Heroes Are Made In Hell

Posted by Cynthia Howerter on May 31, 2012 in American History | 3 comments

Hell produces heroes.  In the midst of a military battle, there are soldiers who fight and miraculously come out unscathed, warriors who are wounded, and those who die.  There are also medics whose job it is to provide emergency medical care to a wounded soldier on the battlefied in the midst of battle.

While WW II raged in Europe, the new Pacific battlefront required more soldiers than were in uniform.  Because most men 18 years or older were already in uniform, the Army went into American high schools and explained their critical need for enlistments.  High school boys were told that if they enlisted now, they would be permitted to finish their high school education if they survived the war.

WW II was a time of desperation and patriotism.  Male and female, young and old, all wanted to support their country’s war effort, and so it was that Louis Michaels, a high school senior, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1944.

Before he left home, his grandmother gave him a pocket-size Bible and told him to keep it with him until he returned home.  She told him that its words would keep him safe.

During infantry training, Louie realized he had a high probability of dying if he remained a foot soldier, so he volunteered to become an Army medic.  This would have been a safe choice had Louie been sent to Europe where the German Army respected medics and didn’t shoot them when they assisted the wounded in battle.

The Japanese, however, had a different perspective.  Kill a medic and the wounded would most likely die, too, from lack of immediate care.  Call it a “two-fer.”

Louie’s quest to find a safe assignment failed.  He was put aboard a ship for the South Pacific, landing at Mindanao in the midst of a battle too brutal for words.  It didn’t take him long to realize that the red cross on his helmet was a prominent target.

Battles are never casual.  Men die left and right of you so fast your mind can’t even fathom it.  Sometimes the young, good-looking kid kneeling next to you becomes a puddle of gore.  It is suicide to move in such an assault.  But that’s when soldiers most need the medic.

Louie told me of those battles, of the screams of the wounded calling for the medic, for him.  And he knew that had he tried to get to the suffering men while enemy bullets pinned them all down, he would have been instantly killed.  So he stayed put, remembering God’s promises in the small Bible in his breast pocket, the bag full of morphine slung over his shoulder useless as he endured the screams of the hurt and dying until it was safe for him to run to them.

Louie’s unit battled it out on numerous South Pacific islands.  Along with many of his friends, he eventually succumbed to malaria.  Only a handful, Louie among them, survived the deadly illness caused by drinking contaminated water.

Two weeks after Hiroshima was decimated by the atomic bomb, Louie and his unit were part of the first wave of American soldiers to arrive at the still smoldering, highly radioactive city.

Throughout my childhood, Louie told me stories of his war experiences, but he never told me the gut-wrenching, gruesome ones until he was dying.  Although these final stories were shocking and difficult to hear, it wasn’t until then that I fully comprehended that I had, all along, been in the company of a hero.

Corporal Louis B. Michaels

U.S. Army

163rd Infantry

41st Division

1926-2004

We give thanks to You, Almighty God, for our brave men and women who selflessly put their lives on the line for ours.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Cynthia Howerter © 2012 

Wisdom Wednesday

Posted by Cynthia Howerter on May 30, 2012 in Wisdom Wednesday | 0 comments

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” - Ronald Reagan, 40th President of The United States.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Cynthia Howerter © 2012

Devotional Thursday – Finding Joy

Posted by Cynthia Howerter on May 24, 2012 in Devotional Thursday | 1 comment

At the end of January, my husband was temporarily re-assigned to a corporate facility five hours away.  Tim’s company initially believed he would be there for 6 to 8 weeks.  Now it’s looking like the assignment will last months.

With God, there’s a purpose to everything.  Perhaps someone at the facility needs my husband to witness to them.  Maybe my husband will benefit from the testimony of someone else.  One thing’s certain:  God has a need for Tim to be there.

My husband is a gift to me from the Lord, and I miss him terribly.  But I’ve learned to be grateful in all situations.  Truly, there is something good in everything that is bad, albeit we sometimes have to really look for it.

How can you say that?  you ask.  Because adversity has taught me to look beyond the difficulty that I face, to seek what God would have me learn through the situation.  God is teaching me to allow my trials, great and small, to deepen my relationship with Him.

I know, without question, that no matter what situation I’m in, God is right alongside me and He wants me to draw closer to Him, not to the TV, not to the computer.

Although it would always our first choice, God won’t take us around trouble.  No, He escorts us right through the middle of it, staying by our side all the way to the exit door.

As much as I miss my husband, I know that no difficult situation lasts forever.  The Scriptures and my experiences have taught me that.  When Tim’s assignment is complete, the Lord will bring him home to me.

But I’m not waiting until then to rejoice.  I have reasons to celebrate now:  God has given Tim a job.  Thanks to Him, we have a steady income, we have a house, we can buy food.  God is seeing to it that all of our needs are being met no matter where one of us is assigned or where the other lives.  The Lord is crossing every “t” and dotting every ”i.”

No matter where my husband might be, I know he loves me and is counting the minutes until he can come home.

And I am here waiting patiently, keeping my focus on the One who placed every star in the sky and the love in our hearts.

Delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.  Psalm 37:4, 7a.  NKJV.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Cynthia Howerter © 2012

Wisdom Wednesday

Posted by Cynthia Howerter on May 23, 2012 in Wisdom Wednesday | 0 comments

“God who gave us life gave us liberty.  And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we have removed their only firm basis:  a conviction in the minds of men that these liberties are the gift of God?” – Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Cynthia Howerter © 2012

Wisdom Wednesday

Posted by Cynthia Howerter on May 16, 2012 in Wisdom Wednesday | 0 comments

“Without a humble imitation of the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, we can never hope to be a happy nation.” – George Washington, 1st President of The United States.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Cynthia Howerter © 2012