Stories of Faith and Courage From World War II (11 page)

For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

—Matthew 24:27, 30

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EBRUARY 7

More Rumors

After Pearl Harbor had been attacked, news spread like wildfire throughout the nation. As you would expect, every question could not be answered immediately. Where will the Japanese strike next? Is the rest of the nation safe? Rumors began to circulate to “answer” these questions. People heard that bombs were hitting American cities, that American ships were being sunk at sea, that the Panama Canal was blocked. Word spread that Japanese forces had established beachheads at San Francisco and Long Beach. Widespread anxiety was reported:

It was a rough Sunday night on the West Coast, where a follow-up Japanese attack seemed more likely than anywhere else. Around San Francisco Bay, fire sirens sounded falsely three times to warn residents of possible air attacks. Unpracticed civilian defense volunteers darted around neighborhoods yelling “Lights Out!” Police ordered drivers to turn out their headlamps and proceed using only their parking lights. Japanese planes never did appear that night to inflict any damage, but all that driving in darkness caused a lot of damaging accidents.
⁵⁴

There are times when we must react to crisis situations to protect our loved ones and ourselves. However, in times of great uncertainty we know that rumors are inevitable and often cause our plight to seem worse than it is. Christians should feel less cause for panic at such times because we have the assurance that God is in charge. We know that he wants us to do what needs to be done calmly, without unreasonable fear of the uncertainties that lie ahead. This quiet strength can be found only in God and the certain knowledge that he is in control.

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

—Matthew 6:27

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EBRUARY 8

Tapping on the Hull

Richard Fiske was a Marine on the USS
West Virginia
. On December 8, the day after the ship was sunk at her Pearl Harbor berth, he and other crew members heard a desperate, insistent tapping sound from inside the hull. An urgent search began of the accessible compartments, but, despite their best efforts, they were unsuccessful in finding the trapped crewmen. Fiske described with difficulty the events that followed:

That tapping went on all week long. They sent divers down 14 times to find those guys. They did the best they could, but they just couldn’t find them. We didn’t know who was down there, but the tapping continued until December 24
^th
. When we went into dry-dock on June 18, 1942, we found them. They were in the last watertight compartment we opened. We found a calendar and a clock with them. I often wonder what they were thinking about. Their lives were cut so short and they never had a chance to realize their dreams.
⁵⁵

This incident deeply affected Fiske for the rest of his life. He could never forget what happened and could only state that, “I pray every day because the good Lord was with us.”
⁵⁶
Today, we also hope and pray with this survivor that the Lord was with all the crew on the
West Virginia
that day, including those men trapped below. We pray that they were sustained by the strength that can come only from God to calmly face such a hopeless situation. We need to remind ourselves today that God is the source of our own strength. He promises to be beside us, no matter the time, place, or crisis.

“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the L
ORD
, “and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the L
ORD
. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” declares the L
ORD
.

—Jeremiah 23:23–24

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EBRUARY 9

Saved from Drowning

The USS
Arizona
and other battleships moored along “Battleship Row” were the primary targets of the first Japanese attack. Within ten minutes a bomb crashed through the Arizona’s armored decks to ignite the magazine. The ship’s sides were ripped out and fire engulfed almost the entire ship. Within minutes the great vessel sank with a loss of thirteen hundred crewmen. Marine Cpl. E. C. Nightingale was preparing to abandon ship:

Charred bodies were everywhere. I made my way to the quay and started to remove my shoes when I suddenly found myself in the water. I think the concussion of a bomb threw me in. I started swimming for the pipe line which was about one hundred and fifty feet away. I was about half way when my strength gave out entirely. My clothes and shocked condition sapped my strength, and I was about to go under when Major Shapley started to swim by, and seeing my distress, grasped my shirt and told me to hang on to his shoulders while he swam in.

We were perhaps twenty-five feet from the pipeline when the major’s strength gave out and I saw he was floundering, so I loosened my grip on him and told him to make it alone. He stopped and grabbed me by the shirt and refused to let go. I would have drowned but for the Major. We finally reached the beach.
⁵⁷

The major undoubtedly knew that continuing to help Nightingale might result in death for them both. He also knew that letting go of him would mean certain drowning for the corporal. Shapley considered the risk to his own life and counted the attempt worth the effort. How often are we faced with situations in which helping someone else poses a risk to ourselves, either in terms of physical health, monetary loss, social status, or reputation? And how often do we consider that risk worth it for the chance to aid someone else in need? (JG)

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

—John 15:13

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EBRUARY 10

Will Whiskey Do?

For a few minutes, Lee Soucy, a pharmacist’s mate aboard the USS
Utah
, and his shipmates thought some kind of crazy bombing practice was going on over the harbor. Then “General Quarters” sounded, sending them to their battle stations. Within minutes the ship was shaken by a series of violent jolts and began to list badly. Over the ship’s PA system, Soucy heard a bugle call followed by the boatswain’s shout, “Abandon ship!” He was soon in the water swimming for Ford Island.

Ashore, he helped treat the wounded at an emergency first-aid station set up in a nearby Bachelor Officers’ Quarters building. The wounded flooded in, and it did not take long to exhaust the medical supplies on hand. Someone called for more alcohol and heard the reply, “Alcohol? Will Whiskey do?” In a few minutes a case of scotch and other assorted bottles of liquor appeared. These served the purpose of washing off the sticky oil and providing antiseptic for the wounds. There were other uses as well:

At one point, an exhausted swimmer, covered with a gooey film of black oil, saw me walking around with a washcloth in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other. He hollered, “Hey Doc, could I have a shot of that medicine?” He took a hefty swig… then he spewed it out along with black mucoidal globs of oil. He lay back a minute after he stopped vomiting, then said, “Doc, I lost that medicine. How about another dose?”
⁵⁸

One of the hallmarks of American military men and women has always been the ability to see humor in tense situations. This probably reflects a degree of optimism in the American culture not seen in many others. We also have biblical encouragement for a light heart in the secure hope of a joyful future, reunited eternally with our Savior.

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.

—Job 8:21

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EBRUARY 11

Encouraging a Mother

The end of the Doolittle raid came a little after midnight for Billy Farrow and the other four members of his crew. They had flown their B-25 off the carrier

B-25 takes off from the USS
Hornet
. (National Archives)

Hornet, bombed Japan, and continued until they were near Nanchang, China. As the fuel ran out and the engines started to cough, they had no option left except to bail out of their aircraft into the inky darkness. They were captured the next day. A few months later Farrow and two others were put on trial for unspecified charges, found guilty, and sentenced to death.

A day before his execution, Farrow composed a letter to his mother at home in Darlington, South Carolina. He himself was unshaken and unbowed in his hour of trial, but he knew how devastating his death would be to his mother. He sought to comfort her by reassuring her of his own faith. The final lines of his letter were: “Don’t let this get you down. Just remember God will make everything right and that I’ll see you all again in the hereafter. Read ‘Thanatopsis’ by Bryant if you want to know how I am taking this. My faith in God is complete, so I am unafraid.”
⁵⁹

Farrow’s letter home was found in the files of the Japanese War Ministry after the war was over. It was given wide circulation in the United States and became the basis for countless sermons and editorials. His concern for his mother and his spiritual strength in the darkest possible circumstance were a witness to the world of the power of his faith. His words brought comfort and encouragement to millions.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

—Hebrews 11:1

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EBRUARY 12

Thanatopsis

William Cullen Bryant published “Thanatopsis” in 1817 when he was a twenty-three-year-old lawyer.
Thanatos
is the Greek word for death, and the poem is a meditation on the subject. As he faced his own certain death, Billy Farrow wrote to his mother: “Read ‘Thanatopsis’… if you want to know how I am taking this.”
⁶⁰
The following is the most well-known excerpt:

As the long train
Of ages glides away, the sons of men
The youth in life’s fresh spring, and he who goes
In the full strength of years, matron and maid,
The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,
By those, who in their turn, shall follow them.
So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

Under the tutelage of my high school English teacher, I studied this poem and memorized large portions of it when I was fifteen. I should not have been surprised to learn that a young airman in World War II found comfort in its thought-provoking lines. Bryant, unfortunately, didn’t elaborate on where his “unfaltering trust” lay. However, Billy Farrow did elaborate by clearly stating that, “My faith in God is complete.”
⁶¹
With a secure faith in the right place he was able to face the worst possible fate with tranquility, bearing witness to the power of his own unfaltering trust.

O L
ORD
, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death, that I may declare your praises.

—Psalm 9:13–14

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EBRUARY 13

Prisoner of War

Jake DeShazer was the bombardier on the last of Doolittle’s B-25’s to launch from the

Hornet. His aircraft crashed in China where he and others of his crew were captured by the Japanese. He was beaten, half-starved, and subjected to solitary confinement. Three of his buddies were executed by firing squad. He said that at that time, “The bitterness of my heart against my captors seemed more than I could bear.”
⁶²
He eventually was taken to Tokyo where he remained imprisoned throughout the war.