{"id":36696,"date":"2013-11-11T14:42:57","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T20:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=36696"},"modified":"2021-06-16T21:58:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T02:58:54","slug":"this-veterans-day-many-a-man-is-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/military\/this-veterans-day-many-a-man-is-free\/","title":{"rendered":"This Veterans Day: Many a Man is Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Soldiers<\/p>\n

Picture freedom.<\/p>\n

What image comes to mind?<\/p>\n

When Sergeant Shifty Powers, <\/b>one of the original Band of Brothers, returned to England for a brief reprieve after fighting in Normandy during WWII, his fellow paratroopers Donald Malarkey and Alton More scrounged up a U.S. army motorcycle and sidecar to go for a ride.<\/p>\n

Ahead would come more fighting. Although the soldiers didn\u2019t know it yet, they\u2019d need to parachute into Holland for Operation Market Garden. After that would come the fight in the harsh winter conditions of the Battle of Bastogne.<\/p>\n

But that day, simply, was about a motorcycle.<\/p>\n

Malarkey had work to do, so More asked his friend Shifty if he\u2019d like to ride up to Worcester with him. Shifty said yes and climbed aboard. More gave the bike a kickstart or two, the motor revved up, and they varoomed down the road.<\/p>\n

It was a fine day with the sun peeking out from behind the English clouds, and as they zoomed by an American convoy they slowed enough for Shifty to hear somebody holler out his name.<\/p>\n

Shifty never saw who it was or knew for certain who called his name, but he knew the man wasn\u2019t from his outfit. Shifty speculated that it may have been somebody from back home in Dickenson Country, Virginia, who had perhaps recognized him from a high school basketball game.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter. With the convoy now passed by, More yanked on the throttle and the bike leaped forward. The countryside flew by. For the rest of that afternoon, Shifty held to that single thought \u2014 home <\/i>\u2014 and grinned like nobody\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

I love that image\u2014<\/p>\n

Two soldiers roaring down the road on a motorcycle in England. It\u2019s a brief reprieve in the middle of a horrific war. One of the men hears his named called out, and he remembers anew what he\u2019s fighting for.<\/p>\n

What does your freedom look like?<\/b><\/h3>\n

Hold that image in mind, and let\u2019s examine freedom in greater detail, because right now \u2014 at this exact moment \u2014 many a man is free throughout the world.<\/p>\n

What is he free to do?<\/p>\n