INDOMITABLE COURAGE
Thanks again to Kelleigh Nelson for sending through this story of amazing optimism. As the world faces many massive problems I trust my readers will be encouraged by this story from Pearl Harbour.
Gibber! Gibber!
Chugley
God and Mistakes
What God did at Pearl Harbor that day is interesting, and I never knew this little bit of history.
Tour boats ferry people out to the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii every thirty minutes. We just missed a ferry and had to wait thirty minutes. I went into a small gift shop to kill time.
In the gift shop, I purchased a small book entitled, “Reflections on Pearl Harbor” by Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Sunday, December 7th, 1941–Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington, DC.
He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt calling.
He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet.
Nimitz landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941. There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat–you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.
On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters everywhere you looked.
As the Admiral’s tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, “Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?”
Admiral Nimitz’s reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice.
Admiral Nimitz said, “The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?”
Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, “What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?
Nimitz explained:
Mistake number one:
The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk–we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.
Mistake number two:
When the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships. If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow every one of those ships to America to be repaired. As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America. And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.
Mistake number three:
Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply. That’s why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make or, God was taking care of America .
I’ve never forgotten what I read in that little book. It is still an inspiration as I reflect upon it. In jest, I might suggest that because Admiral Nimitz was a Texan, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Texas — he was a born optimist. But any way you look at it–Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism.”
President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job. We desperately needed a leader that could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat.
There is a reason that our national motto is, “IN GOD WE TRUST”.
Why have we forgotten?
PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY! “
In God We Trust”!
Chester William Nimitz was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, commanding Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II. Wikipedia
Born: 24 February 1885, Fredericksburg, Texas, United States
Died: 20 February 1966, San Francisco, California, United States
Children: Chester Nimitz Jr., Anna Elizabeth Nimitz, Mary Aquinas, Catherine Vance Nimitz
Buried: 24 February 1966, Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, California, United States
Parents: Chester Bernhard Nimitz, Anna Josephine
Grandchildren: Frances Mary Nimitz, Sarah Catherine Nimitz, Elizabeth Joan Nimitz
Spouse: Catherine Vance Freeman (m. 1913–1966)
2 thoughts on “INDOMITABLE COURAGE”
In the US and other western nations, the God we used to believe in as Creator, Sustainer and Saviour has (for the most part) been pushed away. I’m not surprised then that immorality and the many forms of depravity are becoming accepted…even normalised. Too many modern folk would not understand the power and sovereignty of the God in which their forefathers believed and trusted. The modern US and western nations don’t accept their wilful and deliberate push to ignore God is leaving them morally weakened and vulnerable to satanic forces.
Matthew 12:44,45 describes the real problem –
“Then it (demon) says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied (without a trust in God), swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
Many thanks Paul for this enlightening comment, much appreciated! Gibber! Gibber! Chugley
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