Ohio State Senator Terry Johnson was the featured speaker at the Veterans Day Banquet held on Nov. 10 at the Winchester Church of Christ in Christian Union. (Photo by Austin Rust)

By Austin Rust-

A Veterans Day Banquet was held last Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Winchester Church of Christ in Christian Union (W3CU) to honor local veterans and service members. Food was served at the event, which took place after worship services, and the Ohio Christian University Chorale sang a number of patriotic tunes and hymns. State Senator Terry Johnson was the guest speaker.
After a word of introduction from Pastor Chris Johnson, the Ohio Christian University Chorale began to perform, led by Dr. Dione Bennett, singing patriotic tunes and hymns, including “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, and ending with a duet performance of “Home” by Phillip Phillips.
Pastor Chris Johnson then introduced State Senator Dr. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott), who was a guest speaker at the event. Senator Johnson graduated summa cum laude with a BA in History from Ohio University in 1985, then attended Ohio University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, where he was later Assistant Dean for a number of years. He has practiced medicine in southern Ohio since 1994, and was elected to serve as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives in terms from 2011 to 2018, representing the 89th and 90th House Districts. He was selected to fill a vacancy in Ohio’s 14th State Senate District earlier this year, and took the seat in September.
Senator Johnson is a retired veteran of the Ohio Army National Guard, where he attained the rank of full Colonel, having served multiple tours overseas a senior flight surgeon.
“We try to find joy in all of God’s creation,” Senator Johnson began, addressing the crowd. Turning to members of the Ohio Christian University Chorale, he continued: “.when young people perform like this, it’s obvious. You see the joy in their hearts – how much it lifts them.”
“We’re living in turbulent times – many would even say we’re living through dark times,” said Johnson. “They’re disheartened by the troubles of the world, and the direction of our nation.”
But the world has certainly been through darker times,” he said, recalling that in decades past, Americans survived the Great Depression, followed by the Dust Bowl, and in southern Ohio, a massive flood of the Ohio River, which washed away the homes and possessions of many.
“All of this began to sap the strength and spirit of our great nation,” Johnson explained. “Many began to question whether or not God had abandoned the very nation that he had inspired and blessed with rich potential and vast resources. And there were darker shadows in the world, with Germany, Italy, and Japan moving towards global domination. The world was in a spiral toward the abyss, and a weakened America could only watch as it all happened.”
Senator Johnson noted that after World War I, America had withdrawn into isolation, with a nearly complete demobilization of its military, leaving its population vulnerable to the evil that was spreading across the world. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. was drawn into World War II, but at the time, it was wholly unprepared to fight a war against the combined Axis powers. America was not feared by dictators, it was seen as weak and backward.
“Yet, from the depths of the Great Depression,” said Johnson, “America quickly got its act together and pulled through. By the spring of 1942, our military was engaging Japanese Axis powers. In a span of just four years, as if by a miracle, our citizen soldiers had rolled back the professional armies of the Third Reich, Italians, and Japanese. Not only did we defeat them; we oversaw their utter destruction.”
“What Hitler, Tojo, and Mussolini had completely missed in their planning was the true strength of America,” Johnson explained. “They overlooked what kept Americans alive and intact through many wars and hard times: we were a nation that was brought forth and set upon the world stage by the hand of God himself. Our founders were inspired by his words to form a free nation, where people themselves were in charge of their own government, where those people would be able to speak freely, roam freely, and bear arms for their own protection, not subservient to an all-powerful government. America is an example to the world of how God intended government to work, a nearly-deal model that shows what can be accomplished when a set of founding documents were infused with the glory of an almighty and ever-loving creator.”
“In a desperate time of great suffering and trial, the American people returned to their faith in God, and that is what made the difference,” said Johnson, returning to how American had won World War II. “We won World War II because we were a nation that took our kids to church, kept our families together, and knew exactly what we had to do when we reached our darkest possible moment: we knew to pray to God for the salvation of our nation, and that is what we did.”
“Now is not the time to leave our faith, neither in our nation nor in our God,” Senator Johnson concluded. “Now is the time to rebuild our faith, and help our families, friends, and neighbors get back on the right track. Now is the time to remember where the real strength of America lies: our faith in God and his goodness, plain and simple.”