Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II

by Larkin Spivey

  While in combat I have also fought off dark thoughts about my chances of surviving and of my “luck” running out. Unfortunately for me, I was a spiritual skeptic at that time and can attest to the fact that such thoughts can be overpowering without a strong faith in God and a sure knowledge of a place in his kingdom.

  He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.

  —Isaiah 25:8

  January 23

  Teamwork

  In September 1940 Kathleen Rainer was working in the fields near Ewhurst, Sussex, with her mother and brother. That day she observed an unforgettable incident in the sky above. As a dogfight between Allied and enemy fighters was raging overhead she saw a parachute appear. She realized it must be an Allied pilot when, to her horror, German fighters began to make passes, firing their machine guns at the helpless aviator. Then she saw an amazing sight:

  We were so proud of our pilots for what they did next… the other Spitfires began to circle the parachute, protecting the pilot from the German attack. As the pilot descended down, the rest of his squadron would spiral down with him, guiding him to the ground and protecting him. We were so proud of them, risking their lives to save that one pilot who was otherwise totally defenceless against the German fighters.34

  A big part of Great Britain’s success during the Battle of Britain is attributed to the survival rate of her invaluable pilots. The great advantage of fighting over home soil was the fact that so many of these young men were able to make it safely back to base, even if their aircraft were lost. For this to happen, however, it took teamwork and a strong belief in the value of each pilot’s life. Again, we see how important it was then to have strong, close-knit units in the face of danger.

  We need the same sense of urgency now in supporting and protecting each other within our own spiritual units of the body of Christ. The dangers may not be as obvious as those of actual combat, but the battle for our hearts and souls is just as real. We need each other—our brothers and sisters in Christ—if we hope to come through unscathed.

  Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

  —Ephesians 4:15–16

  January 24

  Thoughts of Death

  Fighter pilots had to live with their own thoughts of death. Most, such as Squadron Leader Peter Townsend, were able to keep such thoughts at a distance:

  Some of us would die within the next few days. That was inevitable. But you did not believe that it would be you. Death was always present, and we knew it for what it was. If we had to die, we would be alone, smashed to pieces, burnt alive, or drowned. Some strange, protecting veil kept the nightmare thought from our minds, as did the loss of our friends. Their disappearance struck us as less a solid blow than a dark shadow which chilled our hearts and passed on.35

  As a religious skeptic during wartime, my thought process was similar to this. In moments of panic, I prayed to God, even though I didn’t know him and didn’t really expect an answer. When the crisis of the moment was over, I never gave him credit for the result. During the lulls in action I fought off the same dark realizations expressed by this British pilot. A lonely death could come at any time. I had a good enough imagination to know that it could happen to me. Still, I tried not to dwell on that fact.

  When you only expect a void after death, the best you can do is to avoid thinking about it. What amazing peace is available to us in any crisis when we are confident in our relationship with God and in the knowledge of where we are ultimately going. The apostle Paul gave us the classic statement of reassurance:

  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  —Romans 8:38–39

  January 25

  The Face of God

  During the Battle of Britain hundreds of Americans went to Canada to enlist with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and to join the fight against Nazi Germany. Eighteen year-old John Magee was one of these daring young men. After training he was sent to England where he joined No. 412 Fighter Squadron, RCAF. Flying his Spitfire in fighter sweeps over France and England he achieved the rank of pilot officer.

  One day while flying at the extremely high altitude of 30,000 feet, he was struck with inspiration for a poem. On the ground he finished his poem and put it on the back of a letter to his parents. The words of the young airman continue to paint a vivid picture:

  Up, up the long, delirious burning blue

  I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

  Where never lark, or ever eagle flew

  And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

  The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

  Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.36

  Unfortunately John Magee was killed three months after writing this poem. His majestic words have been quoted often, most notably by Ronald Reagan, eulogizing the Challenger 7 crew after their tragic loss in 1986: “They waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.”37

  To say that you have ‘touched the face of God’ may sound presumptuous. However, I believe that we all desire to come closer to God, and that there are moments when we feel his presence. The beauty of a sunset, a storm, many natural vistas, all evoke thoughts of God and his majesty. In quiet moments of prayer we often sense his presence and tender mercy. These moments are real and open to us daily as a sure way for each to “touch the face of God.”

  The heavens declare the glory of God; The skies proclaim the work of his hands.

  — Psalm 19:1

  January 26

  Miraculous Escape

  It was Sheila Delaney’s eleventh birthday, but after school, sadly, there was no party. In the fall of 1940 the usual routine for her family was to move to the bomb shelter at about 6:00 p.m. Soon after that the air raids started. The bombers were heard droning overhead searching out their targets. This night it was Sheila’s town, Birmingham. They were comfortable enough in the shelter with their flask of tea, flashlights, and extra clothing for a long night. They could hear bombs exploding all around, but tried to keep occupied with singing and talking. Lying on a bunk, Sheila eventually drifted off to sleep, peacefully unaware of the bomb that was about to destroy her shelter. Later, she said:

  I remember nothing more until I recovered consciousness to find myself being carried to a first-aid post, where they bandaged my cut head. Our shelter had had a direct hit and the shelter and bunks had become a tangled, twisted mess. We had all been thrown out onto the ground outside but survived with cuts and bruises.

  In the daylight the adults surveyed the devastation. Shrapnel had shattered all the windows and blown the roof off our house along with a couple of houses on either side. The bomb crater measured 24 feet across and in it were the remains of our air-raid shelter. We had a truly miraculous escape.38

  What could be more random than the path of a falling bomb? Imagine life in an air raid shelter. Where is the next bomb going to fall? Undoubtedly, thousands of prayers went up to God during the Blitz, and many survivors could claim God’s protection. However, we know that many who prayed did not survive. Did God answer some and not others? No one can answer such a question. We know that death and destruction do occur in this world, and God doesn’t promise to protect us from all earthly harm. He does hear each of our prayers, and he does promise to be with us always.

  O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.

  —Isaiah 25:1

  January
27

  New Value System

  Fighting for your life has to change your outlook on life. Dennis Robinson was nearing his home base after a long mission. Even though he knew better, his guard was down.

  The first thing I felt was the thud of bullets hitting my aircraft and a long line of tracer bullets streaming out ahead of my Spitfire. In a reflex action I slammed the stick forward as far as it would go. For a brief second my Spitfire stood on its nose and I was looking down at Mother Earth, thousands of feet below… I felt fear mounting. Sweating, mouth dry and near panic. No ammo and an attacker right on my tail. Suddenly the engine stopped.39

  At this point Robinson’s aircraft was without power, defenseless, and gliding down. He began frantically searching for signs of the enemy fighter. Miraculously, he found himself alone in the sky. He managed to crash land his Spitfire in a field near Wareham and walk away with only a bullet graze on his leg. He felt strangely elated:

  The release of tension as I realized my good fortune is something that cannot be described. You only know what it is like to be given back your life if you have been through that experience. I experienced this feeling several times during the Battle and it had a profound effect on me, which remains with me to this day. It somehow changed my value system, so that things that had seemed important before never had the same degree of importance again.40

  This young pilot’s combat experience is a good reminder for us living in comfortable surroundings. We need to periodically and intentionally reappraise our own value systems. The problems and crises in our lives often take our attention away from what is truly critical: our relationship to God the Father. We realize what is unimportant only when we grasp what is ultimately important.

  By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

  —Galatians 5:5–6

  January 28

  Children

  Norman English was seven years old in August 1940 and lived adjacent to an RAF base. Bombs fell on and around the base often as the anti-aircraft guns returned fire. To a child it was very exciting:

  We used to sit on the fence for a grandstand view of the action! Until the adults came on the scene and sent us down to the shelter. I remember vividly, the vapour trails in the sky and watching dogfights in the sunny clear skies during the Battle of Britain. During the war living where we did, we were bombed, parachute land mined, aerial torpedoed, doodle bugged, and finally V2 rockets. Some of my school chums and their parents were killed.

  One aircraft machine gunned our road then dropped a bomb which blew up the gas main, and destroyed Banfields the greengrocers on the corner, and smash(ed) the water main with the huge fire of the gas main and with the water filling both sides of the road and flooding the gutters.

  It was not long after the all clear was sounded that all the children in the road were paddling along the gutters and towing their toy boats behind them! All this within 20 minutes or so of being bombed and machine gunned.41

  God bless the little children. I am sure that the parents of these were gratified to see them acting their age even under the direst of circumstances. Jesus also admired the openness and honesty of children, and, in fact, stated that only those like children would be able to enter his kingdom. By this he meant that we all should cultivate a childlike wonder at the world and ability to accept simple truths. Jesus’ message is the ultimate in simplicity. Most children understand it immediately. We can’t work our way to God. God’s grace is a gift.

  I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

  —Matthew 18:3–4

  Watching dogfights high in the sky. (Harry S. Truman Library)

  Fighting fires during the London blitz. (National Archives)

  January 29

  A Nation Prays

  Forty days after the German invasion of France and Holland it began to appear that all was lost. The French army was largely routed. The noose was tightening at Dunkirk. Panic was beginning to ripple through Great Britain at the specter of her army being annihilated on the beaches of France. In utter desperation the church leaders of England, with the support of King George, many political leaders, and much of the nation’s press, called for a National Day of Prayer on May 26. On that Sunday church attendance mushroomed as thousands flocked to the altar, turning to God in the hour of their greatest trial.

  As we know in retrospect, these prayers did not go unanswered. Hitler’s panzer divisions continued to hold back from an assault on the beaches at Dunkirk. Amazingly, the weather on the French coast and English Channel seemed to be finely tuned to benefit the desperate soldiers on the beaches. Somehow the Royal Air Force stemmed the tide of the Luftwaffe. Many years later the Reverend Clive Duncan of St. Mary’s Church delivered a sermon about these events:

  There were two phases to the Battle of Britain. One was the Military side and the other was the Spiritual phase… the Germans initiated the Battle of Britain in order to clean the RAF out of the air. However, they lost the battle not only because of the RAF’s defence of the skies over London but also because they could not break down the courage and resolve of the civilian population. It took Christian courage in both phases to face the battle and to win.42

  If there ever were a time for people to quake with fear, this would have been it. But regardless of how they may have felt, the people of Great Britain found the strength to behave courageously. Their faith sustained them during their darkest hour. In the same way, whenever we feel daunted by circumstances beyond our control, we should call upon God and move forward courageously in the power of the Holy Spirit.

  Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.

  —Psalm 50:15

  January 30

  Faith of a Child

  Elizabeth Batten was five years old when World War II started and had vivid recollections that she shared with her daughter, Ellen. She saw the sky light up over Liverpool during the bombings and heard the sounds of aerial combat overhead. She spent hours and sometimes all night in a shelter under the stairs. She cried a lot and forever after had an aversion to small spaces. She consoled herself by sticking Bible verses and Sunday school pictures on the walls of the shelter. She took special comfort in a picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd and the image of him watching over her and her family.

  In recent years Ellen Batten was leafing through her mother’s Bible and found a picture of her grandfather with an inscription on the back, “To Betty, lots of love, Daddy.” She thought about her mother’s prayers and how they were eventually answered when her father came home from the war. Her mother’s faith had sustained her through many difficult years. Ellen realized that her mother’s faith had also profoundly influenced her own spiritual life:

  Today in a world ravaged by war and human rights abuse, many question the existence of God. However, I have come to share my mother’s quiet faith. Faith turned to constructive prayer and action, faith placed in a God of love and compassion surely can give strength in dark times.43

  The key to Ellen’s faith, modeled after the faith of her mother, was that it was based not on what men do, but on who God is. It is a lesson that would serve all of us well to remember in every trial we face. The character and power of God is unchanging.

  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

  —1 Corinthians 2:4–5

  January 31

  The Few

  The Battle of Britain was raging. Every resource of Fighter Command was engaged in defense against the attacking Luftwaffe. On August 20 Winston Churchill went before the House
of Commons once more to inform and reassure his countrymen. In this speech he coined the phrase “the few” to refer to the fighter pilots of the RAF. The phrase would stick.

  The great air battle which has been in progress over this Island for the last few weeks has recently attained a high intensity. It is too soon to attempt to assign limits either to its scale or to its duration. We must certainly expect that greater efforts will be made by the enemy than any he has so far put forth.

  The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.44

  We know from the outcome of this great struggle the effectiveness of a few good men. There are other examples of this phenomenon from previous wars. In biblical times, Gideon faced the army of Midian with thirty thousand of his own troops. God told him that he had too many men. Twenty thousand were dismissed, and, still, God told Gideon that he had too many men. Finally, three hundred were selected to battle the powerful Midianites. God did this to ensure that Israel would know that he had saved them, and not their military might. God also knew that a few good men could be more effective than a nervous horde.