Bruce Watkins was a platoon leader with 1st Marine Regiment, landing with the first wave at Peleliu. Contrary to expectations, the resistance was well organized and fanatical. He and his men fought for every foot of terrain and, over two days, suffered many casualties. On the second night the mortar fire started, and Watkins moved among his men as best he could, giving first aid and encouragement. At one point he heard a comforting sound:
A Catholic Marine in the next hole was praying with his rosary and it inspired me to employ what I had come to call my 30second prayers. I’m sure that God received a great deal of communication that night. Mine went something like, “Father, let me do my job and do it well. I don’t ask You to save me, but help me to be a good leader. If I must be hit, give me the strength to carry on and Your will always be done.”357
I’ve always felt that God would rather hear frequent thirty-second prayers than have us wait for “suitable” occasions to pray longer. In fact, so long as it is heartfelt, this kind of prayer is the perfect way to bring God into our daily lives. We can always manage a short prayer before a meeting, an important phone call, or a trip. I believe that this is what the apostle Paul meant by his advice to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
September 6
The second day on Peleliu was another day of intense combat. It started abruptly for the Marines of Bruce Watkins’ battalion with an incoming barrage of heavy-caliber fire on their hilltop position. Large chunks of rock and shrapnel were flying everywhere and casualties were mounting. Watkins realized he couldn’t keep his men in such an exposed position and ordered them back down the hill. He was the last to leave and experienced his most frightening moment of the war when an arm-sized shell fragment whizzed by his head, cutting his helmet strap.
On flat ground below the ridge, Watkins spent the rest of the day dodging sniper fire as he went about the task of reorganizing his men and preparing a new defensive line tied in with the rest of the battalion. Just before nightfall several amphibious tractors brought the first delivery of food. Spam sandwiches and grapefruit juice were the special for the day. As darkness and rain settled in, the Marines experienced their first lull in the action. Watkins recalled:
This night was relatively quiet and I had more time to think about myself. We were wet, filthy, and our lips were burnt. I had a fungus infection in my crotch and a smashed finger from the night before. I guess it was the first time I had really noticed. I have often thought officers and NCOs with their constant responsibility had an advantage in that there was little time to think about themselves. The private(s), on the other hand, often had time to reflect and wonder what crazy order they would be given next, fearing the worst.358
Responsibility is sometimes a burden, but seen from this perspective, is always a blessing. Self-absorption is probably the closest we come to hell on Earth, and when we are responsible for someone or something else, our focus is outside ourselves. Fortunately, we don’t have to be commissioned officers to have this change of outlook. Every foot soldier in God’s kingdom has opportunities to tend to the needs of others, serving them at home, in church, and in the workplace.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
September 7
Father William Cummings became a military chaplain by accident. He was teaching school in Manila when the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1942. When his school was destroyed, he hitched a boat ride across Manila Bay to join the American and Filipino soldiers fighting on the Bataan Peninsula. All through the siege of Bataan and the final days of Corregidor he ministered to the beleaguered troops around him and became a source of comfort and inspiration to many. He felt that spiritual support was more critical than ever in a combat situation, articulating to a war correspondent his belief that, “There are no atheists in foxholes.”359 This now-famous comment took on a life of its own when the correspondent flashed the quote across the seas to America and the rest of the world.
The ordeal for Cummings and many other U.S. servicemen would follow with the eventual surrender of Corregidor and imprisonment by the Japanese. Under the most inhumane conditions imaginable, he said, “There are so many men here. I cannot help them all, but if I can help a few, then maybe God will feel my life justified. When I worry about their suffering, I don’t have time to think of myself.”360
Father Cummings’ last days were spent on a Japanese prison ship. He died in the arms of one of his beloved soldiers reciting the Lord’s Prayer. He is memorialized on Chaplains Hill in Arlington National Cemetery.361
For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
September 8
Of all the prisoners held by the Japanese during the war, the worst fate befell those placed on a series of prison ships, called “hell ships” by those who were on them. In 1944, as the Allies advanced on the Philippines, the Japanese began loading thousands of prisoners into the cargo holds of old steamships for relocation to Formosa and Japan. The conditions were unspeakable. The crowding was so severe there wasn’t room for everyone to even sit down at one time. Food and water were almost nonexistent, as temperatures below deck soared above 120 degrees. Buckets were lowered to serve as latrines. Disease and death ravaged the victims of this tribulation.
On a particularly suffocating night, the cries of anguish on one of these ships grew louder and louder as the tormented prisoners seemed on the verge of a hysterical outbreak. The voice of Chaplain William Cummings suddenly rang out over the clamor. One of the men recalled an amazing transformation:
Father Cummings began to speak. The sound was clear and resonant and made me feel he was talking to me alone. The men became quiet.
“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”… The voice went on. Strength came to me as I listened to the prayer, and a certain calmness of
