By Evangelist John BJ Hall
Our nation has forgotten what true heroes look like and what they do. Here is my take on that subject.
A young soldier was in the regular army before World War II began. He had gotten married before war broke out and he was “retained for the good of the country.” At the time he was a private in what was then named the “Horse Drawn Artillery” of the United States Cavalry. He shipped out to England and waited for his battalion, the 773rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, to be deployed.
He was among the first troops to invade North Africa. There, he had his comrades fought Rommel all the way across North Africa. Then they shipped out to Cicely and Italy and fought their way north toward the heart of Germany.
Toward the end of the war, they were looking to join up with an infantry battalion for a joint push into Germany. Communications were a severe problem in WWII. The commander did not know where the infantry battalion was so he ordered the battalion to stop and our soldier was to run forward on foot in an attempt to locate the infantry.
As the young man, now a Staff Sergeant ran forward, he saw a German helmet among the hedgerows. He ducked down and followed that German back to his camp. The camp was a German headquarters group. He watched as the Germans worked over a map under a tent with the flaps raised. He could see that they were planning an attack on the very infantry battalion he was looking for.
He ran as fast as he could back to the commander and told him what he had seen. The commander ordered him to get in his half-track and lead the battalion in. He was to stop “two clicks back” from the camp. They then circled the camp with the three-inch naval guns that were mounted on the half-tracks lowered and aiming into the camp. The commander got on the bullhorn and said, “I am the commander of the 773rd Tank Destroyer Battalion of Patton’s 3rd Army.” He continued, “You are completely surrounded. If you desire to live, lay down your arms and come out of the camp with your hands over your head.”
The Germans did as they were commanded. Our Sergeant’s actions had saved an entire battalion of infantrymen from being attacked. This action earned our Sergeant his second Bronze Star.
The Sergeant had been on the front lines for 34 months without R&R. When his commander found out that he had been there that long with no relief, he gave the soldier ninety days R&R in the States. He landed in New York harbor the day that President Roosevelt died. Just a few weeks later, May 8, 1945, victory was gained in the European Theater of Conflict. I know these things because that young Sergeant was my father, Harold Amos Hall, a native of Hennessey, Oklahoma.
I shared this story with a WWII veteran in a doctor’s office waiting room. With a tear trickling down his cheek he said, “My brother was in the Infantry Battalion your dad saved.” He said, “He told me several times about a Sergeant in the Tank Destroyers that saved them from a surprise attack in Germany.”
This is what a true American hero looks like.
But there is a greater hero. One who died over almost 2000 years ago on a hill called Golgotha. He laid down His life in the ultimate sacrifice to bring peace and salvation to a lost world. His name is Jesus. Have you trusted in Him?
Acts 4:12 (KJV) says, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
He saves us from the attack of the enemy every day of our lives and for eternity to come. All you have to do is believe in your heart that He is the Son of God and that He died for our sins. Then confess with your mouth, turning from the sins that enslave you.
Let Jesus Christ be your eternal hero.
© Copyright 2017 by Passages Ministries. All rights reserved.