Message Description

On this Memorial Day weekend, Ken Carlson: West Point Graduate, Vietnam War Veteran & Orchard Hill Church member, talks about how God creates the makeup of our DNA and the impact he has on who we become by looking at examples of POW nurses in World War 2. Guide

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Message Transcript

I did my first Memorial Day talk here in 1999, a long time ago. If you would have told me that I was doing a virtual talk in 2020, being the technological dinosaur that I am, I would have said and what is that? But here I am, doing a virtual talk, and it’s still Memorial Day weekend. And as always, I'm humbled. I'm honored. And I'm very grateful to Kurt and this church to allow me to do this. And I hope that my message will honor those who have served our country and particularly those who have died in that service. And I hope my talk will also be God honoring.  

This is a day that I've pretty much always talked about heroes. A lot of them I've known personally, some I've read about in recent years. So often I've talked about some people that took extraordinary action under extraordinary conditions. But I've noted that military rank didn't seem to matter, that ethnicity, race, religion, gender, physical size, or just about any other measure I came up, with would apply to one, but it wouldn't apply to the next.  

And so, I wanted to dig a little deeper this year. And like many of you, I had a lot of time on my hands. And so, I had a lot of time to read, which is what helped me pass through this pandemic. And I read three different books on D-day. And I actually found it difficult because of so many acts of heroism to develop a story around one of those in particular, but then I read two books on prisoners of war, POW's. And I realized I was not looking deeply enough into the subject. And I was forgetting the role that God plays in our very creation, the makeup of our DNA, and the impact that he has on who we actually become. So, I turned to CS Lewis's, Mere Christianity, a book I've turned to many times, when I'm just looking for some simple truths. He reminded me that God puts into everyone's DNA some kind of rule or law, about decent behavior, or morality. Now, realizing this book was written many years ago, he said the law or the rule about right and wrong, used to be called the law of nature. Why was it called that? Well, because people thought that everyone knew it, that it was nature, right from wrong, and they didn't need to be taught it. He was quick to point out also that everyone doesn't obey it because we are born with free choice, and so we more often choose to sin than to obey that law.  

Now this Memorial Day talk is not a deep theological discussion of heroism and faith. I'm really not capable of that, particularly the theological part, but I do think they are connected. And maybe more so than we realize. I feel certain that every recipient of the Medal of Honor was not a devout Christian. I also know there're heroes and heroines from many countries and for many faiths. But I'm speaking about Americans today because this is an American holiday. And I'm wondering if that law of nature, talked about by CS Lewis, that sense of right and wrong, gains strength in America because it was nurtured in us from our country's early Christian beginnings.  

You see, it wasn't me. Although I remain a sinner. The natural sense of right and wrong was really reinforced in me at a very young age by two loving parents who actually practiced it. I got to witness it all the time in my home. They took me to a wonderful old Lutheran Church and I still have memories of this at this age of this wonderful Sunday school teacher. A good and decent man who told me the stories of Jesus and taught me right from wrong. And so, I was nurtured. I wasn't spoiled. I certainly wasn't coddled, I was nurtured. 

My four years at West Point where the motto is "Duty, Honor, Country," reinforced that. And I've often used this phrase speaking here, and many other places that I've spoken of the importance of choosing the harder right, instead of the easier wrong in difficult decisions in life. Of course, I've failed many times. And some of you listening today have gotten to witness those failures, but I never stopped trying. Is it possible that sense of right and wrong has been a trait of Americans in general for so long because we are a Christian nation, by heritage? And is it possible it's disappearing because we're turning our backs on God as a nation.  

So, my story today will not be about one individual act of heroism, but a group of women, a group of Army nurses who endured the horrific experience of being POW as they were held by the Japanese for years during World War Two. Now, I know the status of women has changed greatly throughout society, and particularly in the military. And I know that all nurses need not be women. They can be men too. So, don't think I'm being politically incorrect. The story is from the 1940s, and so it reflects that era. And like most of my stories, it requires a short history lesson.  

Most Americans associate the beginning of World War II with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. But you know, the world had already been at war for a long time before that, especially the Japanese. They were desperate for more land and more natural resources. The Japanese actually occupied Korea since 1910. They officially invaded China in 1937. And Germany had initiated war with Poland and then with England in 1939. And the French had already surrendered to the Germans in 1940, before Pearl Harbor even occurred. But it was a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that actually pulled the United States into the global war. But the US had vast interest in the Pacific. And the Japanese hoped by crippling the US fleet at Pearl Harbor, which they did, that they might have the US withdraw from the Pacific and concentrate their efforts on the war in Europe, against Germany.  

But the US had actually occupied the Philippine Islands since 1898. They had a large military installation there. They were under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. Now prior to the war, an assignment of the Philippines was actually a well-kept secret. It was somewhat of an island paradise. In many ways that reflected the pleasures of the old colonial lifestyle. There were Filipino house boys, and maids, and chefs, and gardeners, and tailors looking after your every need. At the five Army posts and one Navy base, there was badminton, and tennis courts, and golf courses. Word of this good life circulated around the Military and young women nurses, women who were ambitious women, who were looking for adventure, they volunteered for duty in the Philippines. And when they arrived, they often found weekly Polo matches, and cocktails, and bridge at sunset, white jackets and long gowns to dinner, good, good gin, and dancing under the stars.  

But you see the Japanese did not just attack Pearl Harbor in early December. Within days, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched attacks against Naval Army bases, airfields, ports in the Philippines and Malaysia, Hong Kong, Guam, Wake, then in the Midway islands, all with great success. And these attacks were to gain as much ground as possible, while the US Fleet was crippled in Hawaii. After Pearl Harbor, for the next six days, the Japanese pounded the Philippines, destroyed much of the military infrastructure.  

And then on December 22, 1941, 43,000 well trained, well equipped, Japanese forces landed in the Philippines to face a very inferior American and Filipino force. Caught in the air raid and murderous invasion were 99 Army and Navy nurses who had received no combat training whatsoever or wartime training. MacArthur made the early decision to fight a delay in action down the Bataan Peninsula, hoping for relief that would never come. He moved his headquarters into a heavily fortified island at the base of Bataan and hoped that he could hold out for some time, but the Bataan Peninsula was only 30 miles long. And it didn't last. 

The soldiers fought valiantly. The delaying action was slow and painful, but they could not hold out. But the nurses were part of this effort. They set up makeshift hospitals along the way, under horrible conditions, constantly having to move as the enemy pushed them back down and down the peninsula. The nurses were under constant air and artillery attack, just like the soldiers were. The wards looked like tropical greenhouses with beds set up between trees and a tangle of vines hanging overhead with actually no overhead cover for the elements. They worked around the clock. And under nighttime conditions, they had to do blackout work. At night wild animals wandered around in the hospital beds, wild pigs bumping into the nurses legs, geckos falling out of the trees, and one night, a nurse was smacked on the forehead by a snake that was swinging from a tree branch. As I said the efforts of the fighting man and the nurses could not have been more valiant. But as all supplies ran out, the elements took over. And finally, disease took over. And Bataan was surrendered on April 9, 1942.  

Now some of the troops who were wounded and extremely sick, and the nurses, were moved into the Island of Corregidor at the base of Bataan. But they could not hold out either due to malnutrition and diseases, and the overwhelming force of the Japanese. So, the Battle of the Philippines would end in early May 1942 with a complete surrender and would lead to the infamous Bataan Death March. The Americans and Filipinos that were captured by the Japanese, many of whom were malnourished, sick, wounded, were forced to march 66 miles in the sweltering jungle heat. They were beaten and tortured along the way. If they couldn't keep up, they were shot or beheaded. It's estimated that 72,000 started the march and 54,000 survived only to end up in POW death camps which might have been even worse.  

Now the nurses, there were only 66 left by now, and they were all Army nurses. Some of the Navy nurses had been evacuated by sea. The nurses were also taken as POW's and they were moved to an abandoned Dominican school called Santo Tomas, which the Japanese occupied and turned into a POW compound for what they called Enemy Nationals. It held mostly foreign, civilian nationals who were trapped in Manila in the Philippines when the war broke out. By the time the nurses arrived, many of them were sick and malnourished. And there were 3800 men, women, and children imprisoned along with them.  

The camp was initially under civilian control, which made it although very difficult, not quite as brutal as the camps that were run by the Military. The nurses were at first put into isolation, but because of the large number of people in the camp and the large number of sick people in the camp, the nurses were ordered to work as nurses in the prison hospital. And then days turned to months, and months turn to years. The Japanese were slowly starving all the prisoners to death, which further accelerated the diseases they already had. They had them all, malaria, dysentery, hepatitis, so on and so forth. Virtually every nurse was sick.  

Now fast forward to 1944. Remember, they were captured in 1942. The war was going badly for the Japanese. And so, the Japanese turned the prisoner camp over to the Military, which made this for a much, much more dangerous situation for the nurses and all the other prisoners. The Japanese had decided to limit their rations to a point that it could not sustain life. Now malnutrition, although not a bullet, might be a more painful way to die, to starve to death. It's slower, but it's just as lethal as a bullet. But finally, American troops landed on the Island of Luzon on January 9, 1945 and they began the liberation of the Philippine Islands. And then on the morning of February 3, tanks from the American 44th Tank Battalion crashed through the gates of the prison, and they liberated the prisoners, and all of the nurses. Miraculously, and I mean miraculously, all 66 nurses had survived. Some were sick, but they had all survived while hundreds of others had died in the camp.  

It's kind of amazing and there are probably many reasons for it, and I just want to share a couple with you that came to my mind. First of all, they had a commanding officer named Maude Davidson. She was older than most of the other nurses. And she was a career Military nurse. And the nurses didn't like her because she demanded discipline. And she reminded them throughout this long ordeal, that although they were prisoners, they would conduct themselves as members of the United States Army Nurses Corps. Now even though they were sick themselves, they reported for duty every day, because they were nurses, and the sick called them to duty.  

Now, I couldn't help but thinking, is some of this that natural law that's put into us by our Creator that CS Lewis talked about, that need to do good and honorable work, to work among the dying when you're sick yourself? You see what happened is the work sustained them. They had to get up every day. Others just laid down and died while the nurses got up and took care of the dying.  

I'm sure you're asking at this point, all right, Ken, where is God in all of this? Well, I see the sovereignty of God in all facets of our lives, always have. If you've heard me speak on the 4th of July, you know I believe God's providential hand was there at the beginning of our country and has remained with us throughout. But I do admit that a lot of the books I read did not talk much about faith, until I read one that took me right to the Bible. And it was titled If I Perish. It was a very, very comprehensive study of the nurses and nurses’ core throughout World War II. But at the very front of the book, was this portion of a Bible verse from the book of Esther from the fourth chapter, it said, "I will go and if I perish, I perish." This reflection by the author of Esther must have made the author think of the extreme sacrifices nurses were willing to make in this combat situation, in this horrible POW situation, even though they might perish. I'm sure they talked to her about that. 

Now Esther is one of the two books named for women in the Bible, and it's rather a simple story of courage of standing up for what's right, even when it's very difficult. But most importantly, it's a story of understanding the sovereignty of God and trusting in Him in difficult situations. Esther's story begins in Persia around 483 BC. Now that's about 100 years after Nebuchadnezzar had taken the Jews into captivity. A later King Cyrus had allowed Jews to return to Judah, but Esther had decided to stay in Persia. She remained there and she was adopted by her cousin Mordecai when her parents died. King Xerxes was the King of Persia at the time of Esther, and he could be described as a typical Persian King of that time. Persia was a world power with an incredible wealth, and they flaunted the wealth, particularly the Kings wearing precious stones and jewelry even in their beards. They threw lavish parties, they held absolute power over the people, and they really acted as a god over their kingdom. 

Besides their outward display of wealth, they collected great numbers of women that were called their harem. They were young virgins taken from their homes and required to live in separate quarters in the palace, and to be available to the king to await his call for sexual pleasure at any time. Now, at that time, Xerxes Queen had disobeyed him and so she had been banished and it was decided that a new queen should be found by a search throughout the kingdom. So, many beautiful young virgins who were brought into the palace to be prepared to be presented to the king. Esther was one of those because of her great beauty. Mordecai, her adopted father was all through also her advisor, and he told her do not reveal to the king that you are a Jew. But when presented to the king, Esther was chosen as the new queen.  

Xerxes also had chosen one of his men, a nobleman named Haman, one of the nobles to have a seat above all other nobles in the kingdom, which gave him special access to the king. And Haman hated the Jews, especially Mordecai, who wouldn't bow down to them. Haman because of his hatred of the Jews, and his relationship with the king, convinced him to issue a decree to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom. When Mordecai learned of this, of course, he was distraught and frightened. And eventually he went to Esther. He told her the situation, he instructed her to go to the king, to beg for mercy, and to beg for mercy for her people. Now, although she was the queen, she could not just go before the king. Everyone knew that you could not go before the king unless you were summonsed, and then he extended his golden scepter to you, otherwise, you would be killed. 

So after much thought and prayer and fasting, Esther said these words to Mordecai from the fourth chapter of Esther, "I will go to the king, even though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish." She did, and he extended the golden scepter to her. He spared her life and ultimately the decree to destroy all the Jews was lifted because of the courage of Esther and her faith in God. Now Esther obviously demonstrated great courage to approach the king just to begin with. But you know, I see it as much more a demonstration of faith. And I think faith is one of those terms, that Christians have a difficult time, sometimes articulating or explaining to non-believers. But it is so clearly defined in the book of Hebrews and has really long been one of my very favorite passages. It begins in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, where faith is defined in the very first verse. "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance about what we do not see."  

Those words, what we do not see, might cause non-Christians to say, well, isn't that blind faith? But no, it's not blind faith. Because the chapter in Hebrews goes on to list example after example of those who demonstrated exactly that kind of faith. In fact, Hebrews 11, has been called Faith Hall of Fame. And even more importantly, for those who demonstrated this faith, they all came from the Old Testament, which I think is important to note because that was before the coming of Jesus. That was before his life on Earth. That was before his teaching. That was before his death on a cross, his resurrection and the promise of eternal life through him. We know these things, or at least we should from the New Testament, they did not. But they still had faith. 

So, let me just name a few of those biblical people from the Hall of Fame that might be familiar to you. Abraham, he was called leave everything behind to go to a place where he would later receive his inheritance. And when he was tested by God, he offered to sacrifice his own son. Noah, who was warned about things not seen. Build an ark to save humanity. Moses refused to be known as the son of the Pharaoh's daughter. And he left the fleeting pleasures of sin, to lead his people out of bondage into the promised land. Rahab the prostitute because she welcomed Joshua. Joshua spies into Jericho and she was spared. She trusted God. She and her family were not killed with the others who were disobedient. And then the author of Hebrews goes on to say, "And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets." These people of faith died without ever receiving all the God had promised, but they never lost their faith. They never lost their vision of eternity in heaven.  

So, I'd like to end the day by asking you a question, how's your faith? Are you able to have confidence in what you hope for, and assurance about what you cannot see? Not because of what you hear in the news or from the government or read online, but because you have placed your faith in a living God. You know, many Christians today become frustrated and defeated because their needs, their wants, their expectations, and their demands are not met immediately. I know I fall into this category, at times, and I think we have all fallen into this category during this pandemic. We've questioned everything. We probably have questioned God, and our faith, and our government, and so many different things.  

Yet if you look at these heroes of faith from Hebrews 11, you can find courage and you can find a deeper understanding of faith. You see, they lived and died without seeing the fruits of their faith on earth. Yet they continue to believe. Maybe, maybe, we should study these people that are listed in Hebrews 11. It might make a great Bible study for a group. But please remember this. The starting point of all this is understanding and accepting the gospel message. You cannot make the leap today to true faith without accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and the work that he did for you on the cross. Now I doubt if many men or women facing combat have echoed the words of Esther, "I will go and if I perish, I perish." But you know what, I think many men and women who have gone into combat, and I think these nurses did, they went forth with that attitude without saying those words. And that attitude isn't easy. But we should decide to do what is right in life. We should decide to do what God would have us to do, and trust in Him and not our own thoughts. Trust in Him for the outcome. And then you will survive. You will survive eternally.  

Now I'd like to ask you all to pause for a moment of silence, stand if you're in a group and you're comfortable, or remain seated for this moment of silence, and I'll be back in a moment to close us in prayer. 

Would you pray with me please? Dear Heavenly Father, during these very difficult and confusing times, may we never lose sight of the fact that you are sovereign, and you are in control. Surely, we sense that now. And as we move out of this pandemic, may our country experience a new awakening of our need for you in our lives. And on this holiday weekend, I lift up the men and women who have served in our country and particularly those who have died in a service. I ask that you guard and protect those currently serving, that you bless and comfort their families, and bring them home safely. And I pray this all and in Jesus Holy Name. Amen. 

I want to thank you all for joining us on our virtual weekend. I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, safe, and healthy. Thank you very much.