May 13
On the night of October 13, 1942, a group of Marines on Guadalcanal had a special celebration for a young private who they affectionately called “The Kid.” That afternoon a rare delivery of mail had brought news that the Kid’s wife had finally had her baby.
Sgt. Jim O’Leary, one of the toughest noncommissioned officers in the unit, was especially excited, as he had taken a special interest in the expectant father over the weeks of anxious waiting for this news. He organized a party and led the celebration on a night seemingly blessed by the absence of the usual air attacks.
Later that night, however, the Japanese launched a frenzied all-out attack on the Marine lines. During a lull in the fighting a Navy chaplain went forward to help with the wounded. In the darkness, he found Jim O’Leary wandering in a daze, his face streaked with tears. When O’Leary recognized the chaplain, he yelled:
“The Kid’s dead… he’s gone. What the h___ good are your prayers and your religion? Did they stop the shrapnel that tore half his head off? Why wasn’t it me instead of him? If there is really a God and He had to have a human sacrifice, why couldn’t He have been satisfied with O’Leary, instead of taking a kid with a young wife and a brand new baby who’ll never see his father? Why should anyone believe and trust in Jesus or Mary when they’ve allowed a crime like this to happen? Why did it happen, Padre? Why? Why?”183
Knowing it wouldn’t help much at the moment, the chaplain softly replied, “ We must take God on faith. ”184
Books have been written attempting to answer this apparent riddle. If God is good and all-powerful, how can he let such bad things happen? The answer lies in how God created human beings and the universe. It was his plan that humans have the freedom to do good and bad, and that nature should create and destroy according to properties that he established. He doesn’t cause our pain, but he knows that we will be blessed by it if it brings us closer to him.
I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
May 14
The nighttime bombardment of Henderson Field was more intense that night than usual. The naval gunfire shells from the Japanese ships streaked red as they rained in and around the Marines’ positions. Each blast was a violent upheaval of shrapnel, dirt, and acrid smoke. An ammunition truck was hit, causing an enormous explosion that shook the island and hurled thousands of fragments through the air. A Navy chaplain huddled in his trench, sharing the terror with those around him:
Alongside me, head bowed, there were Catholic boys reciting their rosaries, Protestants murmuring prayers, and Jewish boys, with closed eyes, fingering the holy mezuzahs they wore around their necks. The adage that there are no atheists in foxholes was already familiar to me. In moments of deadly peril, the human hand reaches out for help from above. Even those who hadn’t uttered a word of prayer or been inside a house of worship for years before the war, were looking now for a Divine hand to shield them.185
In times of real danger our superficial concerns are stripped away, and we are brought back to an elemental reality. There is a God, and we need him desperately. The universal need to pray at such times is proof of this point. Unfortunately, these prayers are often not remembered after the crisis passes. On this score I have been the worst offender. My bargains made with God while in physical danger were soon forgotten. I didn’t give him credit or thanks that I survived a war and was able to live a blessed life with my family. One of my foremost tasks as a new Christian has been trying to make up for all those years of ingratitude. I have a long way to go.
O Lord, I say to you, “You are my God.” Hear, O Lord, my cry for mercy. O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle.
May 15
During the war, a dozen women of American descent made daily broadcasts on Radio Tokyo designed to demoralize U.S. servicemen deployed in the Pacific. These women combined “soft” propaganda with popular music, and became known collectively by the GIs as “Tokyo Rose.”186
As the war progressed, the troops enjoyed the music and generally laughed off the obvious attempts to undermine their morale.
During the Guadalcanal campaign, however, it was not so easy for the Marines to laugh off Tokyo Rose’s insidious effort to make them feel isolated and abandoned. The Marines could see for themselves that they were undersupplied and, at times, seemingly forgotten in their prolonged struggle. A Navy chaplain explained:
The Mata Hari of the airwaves had no competition for our attention or our interest. Though we naturally discounted most of what she told us, some of it couldn’t help sinking in. There was a gnawing fear among us that the home front was incapable of giving us the help we desperately needed. “You are forgotten like the men of Bataan and Corregidor were forgotten,” Tokyo Rose would purr at us. I was worried about the spirit of valorous men who were beginning to feel that they, too, were expendable.187
Discerning the truth in what we hear is often difficult. Unfortunately, Satan’s voice can be very soothing and plausible, with just enough “truth” to deceive us. As we filter what we hear, our own self-serving inner voice can also override our objectivity. We have to remember that God normally speaks to us in a quiet voice that we must diligently seek to hear and to understand through our prayers, Scripture, and Christian friends.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
May 16
Fighting a determined and fanatical enemy should have been challenge enough. However, the jungles of New Guinea added unimaginable suffering to the ordeal. The equatorial climate inflicted torrential rains, high humidity, and insufferable heat on those unfortunates who had to live and fight in it. Wet clothing, rusting equipment, omnivorous insects, and an endless variety of tropical maladies were the constant companions of every
