I served with the merchant marine sailing on ships that carried cargo and fuel supplies to the troops—as well as supplies for overseas civilians. Sometimes we sailed in convoys; other times we had naval and air protection. But frequently we sailed without escort protection.
While in boot camp, I attended a meeting in Los Angeles at which brother C. H. Brown spoke on Psalm 91. I feel that today I’m a living example of the truth of the psalm, both physically and spiritually.
When in San Francisco getting ready to ship out, I suffered an attack of appendicitis, ending up with a thirty-day sick leave. A year later I learned through a “boot camp” mate that the ship I was scheduled to sail on left port and was never heard from again.
I spent six months in Africa in a group of ten cargo ships supplying the forces fighting against General Rommel. When sailing these waters in the evening, the ships would line up in four assigned columns. One evening, when in line, we had slowed to allow a British ship in ahead of us. The lookout on our ship yelled “torpedo” and we watched the wakes of three torpedoes cross the bow of our ship.
All three torpedoes hit the ship that had pulled in front of us, which immediately exploded and sank within minutes. All hands on that ship were lost.
Later in the war we were carrying cargo during a battle in Sicily. We had anchored in the harbor when the enemy mounted an air attack. Many ships were being bombed by enemy aircraft. A British ship which was anchored less than one hundred yards from us received a direct hit from a bomb. Within fifteen minutes it had sunk with only five of its crew surviving.
That same aircraft dropped a second bomb, which came so close to those of us who were watching from our ship under the “shelter deck” that I could feel its “whoosh” and smell the grease on its shell as it passed by us. It hit the bottom of the harbor (about twenty-eight feet deep) and the resulting explosion and concussion drenched us with about a half ton of ocean water.
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee. . . . He shall cover thee. . . . Under His wings shalt thou trust. . . . Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee” (Psa. 91:17).
J. Robert (adapted)