Tag Archive for Vietnam

Grace in the DMZ

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords which effectively ended U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. The war in Vietnam and the pictures in Life magazine were both a huge part of my childhood, so Larry Burrows’ photos are some of the images I most associate with that time.

I can’t post the photo here due to copyright restrictions, but take a look at the 7th picture in this series:  American Marines receive the sacrament of Communion during a lull in the fighting near the DMZ during the Vietnam War, October 1966.

Acts of compassion and rituals of grace in the midst of terrifying violence.  God with us in our suffering.