June 26
Albert Thomas saw a lot during his service with the 366th Infantry Division. He was a frontline infantryman, sniper, winch operator, and truck driver. With assignments in Italy, France, and the South Pacific, he was never in one place for long. The worst time for him was in the Po Valley during the Allied drive north of Rome. He saw a lot of men wounded and killed, including a good friend whom he was not able to help during the heat of battle. His feelings of sadness and regret stayed with him:
When it comes down to it we are all just humans here to help each other. Seeing this devastation every day for years takes its toll on you. You come home to things and people don’t understand you. You’re messed up from all the sadness and cruelty you see. I wish today we could care about each other the way we use [sic] to. No matter the money or things you have we are the same. You only live for so long we need to care about each other. That’s what I discovered to be the most important from being in the war.251
We can each benefit from the insights of this veteran who found his own way to cope with suffering. He saw all of war’s destruction: cities and countryside devastated, soldiers wounded and killed, civilians rendered destitute. He struggled with all this and eventually concluded that the most important thing for him was to help other people. It is a blessing to see a good man’s thoughtful reaction to the horrors of war. It gives us hope that we can each struggle through our trials and disappointments to a better day, focusing less on our own misery, and more on caring for those around us.
“Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
June 27
Chaplains had to keep records, and the most important were those of deaths and burials. Chaplain Wallace Hale’s files grew quite large during his service with the 88th
Infantry Division in North Africa and Italy. His combat workbook eventually listed more than a thousand soldiers, with name, rank, serial number, denomination, and location of burial. Many years later, a colleague referred to this workbook while eulogizing Chaplain Hale:
If you took that manual, you would find page after page after page of German soldiers: their names, their ranks, their units, their location of burial, because Wallace buried them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Wallace knew no enemy. Wallace saw people as either the sons and daughters of the Living God through Jesus Christ, or he saw them as potential sons and daughters of the Living God. No enemy. They were treated as lovingly, as tenderly, as each and every American soldier.252
Hale himself described his role as a chaplain: “ I was a regular army Chaplain who tried to use his religious experiences and knowledge to build men up… I stood for fairness, for justice, and for forgiveness in an organization that, at times, tried to ignore these concepts.”253
In a military organization highly focused on its combat mission and the material aspects of war, this man brought a deep concern for individual human beings, regardless of their religious condition or nationality. This is an example that Christians must follow. Jesus died for all mankind and focused his own ministry on those most in need. He was criticized for associating with prostitutes and tax collectors, but said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). Without Jesus we are all lost, and we share this status with every other human being. We should look at all others as “potential sons and daughters of the Living God.”
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
June 28
Irving Berlin was a Jewish immigrant who came to the United States when he was five years old. He wrote the great patriotic song “God Bless America” during World War I while serving in the U.S. Army at Camp Upton, New York.254 Composed for a musical revue, but not used at the time, the song languished in his files for years. In 1938, as war was spreading through Europe, he reintroduced it in an Armistice Day broadcast on the Kate Smith radio show. He included an introduction that is now rarely heard, urging listeners to “swear allegiance to a land that’s free” and “be grateful for a land so fair as we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.”255
Kate Smith sang the song in march tempo with full orchestra and trumpets. It was an immediate sensation and became her signature song. There was even an effort to make it the national anthem, since the words and tune were far more memorable than the complex and more abstract “Star-Spangled Banner.”
The distinguishing feature of “God Bless America” is the fact that it is a prayer. It is not a statement. It is a plea to God for the protection and guidance this nation has always needed and that only he can provide. When we say it or sing it with this in mind, “God Bless America” is a powerful reminder of our need for him in our personal and national lives.
Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary… We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive!
June 29
The conquest of Sicily almost cost the United States one of its most effective combat generals. During a visit to a field hospital in August 1943, Gen. George Patton physically abused a soldier suffering from a condition euphemistically called “combat fatigue.” After talking to a number of wounded soldiers, Patton approached Pvt. Paul Bennet and asked what was wrong with him. The soldier replied, “ It’s my nerves,” and then began to cry.256
On hearing this, Patton exploded: “ You are just a… coward… I won’t have these brave men here who have
