"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:12 - 13
I've just finished a book about a specific aspect of World War II, "Solo into the Rising Sun." (If you are too young to remember, the Japanese flag was known as "the rising sun.") The book is about a squadron, VPB 117 (visual patrol bombers). That was the squadron my dad belonged to as a "naval ordinanceman," better known as a gunner. The squadron was comprised of B-24s the navy had converted and referred to as PBY4's (1 and 2). Dad flew in the nose of the bomber (click here for an image of the bomber), and he went into combat in the Pacific in late 1944 after over a year of training.
Visual patrol bombers were different in the navy than in the Army Air Corps for several reason. One was the look of the aircraft (the front gunner was in a turret and not a glass enclosed front like the image above). Secondly, and most importantly, the navy used them as reconnaissance to advance into forward territories occupied by the Japanese, a particularly hostile and aggressive enemy to confront. Consequently, the bombers flew solo, not in formation like you might remember from any movies about bombings in Europe (hence the title, "Solo into the Rising Sun").
There are many things I learned in the book which I may reference from time to time in devotion, but one thing I learned was just how hostile the action actually was that my dad and others in the squadron was. To listen to my dad talk of his days in the Navy was like listening to your son come home after a great experience (going to a game or out hunting or something along that line). My dad loved it. First, flight was still in its youth at that time, having been achieved earlier in the same century, so the fascination with an aircraft and being in one was truly an experience of awe. Secondly, it was my dad's first experience with indoor plumbing having grown up in rural Minnesota and shared a bathroom with five sisters. Third, my dad loved the camaraderie which he often spoke fondly of.
The war? I learned in the book of his actual war experience, because when he spoke of it, it was always a very positive experience. In the book, a factual record by the son of one of the pilots in the original squadron, it was battle. Search areas on Southeast Asia along the coast of Vietnam or China or "Formosa," see Japanese fighters or guns from destroyers or fleets you inadvertently stumble on (remember, they are doing reconnaissance) and find yourself in a hot mess. About five crews were lost (35 men). Plane crashed or were shot down (low on fuel, engines stop, took fire and crashed or crash landed into hostile territory). In all of it, the glue that holds the unit together is the love between the crews. Competition? Yes. Love? Absolutely. There was a bond. The pilot and HIS crew, and among the crew itself. To account for each other and to seek until exhausted in a loss is a theme.
What about us regular guys on a daily basis? What does Christ mean in his famous passage, "greater love has no one than this...?" How do I give up my life for my brother when I don't face hostile action? How about this: you give your life to Christ and reach out to your brother or sister in need? We love one another in our actions. We surrender to Christ and not the daily enemy who dwells among us (temptation) and we account ourselves to one another. We ask each other how the day is and we are sincere. We give up this desire to win and win at all costs and reach out and help a brother or sister behind us as Christ stopped and reached down to Peter as he sank in the sea, but we do so because one day we will sink and need a brother in Christ to reach out and pull us up.
Maybe that is the start, but it is certainly our prayer, that we be there for one another as Christ is for us.
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