My father talks in his book Para(graph) Trooper for MacArthur about a World Are II incident in which he believes divine intervention saved his life.
This begins with a man named John Edwards, a Pennsylvanian who maintained supplies for the troops. He and Dad shared a tent on the tiny Pacific island of Morotai.
Shared Special Joys
The two also shared stories about their loved ones at home. Dad said Edwards would tell about his tremendous joy as the parent of two children and the blessings they brought to his life. “It was obvious he loved his wife very much and that he missed all of them terribly.”
While my parents married during WWII, they had no children. “That did not keep me from dreaming of the day when we would become a real family,” Dad wrote.
Asked to Join a Supply Flight
“One afternoon, Edwards asked me if I would like to go on a supply mission in the interior,” Dad said. Two platoons of infantry, sent on a search and destroy mission in the hills, had been cut off by enemy soldiers. They were running low on food and ammunition.
I Liked This Kind of Excitement
“In the early days of my war experience, I sought out excitement of this nature,” Dad wrote. “It was like a big adventure to me. So I told Edwards I’d love to go along. We took a corps Jeep to the airstrip where a C-46 transport plane was loaded with supplies to be dropped by parachute to the isolated infantrymen.”
Don’t Go, Joe, Don’t Go
But as Dad approached the steps into the plane, he suddenly heard a voice. “So help me, it was a voice!” he wrote. And the words were “Don’t go Joe, don’t go.” At first he didn’t believe what he was hearing, so he placed a foot on the plane’s ladder. “Again, this time the voice was very clear: ‘Don’t go, Joe.'”
Could Not Take Another Step
Dad said he simply could not take another step. “I was dumbfounded. I was confused,” he wrote. “I was frightened. He said the crew captain hollered down in frustration at his delay, “Hey Cap’n, you gonna’ go with us or not?”
Father wrote, “I was so shaken by my startling experience, I could barely respond.” He said he was embarrassed as he replied, “No thanks, sergeant…tell Captain Edwards I’ve changed my mind.”
Stood Trembling
As the aircraft roared away, Dad stood there trembling, his brain whirling as he pondered this encounter with the unknown. Dad had been a Methodist Sunday School member. He had sung for several years in the boy choir of an Episcopal Church in Kansas City. He had maintained a casual interest in religion all the way to adulthood. But he had never publicly professed any particular commitment to religion or to God.
“Did I actually hear someone speak? Was God actually talking to me or was I hallucinating? Was I suffering a form of combat fatigue?” Dad asked himself.
Back to Camp
Dad went back to his tent and looked out over the beautiful ocean landscape. He thought of my mother and his parents and wished he could tell them about this experience. But another soldier startled him out of this contemplation.
Cargo Plane Crashed
“Hey Snyder!” Dad wrote. “You hear what happened? That cargo plane with the drop for the infantry guys has crashed. The word is it swooped down into a small valley to drop the stuff, and as it zoomed up, the other side didn’t clear the mountain. It’s still burning…everybody’s presumed dead.”
As it turned out, he said, all aboard were dead. Captain Edwards’ wife was now a widow and their children had no father. “It had happened so quickly, so unexpectedly,” Dad wrote. “I was stunned, grief stricken.”
Agony of Guilt and Soul-Searching
Dad said he excused himself. He put his face in his hands as he went though “an agony of guilt and soul-searching like I had never done before. I thanked God over and over again.” He said, “As I think about it today, I’m sure the feeling I experienced then must surely have resulted from God’s presence.”
Tears, then Rebirth
“Tears came, then I underwent a sincere rebirth of my long-dormant faith.” Where? Right there in the jungle on one of the earth’s “most remote green cathedrals, little Morotai Island.”
“I assure you, it really happened. I heard a voice…. I am often reminded of that old hymn: ‘I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me he hath made known, nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for his own’.”
Didn’t Tell Anyone for Years
Dad didn’t tell anyone about his experience for many years, thinking he would be ridiculed. But he thought of this during his contemplative and prayer time before bed. He also thought of it every time he took communion at church. “Morotai is seldom far away,” Dad wrote.
My Dad, the Editor
For my part, I think my father was spared so he could create a family composed of my mother, Dad and my sister and I. He also was led into the weekly newspaper business, some 50 years spent publishing the newspaper in Gallatin, Missouri. He was a leader in the community in civic affairs and with the newspaper. For my part, I’m glad things turned out this way!