Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II Read online

  Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II

  Larkin Spivey

  The primary goal of Stories of Faith & Courage from World War II is to strengthen the faith of its readers by showing the power of others’ faith under the most extreme circumstances imaginable. This is accomplished through 365 one-page stories from America’s greatest conflict presented in a daily devotional format with relevant scripture readings for each day of the year. Additionally, the book presents a unique and concise history of World War II with summaries, maps, and photographs of the major campaigns of the war. On this level, the individual stories provide insights into the war and combat not found in typical historical accounts.

  Review

  2009 Silver Medal Winner from the Military Writers Society of America

  First Place Winner of the 2009 Bransom Stars & Flags Book Award

  About the Author

  Larkin Spivey is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War and a retired Marine Corps officer. He commanded infantry and reconnaissance units in combat as well as being trained in parachute, submarine, and Special Forces operations. He was with the blockade force during the Cuban Missile Crisis and served President Nixon in the White House. As a faculty member at The Citadel, he taught courses in U.S. military history, a subject of life-long personal and professional interest. He is the author of God in the Trenches and Miracles of the American Revolution. He now writes full time and resides in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with his wife, Lani, and their four children. He is a lay eucharistic minister of the Episcopal Church and is actively involved in the Cursillo renewal movement and the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association.

  Jocelyn Green is an award-winning freelance writer who pens articles for dozens of magazines, including Christianity Today, Today's Christian, Today's Pentecostal Evangel, Baptist Bulletin, EFCA Today, InSite and more. She also writes for nonprofits, universities and corporations such as Juicy Juice, Nestle, Publix and General Mills. Wife of a former Coast Guard officer, she authored Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives (Moody Publishers 2008). She also edited and contributed to Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II by Larkin Spivey, a 2009 Military Writers Society of America Silver Medal Winner. She is a member of the Evangelical Press Association and the Christian Authors Network. She and her husband have two children, a dog and a cat, and reside in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

  Larkin Spivey

  STORIES OF FAITH AND COURAGE FROM WORLD WAR II

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to the memory of James Arthur Norton Jr. and Edward R. Norton. These young men were pioneers of aviation in my hometown of Conway, South Carolina, and served together in the Army Air Corps during World War II. They were killed in action on May 17, 1943, flying together in a B–26 bomber over Nazi–held Holland. The Norton twins were my mother’s younger brothers and my uncles. I was three years old at the time of their death. Their adventurous and heroic lives were legendary in my family, inspiring my brothers to become Air Force pilots and me to pursue a Marine Corps career.

  The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.

  —Isaiah 57:1

  List of Maps

  1. German Invasion of the Low Countries and France May 1940

  2. Japanese Expansion in the Pacific July 1942

  3. The Battle of Midway June 4, 1942

  4. Operations in North Africa 1942–1943

  5. Advance in the Western Pacific 1942–1944

  6. The Fight for Sicily and Italy 1943–1944

  7. Across the Pacific 1943–1945

  8. Allied Landings on D–Day June 6, 1944

  9. Allied Advances in Europe 1944–1945

  10. Iwo Jima 1945

  11. Okinawa 1945

  Acknowledgments

  I am grateful to Jocelyn Green for her many contributions to this book. Jocelyn is a respected freelance writer, editor, and author of Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives. In addition to her thoroughly professional editing work, she has written a number of daily devotionals in this book herself, each designated on the last line with her initials: (JG).

  I wish to express gratitude to my agent, David Sanford, for his encouragement and for creating the opportunity for me to write this book. I am also thankful to Dan Penwell of AMG Publishers for the genius behind the Battlefields & Blessings series and for his confidence in me to be a part of it.

  I especially acknowledge the great contribution of Catherine–Alexa Rountree, who has been a faithful research assistant throughout this project and is responsible for much of the material from which its stories are derived. In addition to her many amazing qualities, she is also my loving daughter.

  I thank the members of the clergy who have provided their expertise and guidance: the Reverends Robert Sturdy, Aubrey Floyd, and Carol Dickerson.

  I appreciate the wisdom and advice given daily by my wife, Lani. Her insights have added immeasurably to the spiritual content of this book. She has been my loving partner in this project, as in every other aspect of our marriage.

  Finally, I acknowledge my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whom I came to know late in my life, and who changed my life eternally. My career as a writer and speaker has had one goal: to glorify him. While writing this book I have prayed constantly for his guidance and inspiration. Although I can’t positively assert that he has always provided these things, I can assure the reader that I could never have completed three hundred and sixty–five daily devotionals on my own.

  Introduction

  Writing this book has been a privilege and a blessing. I have deep family roots in World War II and have always revered the “Greatest Generation” who endured and won that great conflict. I grew up building models of ships and airplanes from that era and listening to my own father tell of convoy duty in the Battle of the Atlantic.

  My previous books have been about God’s providential hand in America’s past, when the nation’s survival was at stake. World War II was clearly one of those times. Victory may seem inevitable now, in retrospect, but history reveals dark days for America and her allies, especially during the early years of that war, when the forces of Germany and Japan were advancing triumphantly around the globe. With obsolete equipment and meager numbers, British and U.S. military forces needed many miracles to survive and slowly turn the tide of the war. God did indeed bless these nations during their darkest hours.

  I want to assure the reader that I am not suggesting that God causes or even looks favorably on war. I emphasize my belief that this in not the case. Human nature seems to be the completely adequate explanation for conflict between individuals and nations. I believe that God is disappointed when wars occur and does not take sides in such conflicts. I do believe, however, that God has an agenda and can use any human event or condition to further it. I believe that one of his important agendas for mankind has been human freedom, and that this was the basis for his favor of the American and Allied cause during World War II.

  As a Christian and one who has fought in war, I condemn it. However, as a wise man said, “They are dead who have seen the end of war.” I have to believe that there are things worth fighting for, and that there are times when God blesses those who do. I admit that my attitudes are colored by my own career in military service. One of my reference works as a young officer made the following statement that I believe is true today:

  One may abhor war fully, despise militarism absolutely, deplore all the impulses in human nature which make armed force necessary, and still agree that for the world
as we know it, the main hope is that “peace loving nations can be made obviously capable of defeating nations which are willing to wage aggressive war.”1

  These words come not from a warrior, but from the great intellectual and pacifist Bertrand Russell.

  This book is a daily devotional based on inspirational stories from World War II. Some of these stories reflect God’s miraculous intervention in the larger course of the war, but most deal with the faith and courage of individual soldiers, sailors, and citizens. These stories may reflect to some extent a universal tendency to turn to God in perilous times, however, I believe they more consistently reveal a widespread spirituality among the American and British populace and the leaders of that era. We can only pray that our nation continues to seek God’s favor and to fulfill God’s purpose now and in the future.

  As a daily devotional, this book is centered on the stories contained in the readings for each day of the year. There is also information intended to provide the historical context of these stories and to inform the reader about the course of the war at important stages. Each month presents a separate campaign of the war with an historical overview at the beginning of that month. Daily devotionals during the month pertain to that campaign. My selection of this material reflects my own understanding and interests. This book is not a complete history, and many important events could not be included.

  The most inspiring image of World War II. Raising the Flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima

  January

  BLITZKRIEG IN EUROPE

  In early May 1940 almost two million French and English soldiers waited anxiously for the long-expected invasion of France. Allied strategists were convinced the German attack would come through Holland and Belgium in a sweeping movement similar to the opening of World War I. These expectations were fulfilled on May 10 when massive German forces poured across the Dutch border. French and British units advanced immediately northward to the Dyle River where the opposing forces met in the opening clashes of the war.

  Unknown to the Allies, however, the German main attack came as Army Group A, under Gen. Col. Gerd von Rundstedt, penetrated the supposedly impenetrable Ardennes Forest, crossed the River Meuse on May 1213, and broke into open country. This force of more than eighteen hundred panzer tanks and three hundred Stuka dive-bombers knifed through the French 2nd and 9th Armies, reaching the English Channel on May 19. This bewildering success left large French units and the entire British Expeditionary Force cut off and surrounded, with their backs to the sea. This vast pocket centered more or less on the little port town of Dunkirk.

  As the German advance from north and south rapidly reduced the size of the Allied pocket, Lt. Gen. Allan Brooke, commander of the British II Corps, succinctly summed up the situation on May 23: “Nothing but a miracle can save the BEF.”2 On May 24 the first installment on that miracle came. Hitler ordered his panzer divisions to halt in place and to regroup. His generals persuaded him that the tanks were needed elsewhere and that the Luftwaffe and infantry units could finish the job of annihilating the remaining Allied forces in the pocket.

  To meet this crisis Great Britain mustered every seagoing vessel that could reach Dunkirk, assembling an armada of ships, ferries, tenders, yachts, and small boats to rescue its army. Between May 26 and June 4, more than three hundred thirty-eight thousand British and French troops were rescued despite bitter opposition from German aircraft, artillery, infantry, and patrol boats. Even though this was in effect a “retreat” from France, spirits soared in England at the sight of these returning troops. The new prime minister, Winston Churchill, called the dramatic rescue a “miracle of deliverance.”3 On June 22 France fell to the advancing German forces, but, with a large portion of her army on home soil, Great Britain survived to fight on.

  The fight did continue, but the scene shifted to a new battlefield: the airspace over England. By now Britain stood alone, and only the Royal Air Force (RAF) stood between Germany and complete domination of the continent. The Battle of Britain began in late June 1940. Aerial combat was unremitting as German bombers raided British airfields day after day, with the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the RAF rising to meet them.

  Encountering unexpected resistance and losses, the Germans changed strategy in early September. Turning away from Fighter Command bases, they focused instead on England’s cities. These attacks became known as the ‘Blitz,’ and would continue for much of the war. Although many cities were devastated, these attacks did not help the Luftwaffe achieve air superiority. The RAF fought on, with increasing effectiveness. On September 15, two massive raids were turned back and fifty-six German aircraft shot down during the Luftwaffe’s worst day. Two days later, Hitler canceled plans for the invasion of Great Britain.

  January 1

  New Year’s Day

  Myron Maycock was a British soldier who spent much of World War II as a prisoner of war. During his many trials he was comforted by a short poem:

  I see not a step before me

  As I tread on another year,

  But I’ve left the past in God’s keeping

  The future his mercy shall clear,

  And what looks dark in the distance

  May brighten as I draw near.4

  “Through the difficult days of captivity this verse was constantly before me, suggesting, as it did, a brighter path in the distance, to which the course of time with faith must ultimately lead me,” Maycock said. “The full beauty of these words came to me at the close of my last hour of freedom.”5

  This poem is appropriate for any day, but is especially perfect for this day. This is the time to look forward and not back. The past cannot be changed no matter how hard we try and is truly in God’s hands. Neither do we know what lies ahead, and it is just as useless to worry about that. Jesus’ instruction on this point is crystal clear: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”6 What we can do is concentrate on our actions in the present and look forward to the future with a joyful hope. Even though we have problems looming ahead, we don’t have to face them alone. Our Savior walks with us and guarantees us the strength to endure and to overcome. There is no darkness that will stand against the light of his presence.

  This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all… if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

  —1 John 1:57

  January 2

  Into Darkness

  Christmas 1939 came in the dark winter of fear for much of the world. Britain and France had declared war on Germany after Germany’s invasion of Poland. An eerie calm settled over Europe as armed conflict drew inexorably closer. To provide a word of encouragement to his subjects, King George VI made a radio broadcast heard by millions. Not usually an eloquent speaker, his words on that day resound for all time:

  King George VI. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library)

  I believe from my heart that the cause which binds together my peoples and our gallant and faithful allies is the cause of Christian civilization. On no other basis can a true civilization be built.

  Let us remember this through the dark times ahead of us and when we are making the peace for which all men pray.

  …I feel that we may all find a message of encouragement in the lines which, in my closing words, I would to say to you: “I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.’”

  May the Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all.7

  What more can any leader do in a time of crisis than to show his own belief in the source of ultimate safety in this world? By articulating this faith to your soldiers, your employees, or your own children you give them a source of strength and comfort that can be f
ound nowhere else. However dark the situation God’s hand is always our light.

  For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord… Everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.

  —Ephesians 5:8–10, 13–14

  January 3

  Tears and Sweat

  On the day Germany invaded Holland, Neville Chamberlain realized he could not continue as prime minister of Great Britain. At 5:00 p.m. on that day he went to Buckingham Palace, tendered his resignation, and advised the king to send for Winston Churchill. An hour later, Churchill was prime minister.

  At that moment the new leader was a controversial figure. Many doubted his ability to hold together a coalition government and to lead the nation in a time of such crisis. He clearly came into office in the most perilous circumstances ever faced by a new prime minister. Riding back to his office after his appointment, he commented: “I hope it is not too late. I am very much afraid it is.”8

  His first speech as prime minister was delivered to the House of Commons on May 13, 1940. Though he was received coolly at first, his words carried great weight:

  I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many long months of toil and struggle.