JOE’S
ARMY DAYS
“I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the
high God hath wrought toward me. — and He doeth according to His will in the
army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth.” Daniel 4:2, 35
There are variations; take my enlistment as a
draftee. I was not a volunteer, yet I
was willing to be taken in. I offered no
resistance in the sense of flag burning or contempt for my draft card. There may have been a bit of hedging and
stalling because at the time there was a flood of advice and much proffered
counsel.
The opinion of the Defense Administration, from the angle
of security was that the young men of the nation were the foundation upon which
the “Ends of the world” were obviously resting.
There was much to be sorted and organized in the avalanche of
instruction and directives which engulfed us.
“But Daniel purposed in his heart—.” Daniel 1:8. In 1942 Adventist young men were in general,
men with tender conscience. We wanted to
bear up the standards of righteousness, and we yearned to honor our Lord and
Savior. Many of us had been taught well
in
Somehow during those stressful times in the bewilderment
of relating to an unwelcome situation, there were some general guidelines which
became vital to us as we secured ourselves to the needed anchor point.
(1)If my Heavenly Father indicated that the Army was where
I should be, I had best accept His assignment and learn to like it.
(2)As a Christian, I was to submit myself as a
conscientious objector, not to bear arms.
This was a tough one for me to understand and accept, it still is. From the present viewpoint, I am satisfied it
was the best choice for me, everything considered.
(3)Then there was Sabbath observance, which I had been led
to believe was not impossible, even in the Army. In my young mind the case was settled; there
were no pro’s and con’s, but it did have me worried. This problem loomed greater than any
other. Either I would prove up or I
would become a hopeless failure. I may
have been taking too long a look at my own meager resources, in time I would
begin to understand. My apprehensions
were mostly unwarranted, and that’s the focal point.
God is great beyond the elastic limits of our created
concepts. He is omnipotent, He is
omniscient, and He is everywhere. He
knows us by our names, the hairs on our heads are numbered. We each stand before Him as individuals
directly responsible to Him. His
character and His laws are as eternal as He is.
It is the very nature of these attributes that makes eternity all it is.
Amazingly, nothing in all of its vastness is
stereotyped. No two of us ever returned
from military service with identical reports.
Each of God’s children has been programmed, motivated, and reached
fulfillment by a totally different pattern.
Our trajectories across the stage of time and distance have never
followed precisely the same route.
Apparently some come through unscathed, while others have faced the most
horrendous problems.
In all the
God knows who and where His servants are, and the Holy
Spirit has power beyond what we can add or detract. He still penetrates the hearts of men, as He
has done in the past. He spent three
full weeks on an especially important case - one of His “Shepherds” who was
also described as “anointed”. Isaiah 44
and 45, also Daniel 10:13
I became well acquainted with a young man and his wife, my
age group, who arrived in
Sabbath Services were unique. While our “Auditorium” was nice and well appointed,
its size and our numbers were modest.
Compared to long lines at cinema ticket booths, our congregation was
anything but impressive. But, we were
one in spirit and in truth.
Bob Tretheway, our Sabbath School Superintendent, was a
soldier from
The Sabbath problem was really shaping up for me. As I saw it, I would soon be taking my stand
for God’s Holy Day, come whatever. I
would do everything right, and not procrastinate to the last moment. I would instigate and act out this momentous
drama. Another life or death struggle
was about to dominate my world.
Then came the bombshell!
Early one morning as we were standing in chow line, the raucous
announcement blared over the PA, “All Seventh-Day-Adventists report to the
company commander, right after breakfast.”
Now what? I no longer saw myself
as the aggressor.
Captain Catalano was telling us where we
stood. We would be issued our Sabbath
passes. We would report for KP duty on
Sundays. We would be in Basic Training
for only eight weeks which was as far as his responsibility extended. He again emphasized the importance of
saluting the commissioned officers and keeping our uniforms properly
buttoned. He advised us where we could
get transportation to town. His manner
was clear, simple, and almost casual.
Fifty-one years ago is distant. That morning there were three of us, and
there may have been a fourth. That God’s
Spirit was present cannot be denied.
William Voss was from
Not one of us could possibly resent what we had just
heard. We were all reassured; we found
ourselves liking our captain. How could
it have been any other way? I was back
at my own level, learning to follow the best captain, my own Heavenly Father.
We could thank our Church Leaders for all our efforts to
smooth they way for it’s young men. We
could appreciate the positive impressions of our young Adventists who had
preceded us. We were grateful for our
country, the great
In true military tradition, the commanding officer must
have the final word. Captain Catalano
offered the closing remark, “When you boys get into actual combat you will
likely not receive these considerations.”
We could all understand that. The
dark cloud still obscured the distance, and that horizon could not be too far
away. My apprehensions were not entirely
sublimated, so I continued to worry.
My next stop was at
The captain came personally to look me up later that day. His attitude could only be taken as kindness
and consideration. In his opinion, this
Army stuff was at best tough. He had no
desire to make a hard situation even worse and said that any time I wanted to
go to church on Saturday, he would sign my pass. He seemed pleased that he could do it.
Memories of those days keep flashing back, instant
replay. My four or five months in
His sister Hazel was also in town that winter. They both remembered me from the year before
when we had been students at
Others who knew the blessings of God’s Sabbath were
scattered across the camp and around
At
Sometime preceding the vernal equinox, our cadre boarded a
Southern Pacific train. There were at
least twenty-five cars as we were cautiously drawn out of town. After clearing the rail yards, we headed
boldly into the sagebrush toward the west.
It was fascinating to catch an occasional glimpse of the two big
steamers.
There were twelve, possibly fifteen of us plus officers in
our car. One of our group had been
carried bodily into the car by his close buddies. He was thoroughly drunk, really stoned
out. I had never been addicted, and was
thankful then, and still am. I can
easily understand how inevitable it could have been. Except for special grace from God and our
faith in Him, we are the victims of circumstances.
True, some will maintain that it’s otherwise, but often
that contention is only for the sake of argument. We are born into a sinful environment with
sinful tendencies. In all fairness, it
should be added; none of us was given a choice of birthday, or of parentage. Christ can break the bonds. He can make the difference, and he wants
to do that.
By this time I knew I was forming a positive attachment to
other members of our group, and realized some of the soldiers had like feelings
toward me. Any normal person can sense
that. We all knew what lay ahead;
somewhere beyond the sunset there was a staging area and our port of
embarkation. We knew why we were going.
We knew what equipment we had crated and shipped along
with us. We were Veterinary Aid
Men. Out there in the Pacific, no doubt,
was a big mountainous island. The Army
would use pack mules to transport supplies, probably many miles. We would watch for sick ones and attend the
injured. One of our men, Gene, always
anticipated the answers. He said this
one had to be
Gene Ramero had become a good friend of mine. On one occasion at
We laid over at
I was admitted to the base hospital for a hernia which I
never knew I had. There followed a long
convalescence with later waiting it out in the casual center. There would be reassignment. Under this order of things, there would be no
Sabbath problems, except an occasional hassle.
I attended church in the nearby town of
Sometimes I think it was a clever play by our officers to
eliminate the conscientious objector. My
cadre went on without me. The last I
heard, they were somewhere in
1943 was the year, it must have been early May, when a
large number of us were marched aboard an old ferryboat. Could it have been the “Catalina”? We went for an evening cruise down the
river. During the night we debarked and
were directed up a long, steep incline.
We were packing both of our barracks bags as I now recall.
In the dim, fuzzy light it was difficult to discern what
we could see at the distant and remote top.
An indescribable something was there in the eerie darkness. It absolutely dwarfed the warehouse on the
dock.
The Nieuw Amsterdam, while not to be compared with the
In the morning we lay at anchor, way off south of the
I have never heard an authoritative estimate of the number
of humans on that crowded sailing, but as enlisted men we were akin to herded
cattle. No doubt the large number of
officers at least had a token of amenities.
Women in uniform were also in evidence, mostly Army Nurses. Seven or eight thousand people aboard would
have probably been a conservative guess.
After a week, it seemed there was no end of all that
water. There was no sign of land. Only once did we sight a distant
freighter. We were apparently
uninhibited by any threat of submarines or of any enemy aircraft, we traveled
alone. Our liner was throbbing at full
steam ahead.
Daily and consistently, our clocks were retarded one half
hour. On the thirteenth day we spotted a
snowcapped mountain. A bit confusing at
first, it sure looked like
But, “Remember the Sabbath Day”. I have since been impressed by global maps
that the South Pacific is literally plastered with islands. How vast the ocean has to be! Only one Sabbath was possible during that
short, yet long interval.
At some time in thirteen days of extended light, an entire
twenty-four hours was dropped from our calendar. On a Friday night I went to sleep, and do you
know, the next morning was Sunday! No, I
did not attend church, but in my own spirit I remembered my precious seventh
day. Subsequently, I went back to
following the calendar. This was a
packed troop ship, if there were other Sabbath keepers aboard, I never knew it.
After a full month, we were some where on the southeast
portion of the
At times there was practice firing of our anti-aircraft
guns. Our huge vessel fairly bristled
with them. Our ultimate destination was
revealed to us before we reached
Our voyage to
I must of necessity cut the account short, but what a
climax! This is a story of Sabbath
blessings. I fear its final narrative
will be discredited by some because it seems so incredible, but I know it
really happened. I am not fanticizing or
exaggerating.
Camp Russell B. Huckstep was our permanent U. S. Army Base
near
Following an overnight trip on a slow train, totally
blacked out without even a subdued headlight, we arrived at Tel Litwinski, near
the young and vigorously active city of
Finally I was introduced to my new Captain, William
Sherwood. Himself a veterinarian, he
began to explain duties and general orientation. He informed me that I was now a food inspector. I was primed for the strategic moment, my
Sabbath observance.
This was as close to battle zone as I would ever get. Not too very long before, the Axis had been
within sight of
There existed all around me a reality, and my spiritual
eyes were once again to be opened. II
Kings
It took me awhile for that to penetrate, but it was as he
had said. Large numbers of Jewish
civilians were employed on the post, their Sabbath was thus recognized. That was, of course, something of a trump for
me. (No, I am not a card player.)
I like to think that I hold truth in high regard. I also admire people who are modest. I simply state that for the next two and a
half years I rode the crest of the wave in these ancient lands.
For one thing, I was an honored American GI, even
privileged. As a Food Inspector there
were many different capacities, all intensely interesting and highly
educational There was extended travel on
duty and ample time to improve the opportunities.
A small group of us were sent back to
I had completed a trip all the way around the world. If others who were present shared that
record, they certainly made no fuss over the event. As for me personally, I would never forget
the guarantee of Isaiah 58, “If thou turn not away thy foot from the Sabbath, —
I will cause thee to ride upon the high places”.
POST
SCRIPT
There were Allied Forces from every quarter of the “Free
World”. There was espionage from those
whom we were so determined to crush, and we had our own Secret Service and
Intelligence activities.
In a spiritual sense, we were deep within the land of the
enemy.
We had first hand contact with the Mohammedan world, and
were also prime targets of commercialism.
Egyptians had techniques peculiar to themselves, we found it nigh
impossible to avoid their sales promotions.
At least we had an option; we could either join the crowd and learn to
haggle over prices, or else we could go bankrupt - in a hurry!
At any rate, we would be out there buying; we were their
potential customers. It was a national
pastime. They would not be ignored, and
they would not take no for an answer.
Their ideas of hospitality demanded that we participate.
Street hawkers pushed everything at us from French
newspapers (and women) to rusty razor blades and second hand toothbrushes. There were petty thieves and yes, there were
pickpockets. Natives were efficient
beyond our wildest expectations. They
could easily pry open a trunk and steal the spare tire.
There were Christian Missions and Missionaries from all
over. They each represented a broad
spectrum of countries and denominations, at least it appeared so. In a way it spelled contradiction, but then
MISR (pronounced “MUSRA”) would have to be different. “MISR” was English equivalent of the Arabic
name for
The impression could easily be formed that, rather than
going to every nation, “Every kindred and tongue” had zeroed in on
This world is full of enigmas. Historically the
I repeat, the above are my own conclusions, they represent
no organized research or reference to any statistics. I can recall a number of encounters with some
missionaries and feel my life has been thereby enriched. Be they Catholic or Protestant, any effort to
relieve the sick or to minister to the hungry carries high priority in the
records of Heaven. I would not forget
the hospitals, schools, and other institutions that bear the Star of
Elijah was admitted straight into glory land, and John the
Baptist was laid to rest. Each has been
granted a specific measure, and it must be added. Our Heavenly Father’s paternal instincts (the
term may be way off) are not reserved for nor limited to
Seventh-Day-Adventists. He cares for all
His children and His invitation extends to “whosoever will.”
My first Sabbath as a G I was in the
I remember most distinctly the smoldering cigar on the
chaplain’s ashtray. Our first encounter
had not been nearly as rigid and impossible as I had envisioned. In my wild imagination we met the adversary
head on. We had taken the bull by the
horns and gained our objective. At least
some of the tension was relieved. I was
not bothered about how the other two had reacted. I may have been a bit self-centered, perhaps
even more so than I now suspect.
In August we arrived at the
The typical sermon was delivered in English with a
translator standing by the minister spieling it off in French. I had studied that language two years at
Among their personal things, the
While they cannot be expected to remember me all that
well, I know I will never forget them. I
am forever grateful to them for their positive Christian influence.
Lester Kenline remembers them too. He was stationed at the U.S. Air Base near
