Edward Roy Hindman

West Point, 1949

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Susan Lee Hindman on March 9, 2012:

Dad was nominated to the United States Military Academy by United States Representative Howard Buffett (Republican) from Omaha, Nebraska. Congressman Buffetts son is Mr. Warren Buffett the well known billionaire, investor and philanthropist. Miss Charlotte Hindman was one of Dads sisters who had worked on the Congressmans political campaign in Omaha and upon his successful win of that district seat followed him to Washington, D.C. where she worked as his secretary on Capitol Hill. Dad first entered the USMA Preparatory School in 1944 which was then located at Amherst College in Massachusetts before going on to attend the USMA at West Point, New York, from 1945-1949. One of America's most beloved and treasured songs is The Battle Hymn of the Republic which quickly became a very popular patriotic Union song during the Civil War. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 -- October 17, 1910) was the author of the original poem of the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic and received inspiration to write it after she and her husband traveled to Washington, D. C. in November 1861 and met with President Abraham Lincoln at the White House and also visited a Union Army Camp to see a military review where soldiers sang and walked to the Union Army coarse marching song John Brown's Body. Mrs. Howe was accompanied on this trip by her friend Mr. James Freeman Clarke who challenged her that she should write new uplifting lyrics to John Brown's Body. It was already based on Mr. William Steffes' 1856 edited tune from a South Carolina Methodist camp meeting song called Canaans Happy Shore that contained the traditional Glory Hallelujah refrain. The Battle Hymn of the Republic original edition poem was first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. The refrain was added later to the musical rendition. This hymn makes reference to the second coming of Jesus Christ, the apocalypse end time scenario and the coming judgment. THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on. I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps, They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: His day is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His day is marching on. I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: "As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal; Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on." Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Since God is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat: Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Our God is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! While God is marching on. He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave, He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave, So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave, Our God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Our God is marching on. Isaiah 2:1-5 says, "The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD." Psalm 68:1-3 says, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice." Matthew 11:28 says in the words of Jesus Christ, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Dad entered into the safe and loving arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in heaven forever on September 12, 2005 and was greeted as a true soldier in Gods righteous victorious Army! In the love of our great God the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Susan Lee Hindman Christian daughter and Administrative Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Office of the Secretary of Defense The Pentagon (703) 697-7448 direct telephone line

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