Chaplain (Ret) Edward F. Lundwall, Jr.
Prayer is not usually associated with an infantryman’s life until he gets into combat. Remember the old saying that “There’s no atheists in foxholes!” Stories about prayer in the midst of combat are legend. Most of these have to do with getting out of personal dangers.
While a GARBC Chaplain with the 1/27th Infantry Battalion, the most memorable prayer that I heard was in the medical aid station of the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division at Dau Tieng, Viet Nam.
As I was trying to comfort the wounded, I stopped to talk with the platoon leader of the recon platoon that had been guarding the bridge. It was during the ‘69 VC Tet offensive. The men in one of his bunkers signaled that they were running out of ammunition, so he tried to run over there with a resupply. Unfortunately, our supporting helicopter gunships couldn’t tell if he was the enemy with satchel charges, so they laid grenades on him.
After hearing his story, I prayed for him. But as I finished, he began praying for his men until he lost consciousness. To this day I don’t know whether he lived or died. But in godly military terms, how better to enter into the presence of the Captain of our salvation, praying, not for self, but for his men in the shadow of death!
This is reprinted from Regular Baptist Press, Illinois.
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