An Anchor of Prayer – Service | Sacrifice
“A man does a lot of praying in an enemy prison. Prayer, even more than sheer thought, is the firmest anchor.” – Admiral Jeremiah Denton
In July of 1965, then-Commander Denton, was leading twenty-eight planes on a bombing mission with Lieutenant Junior Grade, Bill Tschudy, his navigator/bombardier. Their jet was shot down over the city of Thanh Hoa in North Vietnam, and they were captured and taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese. Denton was held in the infamous POW camp, Hanoi Hilton as prisoners of war for almost eight years, four of which were spent in solitary confinement. Denton is best known for the 1966 televised press conference that he was forced into as an American POW by his North Vietnamese captors. He ingeniously used the opportunity to communicate successfully and to confirm for the first time to the U.S. Military (naval intelligence) that American POW’s were being tortured in North Vietnam. He repeatedly blinked his eyes in Morse Code during the interview, spelling out the word, “T-O-R-T-U-R-E”. He writes that the original title he chose for his book, When Hell Was In Session, was Under God, Indivisible, because most of the prisoners when faced with desperation, rediscovered God and became indivisible in their resistance to Communist torture and extreme deprivation.
Remember – Service | Sacrifice
As World War II is fast fading from America’s first hand memory, we remember the most somber day in POW/MIA history. The Harrodsburg Tankers of Kentucky joined the Allied Forces in the Philippines, and valiantly held their ground against the Japanese in spite of low rations, malnutrition, and fatigue. On April 9, 1942, they were ordered to surrender Bataan. In the 90 mile “Bataan Death March” that followed, the prisoners were marched at night, and then forced to sit in the sun during the day without their hats. Those who fell behind in the march were executed on the spot.
William Gentry, one of the soldiers from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, said he was given seven canteens of water in the 11 days of marching, along with one ball of rice about the size of a baseball. Many in the 192nd Tank Battalion who survived the infamous March died from starvation and disease in the brutal prisoner of war camps.
Prayer by Dr. Philip S. Bernstein
April 9 – Service | Sacrifice
“It is truly fitting that America observe April 9 in recognition of our former prisoners of war; that date is the 46th anniversary of the day in 1942 when U.S. forces holding out on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines were captured. Later, as prisoners of war, these gallant Americans were subjected to the infamous Bataan Death March and to other inhumane treatment that killed thousands of them before they could be liberated. In every conflict, brutality has invariably been meted out to American prisoners of war; on April 9 and every day, we must remember with solemn pride and gratitude that valor and tenacity have ever been our prisoners’ response… To our former prisoners of war who endured so much, we say that with your example and with God’s help we will seek to meet the standards of devotion you have set; we will never forget your service or your sacrifice.” —Ronald Reagan
*In Picture – Prisoners on the march from Bataan to the prison camp, May 1942. (National Archives).
In Times of Anguish
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Abraham Lincoln
Letter to a mother whose five sons were killed in action
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Prayerbook 1944
From – “Endowed by Their Creator”
The photograph of Abraham Lincoln was taken on October 3, 1862 on the Battlefield of Antietam. This is perhaps the best outdoor portrait of Lincoln extant. He is shown standing next to Allan Pinkerton (Left) and General McClernand (Right).
To Love What is Just and True
Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
A Prayer Book for the Armed Forces 1988
From – “Endowed by Their Creator”
That Freedom Might Live
O God, ease the suffering of those fighting that freedom might live; comfort the wives, mothers, and children of men on the battle front; and save mankind from future greed that war may be banished from the earth. Amen.
Vice Admiral Russell R. Waesche
The Commandant, United States Coast Guard
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Prayer Book 1944
Prayer From: Endowed by their Creator: A Collection of Historic American Military Prayers 1774-Present