Something About a Soldier – Sunday, July 11, 1943
Every war of history has given rise to aggravated social problems, and this one is no exception. But the first step toward curing an evil is to recognize it, and then prescribe the remedy. Admittedly, therefore, one of our most pressing problems is the condition of the soldier himself—his morale and his morals, his attitudes and habits, his physical fitness and his protection against disease. And the problem isn’t confined only to the soldier.
Anything that affects the men of society affects equally the women, because the normal pattern of life is for men and women to pursue their ways together in the tasks of home building and community building, and war changes this pattern in large part. And so we come to the question: What does a uniform do to a man? We know pretty much what it does to his exterior. But what special privileges does it give him, and what special obligations? Having taken the oath of allegiance and having donned the uniform of his country, what, in short, is a soldier? Well, first of all, he ceases in some respect to be an individual, so far as his official life is concerned. He becomes a part of a well-coordinated machine and must scrupulously observe the army regulations, the order of the day, the rules of discipline, give strict obedience to his superiors, and fight for whatever cause his country has officially committed itself.
It is his privilege and his duty to honor the uniform he wears, the flag he serves, to defend the principles for which it stands and the people who live under it; he is the protector of home and country; of virtue and honor. To him the community and the nation have Peculiar obligations, and he to them. And as a soldier it is his right to receive honor and gratitude from those whom he serves and protects. This, officially, is a soldier. But, a soldier is still a man also—even as other men. What special privilege does a uniform give him in his personal life? Concerning departures from the rules of gentlemanly conduct, from the rules of chastity, morality, from the code of chivalry, it gives him no special privilege.
To be more specific, the uniform does not, for example, entitle any soldier to any special privilege with any girl in any community which he would not be entitled to as a gentlemen of honor without the uniform. The uniform does not change the rules of personal conduct, where ideals and principles and chastity are concerned. And there is no situation or set of circumstances that would justify any young woman in compromising her personal standards for any man because he wears a uniform. In such matters, war doesn’t change the rules of personal conduct—nor the results that follow the breaking of those rules. And so we say to any man who would do honor to the uniform of his country, that it is incumbent upon him to keep himself clean and physically fit, free from contamination and social evil, and to respect in his personal life the sanctity of those things which he is committed to defend in his official life.
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, July 11, 1943, over Radio Station KSL and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright – 1943.
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July 11, 1943
Broadcast Number 0,725