San Patricio and Wounded Warriors…

One day, several years ago, while I was still a Chaplain in the Air Force, I stopped into the Starbucks in Fort Walton Beach for my daily Chai Latte. Standing at the counter, I saw a CD by one of my favorite groups, The Chieftains. Yes, I caught the Irish music bug during my second assignment in England with the Air Force! The picture (above) on the album and title intrigued me. Upon listening to the music and hearing Liam Neeson’s empasssioned monologue, my heart was captured. Who were the San Patricios? During the Mexican-American War in 1846, thousands of newly immigrated Irishmen joined the US Army and were sent to war under General (later President) Zachary Taylor to invade Mexico. This, of course was partly in response to the Battle of the Alamo and the Texas fight for independence.

However, the Irish-Catholic soldiers in uniform suffered miserably at the hands of the Anglo-Protestant officers. Remember, this was at a time in our nation’s history when signs went up in New York saying, “Jobs Availble, Enquire Within… Irish Need Not Apply”. And these Irish-Catholic soldiers, fed up with persecution by Anglo-Protestant, began to wonder why they were called to kill fellow Catholics. So hundreds of these soldiers deserted Taylor’s Army and joined forces with their Mexican spiritual brethren. Led by Captain John Riley of County Galway (where my Canadian Agnew ancestors came from), they called themselves the St. Patrick’s Battalion–in Spanish, the San Patricios. Needless to say, the end was not good for my Irish brothers when the US Army caught up with them after two years in conflict. At the battle of Churubusco, 83 San Patricios were captured, and 72 were courtmartialed. Of those, 50 were sentenced to be hanged and 16 were flogged and branded on their cheeks with the letter “D” for deserter. (flag.blackened.net/revolt/Mexico/img/more_san_ps.html)

Beyond the story of these Irishmen, I was drawn to the album cover yesterday. In the picture, Mother Mary is holding the lifeless body of one of her precious sons. An Irishman who likely had worn out his rosary beads praying during the Hell of war and the torture of whippings, brandings, and executions, was held in the arms of our Lord’s Mother. Laying aside any commentary on desertion (although in their case, I believe it was warranted), I see a broken man who was trying to make a new life in a foreign land where the ONLY job he could get was in a military where he was seen as inferior (like my African-American brothers in the segregated forces as far back as the Civil War). And I see a broken soldier… In need of healing and grace.

This picture reminds me of my dead, wounded and suffering brothers and sisters in arms today. Their bodies are broken by IEDs and shrapnel and their minds and souls broken by PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries. The dead in cemeteries around the world and the walking wounded whom I meet in VA clinics, hospitals and on the streets… My heart breaks at the inefficiency of the VA system to care for them and those who turn away from them.

One of those wounded souls was Chris Kyle. The movie “American Sniper” and even his book portrays to me a man wounded and broken. His country taught him to kill… To desensitize and call Iraqis sub-human… Yet in the end, I see not so much an American Hero as a wounded warrior who was killed by another wounded warrior soul. In the end, nobody won… The Kyle family lost a son, brother, husband and daddy. And the family of his accused killer, Chad Littlefield, lost their son to the horrors of war and PTSD.

So why post this? I am posting this as a Padre who has heard too many tales, of Hell and War… Who bears his own scars and the countless scars of others who have shared their stories in the sacred bonds of pastoral care and counseling. And I share my thoughts in the wake of Faith and Flag waving that is more about politics than the individual casualties of war.

So, in conclusion my Presby-Catholic Prayer is this… Mother Mary, embrace your children… As you embraced your son at birth and held his lifeless body as it was lowered from the cross… Embrace all of your children, children of your Father in Heaven, who are wounded and scarred by humanities inhumanity… And Lord Jesus, grant us your healing peace… Amen.