Heart and Soul

HARRY HORTON and B. G. Burkett were roommates at Ft. Hood, Texas. Horton had dropped out of the University of Texas to join the Army and attend Officer Candidate School. Several times he told his friend that somehow he knew he was going to be killed in Vietnam. One night, Burkett asked him why he had volunteered for the Army if he thought he was going to die. Horton told him simply, “Because America needs me.” And he meant it.

A month after his friend left for Vietnam, Burkett sent him a Christmas card that came back marked, “Deceased.” It took some time to learn what happened. He found the details in the Silver Star citation awarded posthumously to his friend. Horton had become a rifle platoon leader with the 25th Infantry Division and, during a battle, had been pinned down with his platoon by an enemy machine gun. Not wanting to send any of his men on such a dangerous mission, he charged the enemy position himself and was mortally wounded. Burkett later wrote these words about his friend:

Horton never hesitated. He did his duty to America without flinching. Harry wasn’t an intellectual, nor was he particularly athletic or even very handsome. He was simply the heart, soul, and backbone of America. In times of crisis, it isn’t the politicians or generals who save us. It’s the Harry Hortons. Had he lived, Harry would have a wife, two kids, and a house in the suburbs. He would teach his children honesty, integrity, patriotism—and probably how to put frogs in the teacher’s desk and play hooky. He’d make sure they all went together to church on Sunday. America didn’t even notice the passing of Harry Horton, but she is substantially poorer in his absence.

This eloquent tribute to a man who didn’t come home stands as a tribute to all others who suffered the same fate. I often think of the friends lost and the lives they should have lived. They never knew the children and grandchildren who would have been theirs to influence and love. The ultimate effect of their loss is truly incalculable. I pray that God has rewarded these heroes in ways we cannot begin to imagine.