Stories of Faith and Courage From World War II (18 page)

—John 6:39–40

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ARCH 21

Picking Friends

Anyone who has served in the military has learned some hard lessons. Associating with the wrong people has led to the downfall of many well-intentioned young soldiers and sailors. One wizened veteran wrote to his son, who had recently been assigned to the USS
Washington
, with some strong advice on this subject:

You will no doubt find a few things not to your liking. Everything will be new and strange; you will get homesick that is natural. You will also become lonesome and disgusted and you will want for sympathy. There are always a few fellows who expect to get the world for nothing, and they are chronic kickers. So my advice to you is, to cultivate the acquaintance of the boys who are satisfied with the Navy and who appreciate what the Navy is doing for them, who are trying to make themselves better, physically, morally, and mentally, so they will be fitted to step into a position in civilian life. So try and make the Navy and incidentally yourself better for having been a part of it.
¹⁰⁷

Suggesting that someone associate with others who focus on the positive aspects of life is good advice for a person of any age or position. It is especially important for us as Christians to seek out a few close friends who will be positive influences during the ups and downs of our spiritual journey. These friends should share our desire to grow constantly closer to God. True Christian friends of this kind will feel empowered to hold us accountable and will want us to hold them accountable as well. Such friendships don’t just happen. It takes time and energy to build relationships of this depth, and such effort is notoriously difficult for men. Small groups have been a great answer to this need for many. Prayer and Bible study with a small circle of Christian friends is a sure path over time to a stronger relationship with those friends and, even more importantly, to God.

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

—Proverbs 13:20

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ARCH 22

Eric’s Knife

Wooden boats made good minesweepers because they were invulnerable to magnetic mines. HMS
Cloughton Wyke
was a deep sea fishing trawler converted to this use early in the war. The little ship also came with her civilian crew. One of the members was a young man named Eric, noted for his large blue eyes and baby face. Eric’s pride and joy was a standard issue pocketknife, which he spent hours honing to a fine edge. He got a lot of ribbing over this little ritual, but kept to his self-appointed task every day.

In early 1942 the
Cloughton Wyke
was working with a group of other minesweepers in the English Channel on a rough winter day. Suddenly, out of the clouds a German bomber bore in on the small ship. One of several bombs exploded beneath the hull, breaking the ship in two and sending the crew scrambling for the lifeboat. Eric made it, but was knocked unconscious. The other crewmen realized they were in great danger when they found the lifeboat still lashed to the sinking ship. As they tried frantically to loosen the ropes, someone remembered Eric’s knife. Digging through the unconscious man’s pockets, a sailor found the knife and was able to slice through the large ropes as if they were butter. The lifeboat was free, thanks to Eric and his diligence in keeping a sharp blade.
¹⁰⁸

A long time ago, there was a mother who was diligent in taking care of her duty. When her son went off for the day, she packed him a lunch of five small barley loaves and two small fish. This was her simple, self-appointed task that she performed joyfully and with no expectation of reward. Little did she know that her small offering would be used by the Son of God in performing one of his greatest miracles. Jesus would take those loaves and fishes and make them into a feast to feed five thousand hungry followers. We never know how God will use our efforts to glorify him. It is up to us to faithfully and diligently perform the tasks, no matter how simple, that he puts before us.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

—Ephesians 2:10

Survivors of torpedoed ship being rescued. (National Archives)

Arctic ice coats ship. (U. S. Naval Historical Center)

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ARCH 23

Quarter Inch of Steel

Sam Hakam was radio operator on the SS
Lehigh
when she was torpedoed off the coast of Africa in October 1941. He vividly recalled a shipmate running around the deck shouting, “They can’t do this to us!” due to the fact that the United States was not then at war. Fortunately, most of the crew made it to one of the four lifeboats before the ship went under. Within a few days conditions on Hakam’s boat worsened due to the extreme tropical conditions. Water was scarce and the days were hot. Dehydration set in as parched throats and swollen tongues plagued each man.

One night a storm came up, promising rain and blessed relief. All that came, however, were high winds and crashing waves. Hakam later described his thoughts: “Our small boat was tossed about wildly. Good seamanship kept us afloat. It finally passed. I lay exhausted on the bottom of the boat and reflected there was only about one quarter inch of steel thickness between myself and hell.”
¹⁰⁹

Hopefully, each of us can comprehend the fragile nature of life without being in a lifeboat at night threatened by stormy seas. Sam Hakam’s experience only dramatizes the obvious. Since we are not guaranteed any specific amount of time on this earth, we should use the time we have wisely. We do this when we focus daily on the purpose of our lives: finding and nourishing a relationship with God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question: “What is the chief end of man?” Every day we should meditate on the answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
¹¹⁰

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the L
ORD
God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the L
ORD
God among the trees of the garden. But the L
ORD
God called to the man, “Where are you?”

—Genesis 3:8–9

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ARCH 24

A Sharp Tongue

Life is never easy aboard a navy ship. The quarters are cramped, the days and nights are long, and wartime deployments can seem unending. In addition to regular duties, everyone stands watches at ever-changing hours, interrupting any sense of a normal routine. Fear, frustration, fatigue, and the virtual absence of alone time make friction among crew members inevitable. One sailor’s advice to his shipmates was published in his ship’s newsletter to remind everyone to: “Be kind! It’s so easy to make a sarcastic remark that may hurt a shipmate. Besides, sometimes a man is not being so brilliant as he thinks.”
¹¹¹

There are times when every one of us gets frustrated with other people. I am especially guilty of voicing displeasure at clerks and service workers who don’t seem to be as conscientious as I think they should be. There is very specific biblical instruction in both the Old and New Testaments advising us to be careful of what we say. Proverbs tells us, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing”(Proverbs 12:18), and “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity”(Proverbs 21:23). These are words to remember when feeling impatient toward others.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

—James 1:19

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ARCH 25

The Gear That Saved His Life

The Arctic weather was at its worst. The air temperature was thirty degrees below zero, and the entire ship was caked with ice. Gale force winds had dispersed the convoy after leaving Murmansk, leaving the SS
Puerto Rican
steaming alone, under radio silence. At 10:00 p.m. on March 9, 1943, a violent explosion rocked the ship.

August Wallenhaupt was awakened in his bunk and knew immediately what had happened. He had experienced being torpedoed before. He didn’t panic. He had the gear on hand for this disaster, and he knew how to use it. One journalist recounted his actions: “Wallenhaupt took time to dress warmly; he slipped on his rubber lifesaving suit, put on his life jacket over the suit and then put on a knee-length woolen seaman’s coat with a hood to protect his head. This is the gear that saved his life.”
¹¹²

Due to the heavy ice, the
Puerto Rican
’s lifeboats couldn’t be launched. Wallenhaupt found himself in the water and, unable to swim, managed to stay afloat just long enough to find a small doughnut shaped raft. After getting into the raft, he helped seven others aboard. On the morning of the third day a destroyer discovered the tiny raft. All were frozen to death except August Wallenhaupt. The young seaman survived because he was able, in the chaos of a sinking ship, to calmly prepare for the worst. By doing the right thing first, all his subsequent actions paid off in his survival.

This story dramatically illustrates the importance of taking care of life’s most important tasks first. Our relationship to God should be at the top of the list. When this relationship is solid, every other part of our lives will make sense. This spiritual preparation will ensure our ultimate and eternal survival and should be our first priority in normal times, before we come face to face with a crisis.

He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

—Luke 6:48

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ARCH 26

Prolonged Suffering

August Wallenhaupt made it into his tiny raft missing only one important item: his heavy fur-lined gloves. His hands were numb in minutes. Even though he was fully clothed in his survival gear, he also lost feeling in his legs. He did a lot of praying during the three days he was exposed to the brutal Arctic elements. By the time he was rescued he was in a semiconscious state.

Safe at last, the real pain began for the young seaman. His hands were swollen to three times normal size and were white with frostbite. He was kept alive by injections of blood plasma, intravenous feeding, and morphine. Wallenhaupt unfortunately lost both legs below the knee and most of his fingers, but miraculously survived. He not only survived physically, but he became a legend at the Staten Island Marine Hospital for his perpetual good humor. He even courted a clerk at the hospital whom he later married.

A fellow seaman paid tribute to this brave young sailor: “August Wallenhaupt symbolizes the sufferings that hundreds of other seamen have had to endure during torpedoings and he also expresses the same courage and cheerfulness that are indicative of the seamen who have been within reaching distance of death.”
¹¹³

A close brush with death may cause fleeting feelings of euphoria. However, to maintain a positive outlook through prolonged suffering requires another level of courage. This seaman’s optimistic attitude was amazing and rare. Few of us can count on having such strength within ourselves. The only reliable source of this kind of courage is the same source that sustained the apostles through their suffering: the amazing love of our living Savior, Jesus Christ.