Modern Day Helaman Situation

[Stargazer]

The following is an excerpt from one of the books in the Saints at War series. This one is the story of an infantry company and its LDS commander during a tour of duty in Vietnam.  I transcribed this to send to a born-again coworker who indicated to me that he was having a bit of faith crisis, and I wanted to show him that God truly does work with His children, if His children want to work with him, and will pray for guidance and help.

 

Note that I don't expect that this kind of thing is going to happen in every war, but that it happened at all in a recent one goes to show that God is not done working in astonishing ways, even with groups of people who may or may not have faith themselves, but who are led by men and women of faith.  By the way, I served as an infantryman in the same division the story is from (much later), and from the internal evidence and the details of the author's experience, I can tell you that it has all the marks of a genuine history.  It doesn't sound like he was making any of it up.

 

My point of posting this is to engender some discussion over the issue of how God answers prayers (if he does, really, and we're not just interpreting events to suit our prejudices), and whether God would even do this kind of thing -- as is recorded in the Book of Alma, where Helaman led the 2000 striping warriors.

 

 

Mike Perkins (Vietnam War, Army)

 

On my first night after assuming command, I knelt in my ship’s compartment and prayed the the Lord would protect my men.  I prayed long into the night be received no confirmation or answer.  Early the next morning we loaded the landing craft and began the first of many amphibious assaults.  My return to combat was harsh and unrelenting.

 

Several days later, upon return to our ship, I sought the privacy of my cabin and again prayed long into that sultry night.  I asked that none of my men would die and that none would lose a limb.  A stiff request for a group of men whose job it was to kill and be killed.  Hours later, sweet and assuring, came the answer.  As I obeyed and lived the gospel, my men would return home to their loved ones alive and whole.

 

I was given little time for reflection.  The morning came too soon as my riflemen and I were aboard landing craft awash in fire and foam.  In the weeks ahead, we made numerous contacts with the enemy and survived an accidental napalm attack by air force fighters in which twenty men were badly burned and evacuated to the States.  In the days, weeks, and months ahead, we accomplished our mission – killing and capturing a number of enemy soldiers.  I especially sought to capture the enemy rather than kill them.  We soon led the battalion in numbers of enemy captured.  The men took pride that we accomplished our missions, but they also marveled that no one had died and that no one had lost a limb, both frequent occurrences prior to my arrival.  Meanwhile, nearby rifle companies continued to suffer dead and wounded, one unit taking frightful casualties from a vicious booby trap assault.

 

My commander and fellow officers were astonished.  There was even talk that Company B avoided combat.  Yet our accomplishments matched or exceeded those of other units in the brigade.  Some said that our success and low casualty rate were due to having an experienced commander (myself) at the helm.  It was true that I was the most combat-experienced company commander in the battalion, but I knew that I alone could not keep my men alive.  It was the Lord who was doing that.  I prayed incessantly for guidance and wisdom that my decisions would be right.  I prayed that we would not take life needlessly.  I prayed that my men would return alive and whole to their families.

 

Another story:

I crawled a couple of feet to the paddy dike that sheltered us from a storm of bullets.  Above me was Ed Eaton, who hung on to the upturned helicopter skid and fired at the enemy.  He would fire and throw down his stockless rifle to a soldier lying next to me who would reload it and throw it back up.  Ed was keeping the enemy at bay, but he was wounded and had the only operating weapon.  Again, the situation looked hopeless, and I sought the Lord’s intervention.

 

The two Cobra gunships made repeated strafing passes, their rockets and bullets striking within a few feet.  Then, their pods and guns empty, they landed, their tails pointed towards the enemy.  The pilots motioned and men began helping each other as they climbed onto the winglets of the Cobras.  The first had four men, and it turned and began to struggle into the air.  Someone tried to pick me up and carry me to the second Cobra, but I couldn’t stand and had little strength left.  I told him to put me down and give me a grenade.  I was not going to be captured alive.  The second Cobra was now crammed with men on the winglets, and one lying across the gunner.  As it turned to fly off, one man jumped down and ran towards me.  It was Ed Eaton.  The pilot yelled something, and Ed turned and replied, “I won’t let the old man die alone!”  Then he ran to my side and lay down beside me.  Another man jumped off and ran to Ed’s side, and the Cobra flew away.  Ed had come to die with me, and his friend Duane had come to die with him.

 

Within a few minutes, Ed shot and killed two enemy soldiers who came to investigate.  But he was running low on ammunition, and he had the only weapon.  The other man and I were so badly wounded that neither of us could offer much resistance.  Once again I began calling upon the Lord, reminding him of the covenant we’d made.  Were Ed, Duane and I to die like this?

 

Then, as if from nowhere, I heard machine guns firing, and a mighty blast of wind hit me.  Another helicopter had landed.  It was the battalion commander’s aircraft, and he had come to save the survivors.  I was dragged unceremoniously to the aircraft door and heaved inside, and we flew away amidst enemy fire.  Twenty minutes later, we landed at a MASH [Mobile Army Surgical Hospital], and within a minute of landing, the helicopter ran out of fuel.  But we were safe.

 

None of my men died in that action, yet all were wounded.  All were decorated for their heroism.  The Lord kept his promise to me, and I’d kept my promise to my men; all returned alive and whole.

 

While in the hospital in Japan, I received a poignant letter signed by many of the men of my company.  They told me to get healed and to return.  They related that within a week of my hasty departure, men had begun to die again.  Tears welled as I realized I’d not prayed very much for my men after I’d been wounded.  I then again began prayers that they would return home to their families.  Some weeks later, as I lay in my hospital bed, I read the newspaper headlines – US forces were to begin the pullout from Vietnam.  The first unit to leave? Third Battalion, 60th Infantry of the 9th Infantry Division: my men.

 

The Lord does answer prayers, and mighty works can be accomplished with His guidance and protection.  My one thousand two hundred days in infantry combat testify to His love and grace.

 

From Saints at War: Inspiring Stories of Courage and Valor

Just as an aside, there was another story in the book that dealt with another LDS company commander in the Korean War who felt it impolitic to beg the Lord to keep his soldiers from great harm, when there were other of God's children on the other side who had as much right to a Father's love, and so he did not do what this commander did -- except once, when he got the feeling that he was praying for those on both sides.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Stargazer

[Duncan]

There's a story I read about but can't pin it down to who it was but 4 Canadian LDS soldiers in WW1 were promised that if they were faithful they would be spared and they were. Obviously not implying those who died who unfaithful

[Stargazer]

There's a story I read about but can't pin it down to who it was but 4 Canadian LDS soldiers in WW1 were promised that if they were faithful they would be spared and they were. Obviously not implying those who died who unfaithful

Sounds familiar to me, too.

I sometimes like to play devil's advocate on these things. If there were someone who had gotten a promise of survival, but didn't survive, how would we know that they had the promise (assuming they didn't tell anyone)?

[Duncan]

Sounds familiar to me, too.

I sometimes like to play devil's advocate on these things. If there were someone who had gotten a promise of survival, but didn't survive, how would we know that they had the promise (assuming they didn't tell anyone)?

 

no idea and not everyone who doesn't get killed was faithful either. I know a family here their relative in WW1 got a social disease shall we say, no pay while he was hospitalized and besides no pay the family he was supporting found out back home!

[Meadowchik]

Sounds familiar to me, too.

I sometimes like to play devil's advocate on these things. If there were someone who had gotten a promise of survival, but didn't survive, how would we know that they had the promise (assuming they didn't tell anyone)?

 

Yes, it's like those memes where people post kids jumping ramps with their bikes, saying "Click if you had a 70s childhood like this and survived." Of course, you survived.  You wouldn't be clicking anything if you didn't.

[cinepro]

Yes, it's like those memes where people post kids jumping ramps with their bikes, saying "Click if you had a 70s childhood like this and survived." Of course, you survived.  You wouldn't be clicking anything if you didn't.

 

You should post a response that says "Let us observe a moment of silence for those who can't click."

[The Nehor]

Yes, it's like those memes where people post kids jumping ramps with their bikes, saying "Click if you had a 70s childhood like this and survived." Of course, you survived.  You wouldn't be clicking anything if you didn't.

Somewhere I the Spirit World Internet (which is plugged into ours) several who died young cry a single tear and then laugh because the next life is much better then this one.

[Stargazer]

Somewhere I the Spirit World Internet (which is plugged into ours) several who died young cry a single tear and then laugh because the next life is much better then this one.

 

In the same book where I found the OP story was one from WW2 where an LDS soldier killed a German soldier who was approaching US lines, and when he and his buddy went out to check the German, found out from his papers that he was also LDS.  The LDS soldier was so overcome that he had killed a fellow Mormon that he had a hard time keeping from crying.  His buddy (also LDS) was afraid for his mental stability and had him sent back to the rear for some rest.  When he came back he told his buddy that a couple of nights after being sent back he had had a dream.  He said it was so real that he wasn't sure it was a dream or if the man was actually there.  The German soldier came to him and said "Please don't mourn for me.  You've done me a favor, for now I am out of the war and have found happiness as you will never know on earth.  I thank you, and sorry that you still have to endure the hell I have been so fortunate to leave."