A father and Son During Wartime

“This book deserves your attention and the acclaim it will surely receive for its heartrending testament to the awful wages of war and the invincible devotion of love.”

                                                 - Senator John McCain

       The war in Iraq has touched every family in America: a son or daughter, a father or mother, a niece or nephew or cousin, a friend of neighbor, has served there; we pay taxes that go to fund it and vote for officials who determine its policy. The war is part of the fabric of our daily lives.

There have been books about the war written from many perspectives, but Last Journey: A Father and Son in Wartime is the first book to address these issues in a way that tests our faith. The harrowing true story of a father and his son, a staff sergeant serving in Iraq, Last Journey is a tribute to the "Great Conversation" they shared and the book they had intended to complete together. Staff Sergeant Darrell "Skip" Griffin, Jr. was killed in action on March 21, 2007, during his second tour of duty. He had been awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star with Valor for dragging a comrade to safety through enemy fire. The book the Griffins were writing, titled The Great Conversation, was an attempt to describe and make sense of the destruction Skip had seen in Iraq, illuminated by his wide reading in the classics of religion and philosophy. His father, Darrell Griffin, Sr., was going to help his son finish writing it that summer, after his scheduled homecoming. In the aftermath of Skip's death, Darrell Sr. took it upon himself to finish the book. He persuaded the United States Army to embed him with Skip’s unit in Iraq so that he could experience the war firsthand and meet the men his son had fought beside.

Now called Last Journey—a title that reflects the tragic outcome of Skip’s story—the book provides a raw glimpse of that conflict; it’s also an intimate portrait of a lost son; a depiction of the realities of war unlike any that you’ve read before; and a profound meditation on faith and doubt. Skip struggled with his God, but he always read a verse from the Bible to his men before they headed out on a mission. “It didn’t matter if a soldier was Christian, Jewish, Mormon, or Buddhist; these words seemed to comfort everyone,” recalled his battalion mate Matthew Briggs: “The idea that somehow there is a Supreme Being that could redirect a bullet or put a shield around them made them feel less exposed to the death lottery.”

I’d like to share a blog from Dudley C. Rutherford, senior pastor of the 10,000-member Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch, California: “I want to encourage you to Google Sgt. Darrell R. Griffin, Jr. and read about this man’s life. Soon to come is a book written by both of them that is a must-read.” Last Journey will be published in June, and I hope you’ll share it with every member of your church.