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Jennifer May’s Featured Presentation
June 09, 2026
Hello, I would like to thank a few people before I begin – the Hickory Grove Cemetery Board for this great honor to speak, the Mays, the Barrons, the Rutherfords (thank you, Aunt Lou!), the Coopers, the Leas, the Les, the Wansleys and the Reeds. And among them, of course, my father, Major Joel A. May, Jr., thank you for giving me life, loving me and your great sacrifice to this country (he died 14 November 1969 in Quanh Tri Province, Viet Nam); my step-father, Robert Barron, thank you for raising me, teaching me and loving me; my Mom, Marty - the strongest, most loving and resourceful woman that I know. She always “Improvises” as the Marines like to say and do. And Jesus – for saving a wretch like me. Finally, to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and the Coast Guard – without you all, there would be no United States. We love and thank you all!
***
It’s 1st July 1969, 5 miles west of Khe Sanh, Viet Nam. My father, an advisor in the Marine Corps, wrote these words home:
“I miss you very much. I wish there were jobs at home that seem important, then I could be home with you. But I’m miserable in the States with the war going on here.”
There are always people in this world who know that there are missions more important than their own lives.
Jim Elliot, a Christian missionary to Ecuador penned: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
And the Lord Jesus Christ said in John 12:25, “Whoever loves his life will lose it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
“In dying, we live.”
Just as the Scripture says, (and I am so proud to come from agricultural families - my paternal Grandfather May, my Step-Grandfather Barron and my maternal Grandfather Martin) - “Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
Subsequent letters from my dad mentioned missing “the moon landing” on tv – how it was one of the big disappointments in his life.
And no less missing his wife and seeing his children grow up each day. Always asking how we were, if we were behaving and that he loved us.
Dealing with the moments of extreme fighting, disillusionment of war and sheer boredom.
One story goes that he got so bored at some point that he actually asked to go in the field so he could get some exercise. My Mom would always say that when he had gained some weight, he would put on his combat boots and go for a run. I will be buying a pair first thing!
Giving up your normal life because you believe that others’ lives and their freedom may be salvaged, redeemed or delivered – this is the mission and this is the sacrifice. But what if we lose? Was it all in vain?
Ideals, such as freedom, personal responsibility and peace may be impossible, impractical, naïve, lost causes, or wrought with wrong motives or controversy, however, they propel us forward to work to alleviate real oppression.
And after all, freedom matters first to the one person, to the individual.
2025 marked the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. The Vietnamese diaspora calls this “Black Monday”. I was blessed to visit this scenically beautiful country the same year. It’s no longer the hell hole that it was during the conflict. As I traveled from busy Saigon in the south, to the middle of the country to Hue (the imperial capital), near the former Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, then back down south somewhat to Hoi An (a lovely little town where you can have a beautiful ao dai, or traditional women’s dress, sewn in a day), and finally, to Da Nang (“China Beach”), I began to notice billboards. Each with the Big 50. And then a date. “What does that represent?” I asked my guide. That’s the day that each city fell to the North Vietnamese Army (the NVA), the Communists. So began years of torture, imprisonment, re-education and oppression. Now, of course, their current government would say that that’s the day that they “liberated” each city from the Americans. However, in 1995, that same leadership struck a deal with the USA to do trade. Seems that they now realized that entrepreneurship is good for an economy. Even today, they are known almost as a “new” kind or hybrid communism. I can tell you that every person in Saigon, even though they have their gods on their car dashboard worships the almighty dollar [most everyone in that city rides a motorbike].
2026 celebrates 250 years of the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights – that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.” But is the United States great because of capitalism, because of our constitutional republic or is it something else? And what of our good, bad and really, really ugly history?
One of my best friends, Toni, says that we have a sense of fairness in this country. The Preamble to the Constitution goes, “We the people in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice …”
I’m not a preacher and this is no sermon, however, regardless of the founding fathers’ individual beliefs, the United States started with the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the author of fairness as He is no respecter of persons. And we have a heritage of sacrifice. As a whole, our country has believed and worshipped the One who sacrifices, not sheep and goats, but His very own Son, Jesus Christ, for us. When we trust in Him by faith, we can live in forgiveness of sins, in peace with God, and in peace with others. This is why the USA is great and this is where our power comes from. Even when we, as individuals, or as a nation, fail miserably.
This is what I told my Vietnamese friends. I started to ask this very question because I saw the beauty of their country, the five-star hotels, the wonderful food and tourism. I even asked myself if what we’re doing in the Red, White and Blue is really different.
The Lord God is Who makes the difference. Not our form of government, nor our economy, nor our laws, which are great, necessary and we fight for them, but Him. And He has infused all of it.
But, we’re now living in the USA in the post-Christian era. Science says that nature abhors a vacuum. When we kick the LORD out, there is a void to be filled. Matthew 12:43-45 reads: “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
We see that with spiritual decay have come moral and physical decay – increased crime, more and more broken families, downright hatred and meanness and crumbling infrastructure. In my hometown of Memphis, there is a church on every corner, yet we are killing each other. We must truly repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:15).
President Ronald Reagan warned, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”
Now the USA has begun to embrace the very things that we have fought in the past. How have our new generations fallen in love with those systems – Marxism, Socialism, Communism? A young man in my apartment building, whose parents fled a South American regime, touted the benefits of Marx, Mao [and Ho, if you will]. “We’ll do it right this time”, he tried to persuade me. I remembered - not when the hearts of men are always bent toward evil. This may seem like a generalization, however, history has proved it true by the graveyard of political ideologies. “Good” may be mandated, however, it has to come willingly, and when it does, it may surpass anything that someone tried to make me do by force.
Those who sacrifice their own lives for a mission greater than themselves do so willingly, and we praise them for it. Our great country, though imperfect, has a heritage of sacrifice from our Creator. May each of us seek to sacrifice our lives to each other, be it a phone call or text; visiting someone in the hospital; mothers nurturing their children for 18 years to create future, productive citizens; standing up for the truth, when it is drowned out; or even the laying down of our lives in death.
A final nod to the United States Marine Corps (USMC): “Marines die. That’s what we’re here for. But the Marine Corps lives forever. And that means you live. FOREVER.” - Anonymous
***
It’s 1st July 1969, 5 miles west of Khe Sanh, Viet Nam. My father, an advisor in the Marine Corps, wrote these words home:
“I miss you very much. I wish there were jobs at home that seem important, then I could be home with you. But I’m miserable in the States with the war going on here.”
There are always people in this world who know that there are missions more important than their own lives.
Jim Elliot, a Christian missionary to Ecuador penned: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
And the Lord Jesus Christ said in John 12:25, “Whoever loves his life will lose it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
“In dying, we live.”
Just as the Scripture says, (and I am so proud to come from agricultural families - my paternal Grandfather May, my Step-Grandfather Barron and my maternal Grandfather Martin) - “Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
Subsequent letters from my dad mentioned missing “the moon landing” on tv – how it was one of the big disappointments in his life.
And no less missing his wife and seeing his children grow up each day. Always asking how we were, if we were behaving and that he loved us.
Dealing with the moments of extreme fighting, disillusionment of war and sheer boredom.
One story goes that he got so bored at some point that he actually asked to go in the field so he could get some exercise. My Mom would always say that when he had gained some weight, he would put on his combat boots and go for a run. I will be buying a pair first thing!
Giving up your normal life because you believe that others’ lives and their freedom may be salvaged, redeemed or delivered – this is the mission and this is the sacrifice. But what if we lose? Was it all in vain?
Ideals, such as freedom, personal responsibility and peace may be impossible, impractical, naïve, lost causes, or wrought with wrong motives or controversy, however, they propel us forward to work to alleviate real oppression.
And after all, freedom matters first to the one person, to the individual.
2025 marked the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. The Vietnamese diaspora calls this “Black Monday”. I was blessed to visit this scenically beautiful country the same year. It’s no longer the hell hole that it was during the conflict. As I traveled from busy Saigon in the south, to the middle of the country to Hue (the imperial capital), near the former Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, then back down south somewhat to Hoi An (a lovely little town where you can have a beautiful ao dai, or traditional women’s dress, sewn in a day), and finally, to Da Nang (“China Beach”), I began to notice billboards. Each with the Big 50. And then a date. “What does that represent?” I asked my guide. That’s the day that each city fell to the North Vietnamese Army (the NVA), the Communists. So began years of torture, imprisonment, re-education and oppression. Now, of course, their current government would say that that’s the day that they “liberated” each city from the Americans. However, in 1995, that same leadership struck a deal with the USA to do trade. Seems that they now realized that entrepreneurship is good for an economy. Even today, they are known almost as a “new” kind or hybrid communism. I can tell you that every person in Saigon, even though they have their gods on their car dashboard worships the almighty dollar [most everyone in that city rides a motorbike].
2026 celebrates 250 years of the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights – that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.” But is the United States great because of capitalism, because of our constitutional republic or is it something else? And what of our good, bad and really, really ugly history?
One of my best friends, Toni, says that we have a sense of fairness in this country. The Preamble to the Constitution goes, “We the people in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice …”
I’m not a preacher and this is no sermon, however, regardless of the founding fathers’ individual beliefs, the United States started with the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the author of fairness as He is no respecter of persons. And we have a heritage of sacrifice. As a whole, our country has believed and worshipped the One who sacrifices, not sheep and goats, but His very own Son, Jesus Christ, for us. When we trust in Him by faith, we can live in forgiveness of sins, in peace with God, and in peace with others. This is why the USA is great and this is where our power comes from. Even when we, as individuals, or as a nation, fail miserably.
This is what I told my Vietnamese friends. I started to ask this very question because I saw the beauty of their country, the five-star hotels, the wonderful food and tourism. I even asked myself if what we’re doing in the Red, White and Blue is really different.
The Lord God is Who makes the difference. Not our form of government, nor our economy, nor our laws, which are great, necessary and we fight for them, but Him. And He has infused all of it.
But, we’re now living in the USA in the post-Christian era. Science says that nature abhors a vacuum. When we kick the LORD out, there is a void to be filled. Matthew 12:43-45 reads: “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
We see that with spiritual decay have come moral and physical decay – increased crime, more and more broken families, downright hatred and meanness and crumbling infrastructure. In my hometown of Memphis, there is a church on every corner, yet we are killing each other. We must truly repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:15).
President Ronald Reagan warned, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”
Now the USA has begun to embrace the very things that we have fought in the past. How have our new generations fallen in love with those systems – Marxism, Socialism, Communism? A young man in my apartment building, whose parents fled a South American regime, touted the benefits of Marx, Mao [and Ho, if you will]. “We’ll do it right this time”, he tried to persuade me. I remembered - not when the hearts of men are always bent toward evil. This may seem like a generalization, however, history has proved it true by the graveyard of political ideologies. “Good” may be mandated, however, it has to come willingly, and when it does, it may surpass anything that someone tried to make me do by force.
Those who sacrifice their own lives for a mission greater than themselves do so willingly, and we praise them for it. Our great country, though imperfect, has a heritage of sacrifice from our Creator. May each of us seek to sacrifice our lives to each other, be it a phone call or text; visiting someone in the hospital; mothers nurturing their children for 18 years to create future, productive citizens; standing up for the truth, when it is drowned out; or even the laying down of our lives in death.
A final nod to the United States Marine Corps (USMC): “Marines die. That’s what we’re here for. But the Marine Corps lives forever. And that means you live. FOREVER.” - Anonymous