I have been kicking around this post for the last couple of weeks, but never realize I could wrap it into Memorial Day as well. Personally Memorial Day was rough this last time around, while I was in Afghanistan last year I was excited and getting ready to come home, so I didn't care much, the year before that I was getting ready to go back into a combat zone (I deployed right after memorial day). Now? I am living my life again, dealing with the day-to-day events in life and just trying to move on.
A couple of weeks ago Phoenixmasonry posted a short article on a Scottish Rite 32nd Degree Jewel, which I found fascinating. For the record I am not a Scottish Rite member, while right now the plan is for me to receive the degrees 9 June, I have yet to become one. Still what I found so neat about the article wasn't the short history of the Scottish Rite but the design of the old Jewel which striking very similar to the combat medal Bronze Star:
As you can see from above the similarities between the two are striking. The color format is dead on between the two, down to the white border on the blue. Is this some freak coincidence? I couldn't find much out about the date of the design of the jewel, vice the well known documentation of origins of the Bronze Star. Rudolf Freund who was a jeweler who lived from 1877 - 1960 and worked for the firm Bailey, Banks and Biddle was the designer of the Bronze Star. As of the writing of this article I could find no Masonic connections between Rudolf Freund and Freemasonry. Still I find the resemblance uncanny. Military service and Freemasonry have gone hand-in-hand since the birth of this nation, and will continue to do. Images like these, regardless of their origins remind me of that every time I look at the symbolism our great Fraternity offers the world.
I hope everyone had a peaceful and reflective Memorial Day.
S&F,
-Bro Vick
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