Robert Augustine Seidel III

West Point, 2004

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Raymond Buchheister on January 29, 2007:

The Emmitsburg Dispatch June 1, 2006 Was Rob Seidel so different from any other young man that he should be remembered by so many this past Memorial Day? Like all men he had a mother and a father, other family members, and those who considered themselves his friends. The man was good-natured, had a good sense of humor, and was likable, so he may have had more friends than many. But what brought out so many people to his funeral that the major basilica in a little town could barely hold them all? Yes, it was the young man, but more so, it was the catastrophe of war. Yes we remember the man, but more, we identify with this terrible thing that men engage in. This thing that takes lives of men who would seem to have so many years left to live. We remember war... the wife and children he won't have, grandchildren, or retirement years. No, he has already retired against his parents' wishes, his friends' wishes, and possibly even his own wishes, but not against his will. This man did not go to war unaware of what he faced. It takes courage for a man to be willing to give up his life for a greater cause, for the many. "Humble, selfless, strong leader" were words used to describe his character. Fitting for a man I knew personally, if only briefly. But it is these things we remember, these things we identify with, these things that brought out so many. The ultimate sacrifice. We are a peaceful people in St. Joseph's valley. War has been far from us since those three terrible days in July 1863. Yet this man reminds us of what war brings - the loss, the pain, the suffering, the sacrifice. Sometimes too much to bear, yet without it comes no change, no new tomorrow, no peace. Raymond Buchheister (Editor and Publisher)

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