Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. – John 15:13, KJV

There is a reason we call them the Greatest Generation.

Six weeks after they were married, Billie and Peggy Harris parted ways. Billie, a military fighter pilot, was deployed to Europe to fight the Nazis. One day, all correspondence from her husband ceased, and for the next 60+ years Peggy received mixed messages from the government regarding her husband’s fate. Unsure of what happened to Billie, Peggy decided to remain faithful to her husband, stating in a recent interview, “Billie was married to me all of his life. I choose to remain married to him all of my life.”

After receiving messages that Billie was missing in action, then declared dead, then declared alive and coming home, then declared dead again, and then declared once again missing in action, she finally found out the truth, thanks to the research efforts of one of Billie’s cousins. Billie Harris had indeed been killed in action, and he was buried in the world’s most famous cemetery, the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. But, more than finding out that Billie had indeed been killed in action, Peggy discovered that her husband had died as a hero.

Thanks to her cousin-in-law’s research, Peggy learned that the main road of the little Normandy town of Les Ventes bears the name of her late husband. Three times per year, the people of Les Ventes march down this road in memory of Billie’s sacrifice, as well as in memory of the sacrifices of many others during World War II. According to eyewitness accounts, Billie was able to maintain control of his plummeting plane long enough to avoid the town, crashing instead in a patch of woods nearby and, thus, saving the lives of many. At first the townspeople buried Billie in the town cemetery, decorating his grave often with flowers. Later, after Billie’s remains were moved to the American Cemetery at Normandy, the people of Les Ventes continued to place flowers on his grave. Now, Peggy Harris makes an annual pilgrimage to Les Ventes to tour the woods where her husband died and to fellowship with the survivors – and the descendants of the survivors – of that fateful day.

Stories of sacrifice, like those of Billie and Peggy Harris, touch us deeply, and well they should. Examples of sacrifice and dedication like theirs have at their core the purest form of love, and love of this ilk is the most attractive and precious commodity in the universe. It is this kind of love – on a much, much grander scale – that Christ exemplified during His sacrifice on the cross, and it is this kind of love that we owe back to Him in thanks. If Christ was willing to sacrifice His royal robes, His comforts in Heaven, His reputation, His fellowship with the Father, and His body to the torments of persecution, ought we not be willing to sacrifice our earthly desires for His heavenly ones? Our response to this question tells us clearly what kind of love we really have for Christ: the greatest form of love, or some mere shadow of it.

* SOURCE: CBS Sunday Morning, June 10, 2012