We just visited the enchanting land of Switzerland and learned a bit more about their proud heritage.

There is a Swiss statement: "Switzerland has no army. Switzerland is an army."

That is not exactly true. It has a population of six million of which 600,000 are in the army. At the age 20 each man is conscripted into the army and given 15 months of training. Until the age of 42 they train two to three weeks a year. They keep their weapon in their homes and stand ready to fight.

A distinction of the army is no person's military rank can be greater than his or her professional rank. Job parity is the point.

Swiss forces last fought outside their nation's borders in 1515 and they haven't been at war in more than 500 years. For years there were various volunteer armies in regions who fought as mercenaries. The armies fought for whoever hired them. Once the Duke of Burgundy hired one Swiss army and the King of France hired another. The two armies fought each other as proxies for the Duke and King.

Their national defense force preserves peace.

Nothing more personifies the pride the Swiss have regarding their army than the "Dying Lion of Luzern" carved in sandstone mountain face above the town of Luzern. It depicts a wounded lion with a broken spear shaft extending from its body. Its paw rests on lilies symbolizing France and there is a Swiss shield thereby. It is a tribute to the Swiss soldiers who died attempting to save Marie Antoinette in 1792.

A caption above it reads: "To the Bravery and Truthfulness of the Swiss."

The name Luzern itself is interesting. It means "The Lantern" or "The Light" and is based on the legend that an angel with a lantern showed founders to the place to establish the city.

Perhaps the European war that brought about more good than most is the Battle of Solferino. This pitted the Austrians against the Sardinians (French.) A Swiss business man, Henry Durant, visited Napoleon III near the battle site where there were 40,000 casualties. He convinced Napoleon "we are all brothers" and all who suffer deserve help.

The outgrowth was the International Red Cross. Durant being Swiss reversed the colors of the Swiss flag, which are a white cross on a red background, and put a red cross on a white background. Thus, it became the symbol of the International Red Cross. Durant formulated and fostered many of the current rules of war. The work of Durant resulted in him being the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

As an aside, those medieval armies must have smelled very bad. All of society did. During that era it was believed water damages the skin and bathing was bad for you. It is said of King Louis XIV of France water only touched his body once in his life. It occurred at his baptism as an infant. Even drinking of water was discouraged. Children were told it would cause frogs to grow in them.

Come to think of, it deodorants are a relatively new thing.

We are blessed to live in this era and this country. If you are going to visit only two foreign countries make them Switzerland and Israel.

The Rev. Dr. Nelson Price is pastor emeritus of Roswell Street Baptist Church. Contact Price at nlprice@aol.com.