"Over There, Over There...."

I have just recently acquired a hard bound copy of photographs of soldiers and sailors from the Great War(It wasn't really called WWI, until we had another one). The book only contains information about the men and women who served from one particular county in Kansas. It's probably one of a set of thousands of books covering every county in the United States.
Among the hundreds of photos are pictures of four of my great-uncles.I only knew them as old men. But, there they are, in black and white, all in their 20's, each at the beginning of their long lives.
There's a lot of information in the book, both written and implied. Some entire pages are filled with men having the same last name. Their parents are listed, so many groups of brothers were inducted and fought side-by-side. Dozens of the men died at camps, while still in the United States, of influenza and pneumonia. The groups of photos are divided according to rank and branch of the service. They are also separated by race.
We can learn so much from history.

Precious Lord: We are but tiny specs in your gigantic universe, but we know that each one of us is important to you. We are so thankful for the wisdom and strength of all of those who came before us. Give us courage to stand up for what we believe. Give us wisdom to learn from our mistakes and the knowledge to gracefully pass on what we have learned to those who will come after us.