The Presbyterian Layman January/February 2001 Volume 34, Number 1 Posted January 24, 2001

A sailor’s story Johnny goes marching home By Lloyd Lunceford World War II has received a great deal of attention lately. America’s Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw is a bestseller. Last summer, the national D-Day museum opened in New Orleans to national acclaim. And just a few months ago, groundbreaking ceremonies were held on the Mall in Washington, D.C., for a much-deserved national memorial. It’s about time. New reports tell us that, 55 years after V-E and V-J Days, more than 1,000 World War II veterans are dying each day. This march of time was brought home to me in a personal way by the recent death of a fellow member of the session on which I serve. John Taylor Roberts, “Johnny” to all who knew him, died on Thanksgiving Day. He was 78. Fifty-six years earlier, he had been a 22-year-old lieutenant junior grade on the USS Corry when, on June 6, 1944, he took part in the invasion of Normandy. Because of Johnny’s self-effacing humility, I worked closely with him on the session for more than 15 years before I learned that his withered arm was the result of wounds suffered in combat that day. Our session meetings open with a short devotional by an elder. It was on such an occasion that Johnny finally told his story. His ship was conducting a naval bombardment when she was hit and began to sink, spilling the crew into the frigid 45-degree Atlantic waters. As Johnny and his buddies clung to flotation netting, enemy shellfire rained down on them and hot shrapnel tore through his right arm. He was bleeding badly and unable to use his left arm without letting go of the netting and drowning, so the sailor next to him cut netting to form a tourniquet. Eventually, they were rescued from the sea, but the sailor next to him succumbed to exposure. I sat riveted as Johnny quietly wondered aloud why his life had been spared when those of others had not. He long ago concluded that God had intended him to live a life of purpose. And he so lived. In the ensuing years, Johnny went on to a successful professional career and extraordinary civic involvement, including serving as international president of the Kiwanis Club. In our congregation, he was a pillar of the faith, a steadfast servant of Jesus Christ and an unwavering supporter of our denomination’s confessional standards. But Johnny no longer is in our ranks. He has marched home to be with the Lord he served so faithfully. The first night following his funeral, our session met for its regular meeting and it was my turn to offer a devotional. We all were feeling the void left by Johnny’s absence, silently asking ourselves, “How can we honor his memory?” The lessons of good men and women are lost unless their example reinforces upon our minds our own high calling. As we turned to Scripture, we were reminded that in a real sense, we, like Johnny, also were soldiers. In the Old Testament, the people of God often and quite literally constituted an army. In the New Testament, we are told that we have been equipped for spiritual battle with the whole armor of God so that we can stand firm. Though writing ostensibly to Timothy, Paul wrote to all Christians at all times that we should, “Endure hardship ... like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer.” We honor those before us when we step forward to fill their place in the ranks and tread where the saints have trod. Each day throughout World War II an “Order of the Day” was issued that set forth the disposition and objective of the troops. On June 6, 1944, when more than 200,000 Americans like Johnny Roberts would begin the liberation of Europe on D-Day, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a now famous Order of the Day: “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force: You are about to embark on a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you ... .” As followers of Christ, we too are participants in a grand and noble undertaking – to proclaim a gospel for the whole world and to the whole world, and we too have an Order of the Day. It is as it has ever been, to love one another, bear witness to the truth and be Christ’s witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” So let us press the march. Let us keep faith with a growing cloud of witnesses and, by doing so, honor them. Lloyd Lunceford of Baton Rouge, La., is the son of a World War II veteran, an elder at First Presbyterian Church and a director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee.

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