some of them have mistakenly jumped to conclusions and accused the government of Sudan of violating human rights and preventing Mariam from her civil rights as a Sudanese  citizen.  The Embassy would like to confirm that the Sudanese Judiciary System is totally independent and the government has no any influence on it by any means and its judges are  qualified enough and dignified!  Having Saying this, the Embassy would like to confirm that:

NO government agency ever was behind the case of Mariam Yahia, and her case has been  failed and brought to the court by her immediate family.

The ruling of the judge was made at the primary court after hearing to the all parties involve,  and its subject to be implemented in not less than two years, if confirmed from higher courts.

In such case and according to Mariam’s lawyers the ruling might be raised to the appeal court then to supreme court and finally to the Constitutional court for the final judgment.

There is no room for politics on this case and those who accused Sudan Government of violating  the Human rights should check their records and submit to the rule of law specially in Guantanamo, and should be a abide by the Universal  Declaration of Human Rights and the civil  rights of those detainees.  While reaffirming the commitment of the Government of Sudan to all  human rights and freedom of beliefs, the Embassy of Sudan in Washington would like to thank  all those who have contacted the Embassy in this regard, and assure them that it will follow this issue and will keep them informed.

Reportedly, Mrs. Ibrahim’s father was Moslem, but abandoned the family during her childhood, and she was raised by her mother, an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia.  She was given several days to recant her Christian faith in order to escape the death sentence.  However, when she declared that she is a Christian, she was sentenced to death.  Mrs. Ibrahim and her husband were married in a church wedding in 2011, and have an 18-month-old son, Martin, who, of course, is eligible for American citizenship, and is now with her in jail.  Amnesty International said, “The fact that a woman could be sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion, is abhorrent.”  Indeed it is.  Her conviction will be appealed.  But she should simply be released.  If you wish to write to the Sudanese Charge d’Affaires in Washington, D.C., (the Ambassadorship is presently vacant), you can write to him at the following address:

His Excellency, the Honorable Maowia Osman Khalid
Embassy Of The Republic Of Sudan
2210 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington D.C. 20008
Ph: 202.338.8565 Fax:202.667.2406
Email: amb.maowia@sudanembassy.org

Our sister in Christ, Mariam, reminds me of the writings of Ignatius of Antioch, who wrote in his famous letter to the Romans, “All the pleasures of this world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing.  It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ than to reign over all the ends of the earth. . . . Him I seek, who died for us; Him I desire, who rose again for our sake.  This is the gain which is laid up for me.”  Please pray for Miriam and her husband, Daniel, and for their children during these difficult days.