Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II

effort. Anyone could have turned back. Not one did.

Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me, I took courage.

—Ezra 7:28

February 22 Apparent Futility

The sacrifice of Torpedo 8 in its attack on the Japanese strike force might seem like a gallant, but useless, gesture. The “Charge of the Light Brigade” comes to mind:

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.⁷³

Only in retrospect do we know that Torpedo 8’s attack was indeed not futile. In fact there are few instances in any war when such an apparently futile effort accomplished so much. As the Japanese carriers maneuvered to avoid these attacks, they could not launch their own aircraft. The American carriers may have been saved because of this delay. Of equal importance, the Zeros that shot down the aircraft of Torpedo 8 at low altitude found themselves hopelessly out of position minutes later at the climax of the battle. The skies high above the Japanese carrier fleet were undefended when the American dive-bombers appeared.

My father used to quote Robert E. Lee: “Duty is the sublimest word in the English language.” These intrepid young pilots individually demonstrated the full meaning of this sentence. Fortunately, most of us do not face such life-and-death situations. However, we are all called to do the right thing every day. Sometimes it isn’t easy, and often we don’t see the immediate benefit. But we know what we should do.

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

—Ecclesiastes 12:13

February 23 Ensign Gay

Watching his fellow pilots go down around him, Ens. George Gay pressed his attack on the Japanese carrier Soryu. He stayed in the air long enough to successfully launch his torpedo and was the sole survivor of Torpedo Squadron 8. He recalled:

Everything was shooting at me. I flew right down the gun barrel on one of those big pom poms up forward… I figured the only way that I could evade all that anti-aircraft fire was not to throw my belly up in a turn away from the ship, but was just to go right straight to her and offer as small a target as I could. So I flew right down the gun barrels, pulled up on the port side, did a flipper turn right by the island, I could see the little Jap captain up there jumping up and down raising hell. Just a little bit after that… the Zeros jumped on me and… shot my rudder control and ailerons out and I pancaked into the ocean.⁷⁴

After struggling from his sinking aircraft, Gay found a cushion floating nearby. He hid himself as best he could from the Japanese fleet, which passed by him several times that day. He was witness to the destruction of three of the enemy carriers. Gay was rescued the next day and returned to duty for other operations in the Pacific war. He eventually returned to the States, where he made frequent public appearances in support of the war effort and continued speaking as a civilian.

In 1980 Gay came to Charleston, South Carolina, to talk to naval science cadets at The Citadel and to deliver a message calling for military preparedness. I heard him say, “I was lucky. I’ve never understood why I was the only one that came back.” He felt that his mission in life since that day was to ensure that American boys not be sent again into a conflict without the best equipment and training that their nation could provide.

While Ensign Gay attributed his survival to luck, as Christians we can be sure that God has numbered our days for a specific reason (Psalm 139:16). It is our responsibility to be ready for the tasks that he has determined we should accomplish.

Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be called to arms.

—Ezekiel 38:7–8

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.

—Proverbs 21:31

February 24 Suicide

Ensign Gay fought to control his Devastator during his long, tortuous torpedo run on the Soryu. Through every burst of enemy gunfire he kept the nose of his aircraft pointed at his target. He witnessed his fellow pilots going down and was very aware that his own life could be measured in seconds. Every detail seemed to stand out as he focused his eyes on the looming enemy carrier. The flight deck was full of aircraft and scrambling figures. For an instant, a strange thought flashed through his mind: “I had a thought right in a split second there to crash into those planes… because I could have started a beautiful fire.” However, his thought process then changed course rapidly: “The plane was still flying and I felt pretty good and I didn’t see any sense in crashing into those planes. I thought maybe I’d get a chance to go back and hit them again someday and as long as there’s life there’s hope. So I pulled up and went over them.”⁷⁵

For some reason America seems to face foes who glorify suicide. The Japanese in World War II sent countless young kamikaze pilots on one-way missions. Terrorists of today kill themselves and innocent victims for their own “higher” cause. American values, thankfully, do not permit this approach. In the beginning, our Founding Fathers acted on the firm belief that the value and dignity of every human being comes from God and that every citizen is “endowed by his Creator with certain unalienable rights.” In wartime our leaders sometimes have to send men on dangerous missions. However, every effort is made to provide for their safe return. Every American soldier knows that he will never be considered “expendable.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created