The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.
August 14
Gabriel Navarro was a first-generation immigrant from Mexico living in Houston, Texas. His son, Porifirio, was a Marine corporal fighting somewhere in the Pacific. Mr. Navarro’s letter to his son reflects the mixture of intense pride and anxiety felt by World War II parents:
It has been one year to the day that, courageous and optimistic, full of faith and love of country, you left our side to join the armed forces of America. The forces of Democracy and Liberty. Twelve months of absence, during which time our thoughts and my paternal affection have followed you step by step across an ocean full of dangers… My heart stops beating when I think of death extending its wings over your head.
The courage and enthusiasm which you demonstrated upon leaving us to answer your country’s call, which needs the help of its children, filled me with satisfaction and pride. And you may be sure that your mother, who gave you life, also covers you with benedictions and prayers, just as your mother country covers you with its flag.327
I believe that the most difficult test of faith for any person is to have a son or daughter in a life-threatening situation. This anxiety is prolonged and even more acute during wartime, when duty calls the child to face danger over a long period of time. We might see the higher purpose and feel pride in their devotion to an important cause. Nevertheless, as the parents of today’s military men and women can attest, the worry is still crushing. There is only one source of effective relief from this degree of anxiety, and that is our Savior, Jesus Christ. During his ministry he explained and modeled the perfect love that our heavenly Father has for his children. He is always there to ease our burdens and to take our anxieties upon himself. His constant care and concern is the ultimate source of comfort in this life and in the eternal future.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
August 15
By early 1943 shortages of food, gasoline, and other war materiel were beginning to be felt throughout the nation. Renee Pike gave a sense of what it was like on the home front in letters to her husband, George:
Boy, what I wouldn’t give for a nice banana. But that is just wishful thinking. I don’t think anyone in America has seen a banana for over six months… the civilian population is certainly feeling the shortage of food-stuffs now. Last week we didn’t have a scratch of butter in the house from Monday until Friday… It’s a lot worse on we people in the country than it is on the city folks. They can go out and get some kind of meat every day while we have plenty of meatless days up here. They can also stand in line for 2 or 3 hours for a pound of butter, but up here there are no lines as there is no butter… Yesterday I didn’t take any meat… because I’m sick of the same thing. You see, the thing that they have the most of is sausages but people can’t keep eating the same thing every day.328
Since our more recent wars in Vietnam and the Middle East have produced so much controversy, many are amazed at the national unity evidenced during World War II. This letter gives us an insight into how that unity came in large part from the sense of shared sacrifice by both the military and civilian populace. Every American had his or her part to play. Our subsequent armed conflicts have not touched most of the nation other than our military servicemen and their families. Somehow, we have been involved in wars where large numbers of our citizens have had no underlying perception that the nation’s survival was at stake. If we are going to send our sons and daughters to war, it should be a matter of our survival as a nation, and the effort should involve sacrifice on the part of every American.
Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds…?
August 16
Men are generally clueless about what women are thinking. One anonymous member of the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force revealed some startling insights into her own thoughts about what she termed, “The Great Man-Chase.”
To get a man is not sufficient. It’s easy to get a man. In fact it’s difficult not to. The desirable qualities are rank, wings, looks, money, youth in that order. Rank is unbelievably important… the height of sex-rank is commission and wings. Higher commission, the better. Sergeant pilots and ground commissions tie for second place. This includes Army officers. Ground stripes come a poor third. In terms of “looks” I include charm, personality, etc. This counts only as a narrow comparison viz Pilot Officer A is better than Pilot Officer B because he is more charming, but we’d rather go out with Pilot Officer B who is not charming, than with Sergeant C who is(and he’s good looking too).329
It’s hard to know how serious these comments were meant to be. I tend to think that this young girl from a bygone era was having some fun with her readers. However, there is clearly some truth revealed in this little essay. In
This question is decided for us by spirits far deeper down in the Lowerarchy than you and I. It is the business of these great masters to produce in every age a general misdirection of what may be called sexual “taste.” They do this by working through the small circle of popular artists, dressmakers, actresses, and advertisers
