In Harm’s Way: The Forgotten Service of Military Chaplains
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CE.com ^ | 05-25-15 | George J. Galloway
John Paul Jones: “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.”
No service personnel place themselves, time and again, in harm’s way more than our chaplains.
And this is where our story begins.David and Goliath Then David spoke to Saul: “Let your majesty not lose courage. I am at your service to go and fight this Philistine.” But Saul answered David, “You cannot go up against this Philistine and fight with him, for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior from his youth.” Then David told Saul: “Your servant used to tend his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or bear came to carry off a sheep from the flock, I would go after it and attack it and rescue the prey from its mouth.”
Since David spoke with such determined resolve and no other soldier in Saul’s army would volunteer for such a dangerous confrontation, the king relented and placed the future of his kingdom and of his people in the hands of a boy.
So, David, who bore no armor or sword or shield (although, Saul offered his own battle armor to the lad), and armed with only a staff and sling, charged the giant Goliath and took the day. The fact that he charged into the field is important. There is no timidity here. David was so faith-filled, so emboldened by his love for the Lord, that he had no doubt as to the outcome of the seemingly impossible combat which he faced. But, his weapons were not just his sling and the smooth stones he carried in his pocket. They were his faith, the words he spoke and the actions he took that astonished both the Philistine and Israeli armies.
A military chaplain is not armed for battle. Like David, the chaplain’s weapons consist of faith, the word, and the will to act, even while confronting certain death. A death he felt fellow soldiers would certainly face and that he could not shield himself from.
This is what the “Four Chaplains,” whose monument, in stained glass, exists to this today at the Pentagon is emblematic of: a Catholic, Methodist, and a Dutch Reformed minister, and a Jewish Rabbi, freely gave their life preservers to their shipmates.
As the troopship Dorchester quickly sank into the North Atlantic in World War II in 1943 after a German U-Boat attack, the four chaplains were last seen holding hands, praying and praising the Lord.
Perhaps, the greatest chaplain in our nation’s armed forces was George Washington himself. Although armed, he rarely drew his sword, yet freely rode along the lines encouraging and giving comfort and direction to his troops in every battle he engaged in. Washington consistently, gave orders to his command to pray.
The Twentieth Century brought new chaplains into the ranks of our military. Those who, like Washington, chose to not separate themselves from their “parish.” It could be a beach head, on the deck of a ship being strafed or bombed by the enemy, a POW camp, a forced and deadly march, or on the fields of the most unholy of places called “No Man’s Land.” They would deliberately put themselves in harm’s way because that was where they were most needed. It was where God led them to be
Father John B. DeValles earned the nickname “Angel of the Trenches” because he was divinely inspired to venture into the deadly killing fields time and again. It was during World War I, ironically called “The War to End All Wars.”He died from the horrific exposure to mustard gas like many of his “parishioners.”
There are over 400 chaplains in our military history who have given their lives in combat. |
