Ode To The Moon

While going through some old genealogy files belonging to my Grandmother, Florence Foy, I found the draft of a poem written by Grandpa Leslie Foy. While not dated, it is penned on American Red Cross letterhead, and appears to have been written either while in Europe during World War I or while in the VA hospital.

Grandpa spent many long years suffering mentally and physically from the trials of war. Ode To The Moon talks of the dark shadows of the soul he wrestled through, the journey through darkness as he sought the light of celestial comfort. He kept his eyes turned to God during those hard times and depended on heavenly guidance through troubled waters. Grandpa had traveled dark waters more than once to and from his mission as well as to and from war-torn Europe. I imagine him with pen in hand as he wrote this poem. He remembered standing on the bow of the ship, watching the moon shine on the sea below and then the metaphor became clear as the stanzas began to flow. I imagine him now on the other side on calm waters under a harvest moon. He desires to give strength and comfort to those still in dark times trying to navigate our way.

Resilience

Both Uncle Lewis and Uncle LeGrande served in World War II. My favorite memory of the Foy uncles and my dad Forest was at a Foy party. They were huddled together plotting a practical joke. The planning must have been half the fun because they were more than laughing: hooting, giggling and altogether enjoying themselves.



Left to Right. Back Row: Lewis Call, LeGrande Brough, Connie Foy, Leslie Foy, Forest Barker, Gerald Moore. Front Row: Jean Call, Julia Brough, Florence Foy, Inez Barker, Sarah Moore.

 I got to thinking about them after reading the article "Accidental Hero: Human Kindness in the Midst of Holocaust Horror" today in the Deseret News. Marta Fuchs told the story of her father whose life was saved by a Hungarian named Zoltan Kubinyi, a compassionate work camp officer. Zoltan was posthumously given the designation of Righteous Among Nations for his protection of Jews and among those memorialized each year at this time of year during Yom HaShoah, a national day of remembrance in Israel.

In addition to the moving story told about this hero, Fuchs tells how important it is to know and retell family history. Her father had, like so many survivors of wars, kept his horrifying experiences private until his daughter volunteered their family for a library project. Marta says, "I believe that knowing your history is knowing who you are. It gives you a sense of direction and continuity. We are all shaped by that."

In explaining the Israeli memorial the article quotes Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "We cannot bring the dead back to life, but we can bring their memory back to life and ensure they are not forgotten." While recording history and remembrance of the participants are worthy goals in themselves, there is a practical result as well. I had read an excerpt of the book Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler in Parade Magazine which gave validation for teaching family history. Coincidentally, my cousin Linda also posted to the Foy-ever Family Facebook page a link to another article "The Stories that Bind Us" by Fieler detailing "myth-shattering research" which back with scientific evidence the truth that we have been taught since Joseph Smith was given to understand the reference in Malachi to Elijah's mission.   We should not be surprised to find that there are hidden blessings, earthly ones, to doing the genealogical research and sharing the family history stories.

Marshall Duke and Robyn Fivush at Emory University conducted research in the mid-1990s which showed that "the more children know about their family's history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives and the higher their self-esteem. The reason: These children have a strong sense of 'intergenerational self' - they understand that they belong to something bigger than themselves..." These children exhibited more resilience to the vagaries of life (Parade 7).

Love to you all; go out and share a story!
Fawn

Shared by Linda in comments:

From Uncle Lewis' journal:
“We had been on the water about a week and were about a day out of Leyte, a Philippine island. We were to stop here and put off mail and pick up mail to be delivered to the men in Manila another part of the Philippines. During the morning it began to rain, only as it can rain in the South Pacific. It really poured. You couldn’t even see the other ships in the convoy and we were in very close formation. I guess it rained for a good half-hour and then stopped almost instantly. I got out from under my cover and walked to the side of the ship and I saw two torpedoes coming at us. One missed the front of our ship, but not by very far. The second one went behind our ship and hit the one next to us. There was a terrific explosion. It hit towards the back of the ship where the ammunition was stored. It blew it right apart and the back 100-feet sunk in less than a minute taking most of the crew with it. The other part of the ship with its supplies and soldiers just floated away. The front part of these ships was built so that they were almost unsinkable. By this time a Destroyer passed us putting down a smoke screen. They went down each side and the 238 sub-chaser was dropping depth charges. It was only a matter of a few minutes until we couldn’t see any ships the smoke was so thick. One of the protective ships went back and picked up the men off the floating part of the LST that had been torpedoed.

“I want to bear testimony to any one that reads this that God does live and that he does bless those who keep his commandments and serve him. Those torpedoes were meant to hit our ship, but somewhere along the journey the Lord took a hand and they missed the ship that I was on with nine other returned missionaries. We were very close and spent much of our time together. These were the only missionaries or members that I knew about out of all the men on these ships. I am convinced that the Lord directed us and saw that we were all together. He certainly protected us and I thank God for sparing my life."