Before the Fourth of July

I drove through Harbor Beach last night. I stopped for gas at the Citgo station. Dropped into Harbor Drug for some sundries. Drove down Trescott Street to the pier to see the lighthouse and watch a few freighters on Lake Huron.

Lots of people in Harbor Beach make these same stops on a summer evening. Last night was different. The town had yellow ribbons tied around trees and stop signs. American flags, large and small, flew from doorways and fluttered along sidewalks. In front of the Ramsey Funeral Home there was a contingent of motorcyclists standing outside. Inside the funeral home, the family and friends of Army Pfc. Brian Backus gathered to mourn the loss of their child and friend.

Pfc. Brian Backus, age 21, graduated among the top ten in his class at Harbor Beach High School in 2008. An Army medic, he was killed in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan last week. Today is his funeral at Harbor Beach High School where he was president of his graduating class just three years ago.

Down by Trescott Street Pier the two flags of two countries -- the United States of America and our close neighbor, Canada -- fly side by side at half staff in honor of this young man from Harbor Beach. Both nations celebrate their Independence Days in early July.

I paused on the shore of Lake Huron to remember this son of Huron County and the many, many others who have served. Some have come home to see the lighthouse catch the setting sun, or stop for gas on a summer night. But many have died. They will not walk the streets of home again. They are the "heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life."

Before The Fourth of July, freedom's steep cost -- this all encompassing gift of a life -- is a heavy burden for a Michigan town that mourns and remembers a young hero.

Copyright 2011
Wanda Hayes Eichler