Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II

a commission in the Naval Reserve, he was assigned to the newly organized Armed Guard of the Navy where he took detachments of Navy sailors aboard merchant vessels as gun crews for submarine and air defense. He saw sea duty with convoys to England, North Africa, and South America.

Early in the war the merchant seamen viewed these detachments suspiciously. The merchantmen were professionals at their business and rightfully considered these sailors as out of their element. They especially resented young Armed Guard officers who tried to throw their weight around by dictating to the ship’s crew. It was soon found that a special type of officer was needed for this type of duty:

Emphasis soon shifted away from the procurement of the very young officer and especially of the person who knew or thought he knew too much about running merchant ships. The ideal Armed guard officer was a tactful person who could look after the interests of his men and at the same time keep relations smooth between the Navy complement and master, officers and crew of the merchant ship. He was a man who could get along with people who were under great mental strain and who could win their confidence. His relations with his gunners was close. He was a kind of doctor, chaplain and commanding officer at the same time. The highly nervous individual did not last in the Armed Guard.⁸⁹

I must admit to a feeling of pride in reading these qualities of an Armed Guard officer, which I feel are very descriptive of my father. He was a Citadel graduate with military experience and a broad range of civic, business, and family responsibilities. He was an active man and able to get any job done while taking care of those under him. In later life he often repeated his favorite advice on leadership, which he said was “straight out of the Bible.” I learned later that these were actually the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:

Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

—Matthew 20:26–28

March 6 Sighted Sub

Early in the war, an affectionate epithet for the Armed Guard circulated in Navy circles: “Sighted Sub—Glub Glub.” This uncomplimentary perception changed as the war wore on and these units proved their effectiveness. The phrase itself was a takeoff from one of the most famous phrases in U.S. naval history.

On January 28, 1942, Donald Mason was piloting a Lockheed Hudson twin-engine aircraft on antisubmarine patrol out of Argentia, Newfoundland. After hours of boredom staring at an empty sea, an alert crewman spotted the thin, characteristic wake of a submarine periscope breaking the surface. Mason attacked at once, dropping two bombs from an altitude of about 25 feet, straddling the periscope. With the detonation of the bombs the submarine was seen to lift out of the water and then to sink vertically. Minutes later an oil slick was observed bubbling to the surface.⁹⁰ Shortly thereafter Mason radioed an historic four-word message back to base: “Sighted sub, sank same.”⁹¹

Donald Mason was probably following protocol to keep radio traffic to a minimum. However, he gives us a lesson in effective word power. Fewer is usually better. The apostle John was able to communicate the complete Christian gospel in only twenty-six words, showing the beauty and simplicity of Christ’s message in a way that makes it easy for us to succinctly share the good news with others:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

—John 3:16

March 7 Attack of the Minesweepers

HMS Harrier was one of four minesweepers in Kola Inlet when a radio message came in that the cruiser HMS Edinburgh had been torpedoed and was trying to reach Murmansk. The Harrier and other minesweepers quickly got under way to help. The little minesweepers just had time to deploy around the Edinburgh when three German destroyers opened fire from a distance. Cdr. Eric Hinton immediately turned Harrier toward the enemy, put on maximum speed, and opened fire with his single four-inch gun. Two British destroyers soon joined him, and, together, they caused the Germans to break off the attack. One of Hinton’s subordinates later wrote:

Seeing gun flashes from five separate directions, the Germans probably imagined that they were confronting a superior force. Each of these heavy destroyers was armed with five 5.9 inch guns in addition to torpedoes, so had they pressed in they might easily have sunk every ship in our force. However, Harrier and the other ‘fleet’ minesweepers looked not unlike destroyers when seen end-on, so probably the Captain’s action in heading straight for the enemy had saved our lives.⁹²

Commander Hinton’s attack saved his own ship and the others at the scene of this battle. He showed what a small force could accomplish with determination and decisive action, even against great odds. This story is an encouragement to all who follow Jesus Christ. Our numbers are often few in the midst of a culture apparently going in a different direction. However, we know the power of a “small force” that is on God’s side. We need to take action with confidence when we have opportunities to serve him, even when we have doubts that we can make a difference.

The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong.

—Ecclesiastes 9:11

March 8 Murmansk Run

In May 1942 the cargo ship SS Atlantic, laden with aircraft and explosives, was sailing above the Arctic Circle, bound for Murmansk, Russia. Arctic ice forced Atlantic and the other thirty-five ships in this convoy close to the north coast of Norway and German airbases located there. May 27 brought clear weather and almost continuous air attacks for ten hours. Seven ships were lost, and three badly damaged. One of the officers assessed the toll:

Taking stock, ships were being sunk at the rate of one every two hours. We still had at least 60 hours sailing to get to Murmansk with 29 merchant ships left. Moreover, our ship had used up more than half its ammunition, and presumably the others were in similar straits.

If the pace of the attacks was kept up, the arithmetic seemed to add up to the possibility of all our ships being sunk… Everything depended on where the bomb or torpedo would strike. No. 3 hold was full of explosives. If