Category: Faith

#10 – Hate to Love: How Enemies Found Forgiveness

December 7, 2020

“Tora, Tora, Tora!”

A veteran Naval aviator with 10,000 flying hours, Captain Mitsuo Fuchida led 183 aircraft on the Pearl Harbor raid. His radioman signaled the famous coded message as bombs, torpedoes, and bullets devastated American naval and military forces in the Hawaiian Islands. The Japanese sunk 21 vessels including most of the battleships, killed 2400+ sailors, destroyed 188 aircraft, and damaged another 159. Fuchida’s squadrons experienced light losses, with only 29 aircraft shot down. 

The Captain urged a second launch to hit vital American drydocks and oil storage facilities. Vice Admiral Nagumo refused, saying the audacious attack was a decisive victory. Japan’s audacious air attack was designed to destroy U.S. aircraft carriers, break America’s will to fight, remove U.S. economic sanctions, and secure a negotiated peace. 

The Japanese had calculated wrong. 

December seventh.
Nineteen forty one.
A date which will live —  in infamy.

As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood before the combined U.S. Congress and Senate, he evoked uncanny resolve and unity among the assembled leaders. Watch the video here: 

But always, will our whole nation, remember the character of the onslaught against us! No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery will never again endanger us.

We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God!

Less than five months later, America launched its own daring attack. On April 18, 1942, sixteen U.S. Army bombers took off from the USS Hornet destined to bomb Japan. Corporal Jacob DeShazer served as bombardier on airplane number 16. 

During preparation for the launch, DeShazer’s aircraft had sustained a damaged nose canopy leaving a large hole. Aircraft number 16 fell behind the formation but continued toward the objective, hitting Nagoya. Unable to sustain flight to friendly lines due to the drag from the shattered window, the crew parachuted in the fog over Japanese-occupied China.

DeShazer hated the Japanese, who had captured his crew and executed his pilot and engineer gunner after tying them to crosses. As guards slowly starved a fellow crew member who encouraged hope and faith, Jacob wondered if he would ever return home. In 1944, the Japanese emperor called for better treatment of prisoners. DeShazer received an English Bible from his captors, read the Gospel over a three week period, and gave his life to Christ. His bitter heart toward the Japanese turned toward pity and love. After the war, Jacob DeShazer attended seminary and returned to Japan as an evangelist.

Peggy Covell’s parents were missionaries in the Philippines. Upon their capture by the Japanese in December 1943, they asked for thirty minutes to pray before their execution by beheading. Undaunted by her parents’ death and empowered by a strong faith, Peggy ministered to Japanese prisoners in Colorado. When a boat returned 150 prisoners after the war to Yokosuka, Captain Mitsuo Fuchida saw a familiar face, flight engineer Kazuo Kanegasaki. 

How did the Americans treat you, old friend?

With respect. I met a young American woman named Peggy whose missionary parents were beheaded. She treated us as a sister to relatives, telling us Jesus Christ loved us and died for us. We didn’t understand it.

Fuchida didn’t understand either. He wondered why his aircraft remained airborne over Pearl Harbor despite being hit 21 times by anti-aircraft fire, the rudder cable holding by a thread. Suffering from appendicitis six days before the Battle of Midway, Fuchida served on the bridge of the aircraft carrier Akagi when American bombers attacked. Both ankles broken in the destruction of his ship, Fuchida was evacuated to Japan and medically grounded. 

Assigned near Guam on Vice Admiral Kakuta’s cadre, Fuchida was recalled from Tinian two weeks prior to the senior staff choosing seppuku, a samurai ritual of suicide by disembowelment rather than surrender to advancing U.S. forces. Next, Fuchida was detailed to organize the aerial defense of Hiroshima. On August 5, 1945, he was summoned for a briefing in Tokyo. The next day over breakfast, Fuchida learned his entire team and thousands of others had died in the massive blast that ushered in the nuclear era.

World War II had ended. However, Mitsuo struggled with lingering hate for the Americans. Why did he survive?

But God had a redemptive plan for Mitsuo Fuchida. Fuchida was given and read a pamphlet printed in Japanese about how Jacob DeShazer met Christ while in Japanese captivity. Mitsuo respected this American Doolittle Raider who had fought honorably and wondered why Jacob would preach the gospel in Japan. Fuchida was captivated by Kanegasaki’s story about Peggy Covell, who forgave, served, and loved the Japanese despite her parents’ violent death. 

Fuchida bought a Bible, but continued to wonder what it all meant. Why would these people love and forgive their enemies? It didn’t make any sense. Fuchida found the answer in Luke 23:34 of the New Testament:

Father, forgive them. 
They don’t know what they’re doing.

In 1950, Mitsuo prayed and came to know Jesus. Soon thereafter Fuchida knocked on the door of Jacob DeShazer’s residence to introduce himself.

Come in, come in!

Former enemies became brothers, preaching the Lord’s message of forgiveness and hope to thousands all over the world. The legacy and example of former enemies Mitsuo Fuchida and Jacob DeShazer continues today.

Sources:
(1) https://www.christiantreasury.org/content/mitsuo-fuchida-forgotten-story-faith
(2) https://www.stripes.com/news/pearl-harbor-pilot-became-evangelist-1.85934
(3) http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl2.htm
(4) https://spu.edu/depts/uc/response/spring2k4/eternity.html
(5) https://providencefoundation.com/baptism-by-fire-pearl-harbor-hand-of-god-mitsuo-fuchida/
(6) https://bulletininserts.org/the-strange-love-of-peggy-covell/
(7) http://www.doolittleraider.com/raiders/deshazer.htm

Dr. Mitchell Morrison, (c) 2020. 
All rights reserved.

Flight and Faith Blog

#9 – God’s Spirit at work

November 10, 2020

2 Peter 1:20-21. Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. [ESV]

Francis Lyle Lee entered the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet March 5, 1942. Lee began primary flight training on June 27 in the 165 hp Ryan PT-22. With nine hours and three minutes of dual instruction logged, Cadet Lee soloed on his fourteenth flight over California’s Central Valley. Frank’s training journey continued in the 450 hp BT-13, 650hp AT-6, and various fighters including the P-47, P-40, and eventually the P-51 Mustang.

Lee’s aviation duties during World War II took him from California to Arizona, then Tallahassee, Florida, where he continued work as a gunnery instructor and assistant operations officer. On February 28, 1945, Captain Lee departed San Francisco, bound for the Pacific theater of operations. On June 10, 1945, Lee was credited with an aerial victory over a Japanese Tony fighter while in battle over Tokyo. With 1547 hours as a pilot, including 1166 in fighter aircraft Francis Lyle Lee returned home in late 1945 to Roanoke, Virginia.

Lee was one of millions of brave Americans who served during World War II. Frank rejoined his wife, the former Francis Gusler and young daughter, Nancy to attend Washington and Lee University, build a business, and leave a legacy. Not as a war hero but good husband, father, and granddad.

According to family lore, God’s spirit touched Lee with the strong hands of a builder who made great pickles.

What ordinary people have had extraordinary influence upon your life?

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I’m grateful for the blessing of meeting Nancy Swartz and reading through the logbooks, photos, and papers from her father, Francis Lee. You connect us with people and circumstances with divine purpose and timing. Allow Captain Lee’s life story to inspire others. Encourage us, Lord, that each person’s journey and legacy matters.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Flight and Faith Blog
https://drmitchellmorrison.com

#8 – Finding new hope in our eternal home

October 29, 2020

Eleven years ago today, on October 29, 2009, we lost nine heroes in a tragic night midair collision between a Coast Guard C-130 rescue aircraft and a Marine Corps AH-1 combat training helicopter off the coast of Southern California. The lives of many people I know and love changed forever that evening.

John 14:3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.

A year after the tragedy, I traveled on a well-appointed command and control jet with Coast Guard colleagues to visit the several families of those lost. Stopping in the U.S. Northeast, we went to one warm family home that connected with me deeply.

Our briefing team included an Admiral, his wife, an aide, Chaplain, and myself. During our meeting, the young crewman’s family told us about their son and brother whom they had loved. We ate cake, laughed, and cried with them. A few years later the mom reached out to me, asking to receive a recording of her son’s voice. The data was protected by the military investigation process; however, over the course of several months, I worked through the steps and gained approval to grant the request.

We may die, but we’re not gone forever

At the conclusion of our meeting, I hugged and thanked the mom for her patience, grace, and empathy. My arms around her, I felt God’s presence, as if I was hugging her for their son. Few times in my life have events touched my soul like losing seven shipmates on Coast Guard Rescue 1705 and two brave Marines. But God’s plans and destiny are not only about our temporal earthly life. We may die, but we’re not gone forever. 

With Jesus, we have an eternal home and future with God in paradise. Before Moses died, he gave a blessing to each of the twelve tribes of Israel, including Jeshurun: “There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in His majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place” (Deuteronomy 33:26-27a). During your time on earth, receive His Majesty’s blessing of redeeming life in Christ.

Psalm 31:5. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

Connect: Draw near and listen to God. How is He speaking to You about your eternal home?

Grow: Discuss today’s theme with someone you love and trust. Do you connect with the idea that you are created for an eternal purpose? How can you make your life matter now? What story can you tell or prayer could you pray to encourage or bless someone else?

Live: Where will you go, what will you do, who will you serve? How will you live today? 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I abide in Your eternal presence as my dwelling place. Thank You, Lord, for Your promise of redemption; and in Christ, build our faith for more than only a temporal life on earth. Prepare a place for us, and we look to You to provide us with grace today and hope for tomorrow. To Your honor and glory, I’m grateful to have served in the military. For those families who lost those they loved, would You grant the peace and comfort that only You can provide, Lord? In Jesus’ name, Amen.

By permission from:
Why God? 40-Day Devotional
Mitchell Morrison
(C) 2020