AN ANNIVERSARY TO REMEMBER
October 2016
This October marks a special anniversary for the town of Monticello. Which anniversary? Perhaps this is one most of us have forgotten—at least those of us younger than 85 years of age.
It all began in another October nearly a century ago—October 4th, to be exact, of 1924. That evening the future county sheriff, Lamar Sledge, was busy frantically calling in the doctor to assist his wife who was in labor with their third child. The infant was born about midnight, a son, and was given the name of James (though he quickly assumed the nickname Jim).
Jim’s earliest years were filled with the boom of the ’20’s, the stock market crash of 1929, and the onset of the Great Depression. During the Depression a new family moved into Monticello. Living across the street from the Sledges, the newly-arrived Thomas family was welcomed with typical southern hospitality. Young Jim Sledge and the Thomas boy, Ernest (nicknamed ‘Boots’), struck up a fast friendship which only deepened with time. Throughout their growing-up years the pair was virtually inseparable: at school or on the basketball field, at work or at play, or even just walking to church, the two were always together, laughing and joking, studying and laboring, or planning how they would enter business together after they had grown.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps” (Prov.16:9).
While talking over what life would be like when they grew up, little did Jim or Boots imagine the cataclysmic events that would soon shake their world and grind their dreams to powder. On December 7, 1941, their nation was plunged into the war that was then sweeping the world.
Though fun-loving and fancy-free youths, both Jim and Boots knew their place when enemies threatened their native shores, and the pair soon enlisted, Jim in the Army Air Corps and Boots in the Marines.
Military life worked quickly to change the young lads into men, but even while serving in the armed forces boyhood plans were not forgotten, and during his time in the Marines Boots wrote Jim, telling his friend to save his money, saying, “After the war we will travel around, go into business together, or something.”
But, despite their well-laid dreams, God had other plans. In 1945 Boots Thomas shipped out with the men of the Fifth Marine Division on the special assignment of taking Iwo Jima, an island that cost nearly seven thousand American lives. On this small plot of land in the Pacific Boots would distinguish himself by his bravery and utter disregard for his own life in protecting and leading his men, as well as his assistance in raising the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi. But, because of that same bravery, he would never live to learn of his fame, and young Thomas’ name was soon added to the list of dead on Iwo Jima.
During the war years, young Jim Sledge continued his training with the Air Corps, and was on the eve of shipping out when the atomic bomb forestalled any further troop movements.
After the war Jim finished school and returned to his boyhood home. Boots’ body was also returned after the war and interred in the Roseland cemetery in Monticello. After the quiet ceremony honoring their fallen dead, Monticello turned to other matters, and the world moved on.
Heartbroken at the loss of his lifelong friend, for years Jim could not speak of Boots. A solemn reticence rested upon the mournful pages of the history of 1945, and nothing appeared able to lift the somber gloom that overshadowed those dark days.
But, though silent, Jim’s love for his friend never waned, and with the passage of time he knew that silence could not remain his response to young Boots’ life and death. Jim therefore began an effort to bring due recognition to the brave life and deeds of his lost friend.
Speaking of Boots and retelling the story of the young Marine’s actions on Iwo Jima, Jim strove to preserve the memory of his comrade for his community and for the generations to come. Unceasingly he labored to bring recognition and awaken an understanding of Monticello’s fallen hero both within his own small town as well as in the nation at large.
Though valiant were Jim’s efforts to honor and transmit the memory of his fallen friend, the battle to do so was difficult, grueling, and often disheartening. But, despite all encumbrances, Jim pressed resolutely on, year upon year, and decade upon decade.
When a weaker man would have relinquished the fight, Jim refused to be defeated, and—at last—by his and others’ indefatigable efforts and relentless labors, the community, state, and people across the country joined together in publicly recognizing Boots Thomas by motions within the Florida house, proclamations by the governor, and the construction of a monument to honor the memory of Monticello’s hero.
Elated at the honor rendered to the life of his friend, Jim joyfully devoted himself to maintaining the monument while preserving Boots’ memory. To the passersby upon the road leading through the heart of Monticello, year after year a quiet figure seemed always visible upon the grounds of that WWII memorial. Though time moved on, and though now older and gray-headed, Jim Sledge maintained the monument, tenderly caring for the grounds and flowers that bespoke the honor he bore his friend.
Over seventy years now separate March of 1945 from today. Seven full decades have passed, and vast have been the changes in the world, the country, and even the quiet community of Monticello. But, despite all time and despite all changes, one thing remains constant: the memory of young Boots Thomas and the sacrifice he gave in laying down his life for his own is still known and honored to this day.
But why? Why hasn’t his name been forgotten? Why has his memory remained unchanged throughout these many, many years? Could it be that this is due to the labors of one man, Jim Sledge? Indeed, in 1945 Boots gave his life for his own, and for the seventy years since then his best friend Jim has been giving his life for Boots. “Greater love hath no man than this.”
Have the two inseparable friends been separated for seventy years? It matters not. Though no longer the young lad so full of dreams, and though now more than ninety years old, nothing keeps Jim Sledge from honoring the memory of his friend.
Therefore, in October of 2016, it’s time to mark an anniversary. Jim Sledge has just celebrated his 92nd birthday. By all accounts, 92 years is a long life, and Jim has truly spent it in the service of his country, his community, and in preserving the legacy of Boots Thomas for the many generations to follow him. Let’s take a moment to honor a man who is truly deserving of our thanks.
Happy birthday, Dr. Sledge. We are honored to have the blessing of knowing you. May the Lord continue to strengthen and keep you for many birthdays to come.
Copyright 2016 Psalm 78 Ministries