VICTOR GARNET McCALL

Almost everyone has heard the expressions: Rest in Peach, Gone but Not Forgotten but how long does that sentiment last? Not very long because people resort to the saying that Life is for the living and that makes sense because a death cannot be reversed. Lazurus was an exception. He was a friend of Jesus and Jesus stayed with Lazures on his way to the temples  in Jerusalem for sacrifices.  I think Jesus saved his friend from death to show non-believers that the Almighty has no limits to his power. 

 

Garnet was raised in a small North Carolina  community known as Frozen Creek which is located between the great metropolis of Rosman and Quebec community just off U.S. highway 64. He walked the hills, broke mountain Ivy, hunted ginseng and gathered moss for sale. He was a likable person, and the girls found him handsome. He had a way with small engines, and he could fix automobiles, motorcycles and scooters or mopeds. When he joined the Navy, he became an Engineman. The EN2 on his gravestone stands for Engineman second class. He was assigned to be a crewmember on a riverboat in Viet Nam. His boat was attacked by fire from VC on the bank of the river. The skipper of the boat performed evasive maneuvers while the crew returned fire. Garnet was in the aft section of the boat and he either was shot or fell overboard. His body was not recovered although the Navy sent an empty coffin for his family to bury. I was not able to attend his funeral as I was in Texas, but I heard there was quite a crowd. So, people honored and remembered Garnet at his funeral and probably for a few days after and then they went about the business of living. Such is the way of life.

Garnet’s name is on the Viet Nam memorial wall.  I traced his name onto a piece of paper and gave it to his Mother Viola. Viola was the daughter of Jess Morgan who built the house where I was born.    She was grateful that someone still remembered her son.

His father, Dewitt McCall  (known as Dee) died at the age of 70 in 1971. His mother, Viola lived until 2010.  He had a younger brother, Ted Devon McCall who was tragically shot and died in 2004.

US Navy Engineman Second Class(EN2)Victor Garnett McCall was a casualty of the Vietnam War. As a member of the Navy, EN2 McCall served our country until February 22nd, 1969, in Kien Hoa, South Vietnam. He was 27 years old and was not married. It is reported that Victor died from drowning. (His body was recovered). Victor was born on October 8th, 1941, in Brevard, North Carolina. EN2 McCall is on panel 32W, line 083 of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. He served our country for 4 years.

The Navy claimed his body was recovered but his family buried an empty casket.

He was the Son of Mr. and Mrs. Dewitt McCall, Route #2, Brevard, NC. His Dad was known as Dee McCall. He grew up in a small house across Frozen Creek Road on the other side of Frozen Creek.

He served aboard Armored Troop Carrier ATC-132-6, a unit of River Squadron 13, Task Force 117, US Naval Forces Vietnam.

He was awarded The Vietnam Service Medal, The Republic of Vietnam Campaign Service Medal, The National Defense Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. I have the same medals.

 

I REMEMBER GARNET. When I think about him, I remember his service to his country. He was not the only one from Frozen Creek to serve in the Viet Nam war. My twin brothers Howard and Harold served, and my brother Michael Daniel served. I served three campaigns. I was a member of Attack Squadron 144. We launched low level A4 bombers loaded with 250- and 500-pound bombs as well as missiles. Sometimes our planes would return to the Carrier with small arms damage to the undercarriage  which was caked with mud from the rice paddies.  Others from Frozen Creek served and  we all still carry scars physically and mentally. We all lost friends and shipmates. Upon our return, we were not welcomed home.

 

I wish Jesus had raised some of my friends killed during the war. They died too soon.

The Death of Lazarus  Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,  and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.  It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”  Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

So, then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,  and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus^[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles^[b] from Jerusalem,  and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.  When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;  and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.  Now Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him.  When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.  “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

 Jesus wept.

 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.  “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

 So, they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”