'Boots Mass' Honors Veterans And Their Families

St. John the Evangelist Parish in Daylight hosted the Veterans Day (Nov. 11) “Boots Mass” honoring U.S. veterans and their families. Pastor Father Chris Forler celebrated the Mass, and Deacon Richard Leibundguth assisted and delivered the homily.

In it, the deacon talked about St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of soldiers, who is remembered annually on Nov. 11. “After many years in the Roman army, he converted and became a soldier of the Church,” he said. “He was a very simple man; in many ways, he resembled Pope Francis.”

Deacon Leibundguth went on to offer a story about the six young Americans – the oldest only 24 – who raised the American flag at Iwo Jima during World War II. The iconic photo of that moment inspired the statue that serves as the Iwo Jima Memorial in Washington, D.C.

One of those young U.S. Marines, John Bradley, lived until 1994, the deacon said, and he never gave interviews. “He was a medic,” Deacon Leibundguth explained, and he probably held 200 boys at Iwo Jima as they died. He never acknowledged the many claims that he was one of the heroes at Iwo Jima. Instead, he said, ‘the heroes of Iwo Jima are the men who did not come back.’”

Veterans George Brunner and Don Gillies led the Mass’ opening procession and placed items of remembrance at the altar, including a pair of G.I. boots, a set of dog tags and an American flag. They also presented the offertory gifts.

“This is an especially precious moment to pray for all those who didn’t return,” Gillies said in his brief opening comments at the beginning of Mass. “Please join us in prayer for those who suffered and continue to suffer, and those who sacrificed and continue to sacrifice in our quest for world peace.”