Stories of Faith and Courage From World War II (64 page)

Reading from the New Testament that he brought home from Italy, he came to Chapter 11 of Matthew and Jesus’ compelling invitation: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”(Matthew 11:28–31 KJV). Donkin’s response to that invitation changed his life forever:

So, I was drawn to the Lord Jesus and responding to his words, “Come unto me,” I received him as my Lord and Saviour, so, I, a sinner by nature was saved…I who was a prisoner of war and escaped am now a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, after 40 years, I have never wanted to escape from him, nor will I ever want to.
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All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

—Matthew 11:27

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OVEMBER 27

God Is All You’ve Got

James Norton wrote to his parents on April 15, 1945, describing that day as the “second-happiest day of my life.” He was finally able to write home and to tell them about the happiest day of all: when he was liberated from a German POW camp. Norton had been wounded and captured four months earlier during the Battle of the Bulge and described his captivity as “living hell.” He also described an important change within himself as he confronted the possibility of dying:

Death has faced me many times in the past months and by the grace of my Lord and Savior I am here today to write this letter. I always considered myself a good Christian until I was captured, and then I learned what a fool I had been and what it really means to have faith and the power of prayer. I prayed day and nite, and these prayers were heard…
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This young soldier’s experience reflects a very real spiritual truth. Christians often experience a closer relationship to God during times of stress. Rick Warren described this phenomenon: “Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great and you turn to God alone… You’ll never know that God is all you need until God is all you’ve got.”
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If we come closer to God in a stressful situation, we can be thankful that we have been so blessed. Our continuing challenge, however, is to seek God in our everyday activities, without waiting for the next crisis.

We despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God.

—2 Corinthians 1:89

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OVEMBER 28

I Go and Prepare a Place

The chaplain scanned the sky anxiously. After waiting for hours, he could see his airmen returning to base from the day’s mission. He counted their numbers as he tried to pray each one safely back home. He gazed at the rain-swept runway and waited until the last plane was on the ground before facing the reality that all had not returned. With a sorrowful heart, he took the letter given him hours earlier from his pocket:

Dear Mother and Dad:

Strange thing about this letter; if I am alive a month from now, you will not receive it, for its coming to you will mean that after my twenty-fifth mission, God has decided I’ve been on earth long enough and He wants me to come up and take the examination for permanent service with Him…

Some things a man can never thank his parents enough for, they come to be taken for granted through the years: care when a child and countless favors as he grows up. I am recalling now all your prayers, your watchfulness all the sacrifices that were made for me, when sacrifice was a real thing and not just a word to be used in speeches…

I die with many things to live for. But the loss of the few remaining years unlived together is as nothing compared to the eternity to which we go, and it will be well worthwhile if I give my life to help cure a sickened world, and if you and I can help to spare other mothers and fathers and younger generations from the griefs of war…

Pray for me; be proud of me, for I am proud of you. As you have done through the years for me, so now I do for you, and await your coming to me.
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This young airman’s letter is a sad but powerful witness to a strong faith. This is the faith available to all Christians, who rest in the certain knowledge of where they are ultimately going and in the fact that loved ones will eventually be with them in that blessed place. From God’s perspective, those who go sooner are even more fortunate than those temporarily left behind.

In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

—John 14:23

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OVEMBER 29

Nazi Gold

In early April 1945 the little German village of Merkers fell to the lead elements of General Patton’s 3
^rd
Army. Soon after, two military policemen stopped a pregnant French woman on the road to Merkers and gave her a ride into town. As they passed the entrance to a mine, the woman told them that this was the place where the Nazis stored their treasure. The soldiers passed this comment up the line, setting off an amazing chain of events.

It was soon discovered that the mine did indeed hoard the wealth of the Third Reich. There were more than eight thousand bars of gold bullion, more than two thousand bags of gold coins from various nations, and billions of Reichmarks stored in boxes. More than four hundred paintings were found, including works by Rembrandt, Raphael, van Dyck, Monet, Manet, and Renoir. In a separate cache, more than two hundred suitcases, trunks, and boxes were found containing jewelry, watches, dental work, gold and silver items of all kinds, and currency. This was identified as S.S. loot from private dwellings throughout Europe and from concentration camp victims.
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The contents of the Merker mine were removed to Frankfurt, Germany, where the long postwar process of restitution began. A Tripartite Gold Commission was established to get this wealth back into the hands of its rightful owners. In 1998 the Commission performed its final act by turning over its last stock of gold to the Nazi Persecution Relief Fund for Holocaust survivors.

There has probably never been a more pointed demonstration of the futility of amassing great material wealth in this life. Jesus warned that we should not store up treasures on Earth. Lasting wealth is found only in our spiritual lives. By making daily deposits of prayer and service to God, we build our accounts in his kingdom and accumulate the wealth that only comes from a relationship with him.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

—Matthew 6:20–21

Liberation of Paris. (National Archives)

Allied commanders toast victory. (National Archives)

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OVEMBER 30

Our Strength and Shield

THE WAR IN EUROPE IS ENDED!
SURRENDER IS UNCONDITIONAL;
V-E WILL BE PROCLAIMED TODAY

The
New York Times
headline of May 8, 1945, was emphatic and joyful. The war in Europe was finally over. The victory was won. The celebrations could begin around the world. In England, at this historic moment, King George VI gave a radio broadcast and thoughtfully turned the world’s attention to God and to the obligations of the future. Starting with the words, “Today we give thanks to Almighty God for a great deliverance,” he called his nation and the world to remember God’s blessing in this great victory:

There is great comfort in the thought that the years of darkness and danger in which the children of our country have grown up are over and, please God, forever. We shall have failed, and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in vain, if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace, founded on justice and established in good will. To that, then, let us turn our thoughts on this day of just triumph and proud sorrow; and then take up our work again, resolved as a people to do nothing unworthy of those who died for us and to make the world such a world as they would have desired, for their children and for ours.

This is the task to which now honour binds us. In the hour of danger we humbly committed our cause into the Hand of God, and He has been our Strength and Shield. Let us thank him for His mercies, and in this hour of Victory commit ourselves and our new task to the guidance of that same strong Hand.
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God’s hand was evident in many events of World War II and in the lives of many who endured it. If we ever wonder if God is still on our side as a nation, we should note the words of one of our great presidents, Abraham Lincoln: “It is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”
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You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people.

—Psalms 77:14–15

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Allied commanders toast victory. (National Archives)

D
ECEMBER

Victory in the Pacific

On October 20, 1944, a radio broadcast rang out through the Philippine Islands from the beaches of Leyte: “This is the Voice of Freedom, General MacArthur speaking. People of the Philippines! I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil.” With these uplifting words the campaign to liberate this vital island chain began. Within two months Leyte was taken, and then, in January 1945, MacArthur’s forces invaded the main island of Luzon. Fighting would continue against fierce enemy resistance throughout the islands until the final surrender of Japan.