Larkin Spivey - Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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