Congradulation to Elisabeth Marie Spratto the winner of the Scholarship Program!

The High Cost of Freedom

Elisabeth Marie Spratto

There are few who can understand the true cost of freedom like a member of the armed forces. These brave men and women sacrifice a great deal for their country, forgoing time they could be spending with their families, moving away from friends and family, and sometimes paying the ultimate price—their lives.

A close friend of my family, Chester, was one of these. A devoted father of two and a loving husband to his wife Sheree, Chester had joined the United States Army as a young man and was proud to serve his country as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. When he was told he would not be able to continue in the Army because of a knee injury, he determinedly put himself through hours of painful physical therapy in order to be eligible to serve a tour of duty in Iraq. Although his wife and daughter both suffered from a
muscular disorder that left them partially crippled, he left them in the capable care of his seventeen-year-old son and bravely left to serve his country in Iraq. When he returned, it was to Arlington National Cemetery. His helicopter had been downed during a routine flying mission and everyone on board was killed.

As a close friend of the family, I was able to observe firsthand the effect Chester’s untimely death had on his family. With the typical strength of character inherent to military families they were able to resiliently carry on; but Chester’s death has left an enormous hole in their family, as well as in the lives of his unit and those who knew him well. His son is on the eve of his wedding, a sight Chester would have been proud and happy to see; however, he never will, and his daughter will have no father to give her away on her own wedding day. Sheree sometimes writes letters to the beloved husband who will never read them. Although Chester left his family well-provided for financially and in the capable hands of many friends and family, nothing can replace the love and devotion he gave them himself.

My own father, who served in the Air Force for twenty-six years, often reminds me that freedom is never free. Chester’s family learned this painful lesson in the worst possible way. Chester would never have wanted to leave his family like he did, but he and his family understood the high cost of freedom. Despite their longing to have their husband and father with them once more, they know that he sacrificed himself and paid the ultimate price for a cause he believed in above all others: the cause of freedom.