Send us a text

Thanksgiving 1945, World War II had ended only months before.  The American Army who had secured the freedom of the entire world from Hitler were occupying a defeated Germany.  

A Corporal from New York ran into an old high school friend who was also serving in the Army.  The Corporal invited his friend to join him to share the Thanksgiving meal in the mess all along with other American troops.  

As the old friends were about to enter the mess hall an enraged superior officer comforted the Corporal.  His transgression the white Corporal was about to share a Thanksgiving meal with a black serviceman in the all-white mess hall.   

Immediately the Corporal was stripped of his rank and ordered to spend the rest of his time in the Army working in the morgue.  Performing the horrific task of digging up mass graves.  Recovering the bodies of heroes who died to secure freedom and equality for all including the superior officer, the Corporal, and his black friend.  

God will allow remarkable things happen when you share a meal.   Multitudes had gathered to listen to Jesus, it was dinnertime and His disciples wanted to dismiss the hungry gathering so that they could go and buy food for themselves.   However, Jesus said no taking five and loaves two fish, he looked up to heaven, everyone ate, and everyone were filled.  A remarkable thing had happened God’s amazing glory was on full display.  

The Corporal who the world would come to know as Tony Bennett was not able to share a meal with his friend Frank Smith that day.  However, what Tony Bennett was able to share was not only his remarkable God given talent as one of the world’s finest singers but his lifelong commitment to freedom and equality. A commitment powered by the memories of those heroes he dug up from those mass graves and by the meal he was to share Frank Smith.    

In 1965 Bennett marched in Selma, risking record sales and night club bookings.  He refused to perform in South Africa during the apartheid-era, forting millions.  And after Dr. King’s assassination he became a driving force and a sustaining funder of King Center in Atlanta. 

Tony Bennett the young World War II Corporal who only wanted to have dinner with his friend is one of the very few who has a spot on both the Hollywood and the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.  

We thank God for the life and legacy of Tony Bennett.   His long and storied career is a testament to what Jesus has taught us. That remarkable things happen when you share a meal. 

For More Great Content Go To Marben Bland.com