At age 83, many of my Vietnam War friends have gone on to their eternal assignment. There are still a number that are healthy enough to wake up and get up to join me for a breakfast/lunch. My last two lunches with Vietnam veterans have included terrific sharing of war and spiritual stories. I have taken to wearing my Purple Heart cap which has "Combat Wounded" emblazoned also.
At a recent lunch a fellow Army Vietnam veteran joined me. We had a wonderful time of conversation together and when I arose to depart, I noticed a lady seated alone right behind me. I have had printed a tract denoting my Vietnam War wounding and spiritual healing story and I handed it to her. She glanced at it and indicated she was a Navy veteran, who had served in the fleet on a ship. My friend had come beside me by this time. We introduced ourselves as Vietnam veterans. In continued conversation I asked, if she had any prayer needs that my friend and I could pray for her. She indicated she did and mentioned a medical issue. My friend and I both placed a hand on her shoulders and prayed for her healing in the Name of Jesus. We were oblivious to its being a public location. At our age and background, we were not intimidated by the public location for our prayer. My friend went on before me to exit. I took the lunch payment ticket up to the cashier. The Navy veteran came up right beside and asked for the ticket. I indicated it was for two breakfasts. She said it mattered not. She paid the ticket! The younger Navy veteran treated two "old soldiers" to our breakfast!
Same restaurant several days later. This time with a Marine aviator Vietnam veteran, who wore his Marine cap. Again tremendous time together. In the course of our time together I noticed another veteran enter with a younger woman. He wore his veteran cap also. I mentioned him to my friend. During our time together the other veteran came over to our table to introduce himself. He was with his granddaughter and indicated he had served post-Vietnam as a Navy submariner. I related my favorite submarine story to him. When I was an employee at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center I organized veteran history programs. One of the most fascinating stories from a WWII submariner was, when they were surfaced in the Pacific and were attacked by a Japanese fighter plane. The U.S. crew returned fire on the enemy plane and it crashed into the sea with one of the three crew members dying. The other two were brought aboard the submarine on its way to Hawaii, where the two prisoners were to be taken as POWs. One of the Japanese felt it his continued duty to become very belligerent. He was. One of the senior Navy crew members, whose duty was to be responsible for the torpedo tubes, decided to try a special approach to tone down the prisoner. He shoved the Japanese aviator into an empty torpedo tube, locked it shut and began banging on it. Apparently this accomplished its purpose. For the rest of the journey to Hawaii the Japanese aviator was very cowed and submissive, realizing he could possibly be shot out of the tube. The threat worked! Our modern day Navy submariner chatted a modest additional time and went back to join his granddaughter. My Marine friend and I finished our meal and I offered to pay the ticket. He went out ahead of me and I started toward the cashier. She said our bill had been paid! Obviously this also younger Navy veteran had to have been our benefactor! I will never know the names of our benefactors, but I will always remember their generosity. Go Navy!
Full video of the WWII Submariners is at www.youtube.com/combatfaith Playlists.
"Veteran Stories From the Vault #3 WWII Submarines"
