106 Miles through the Valley
Seventeen-year-old Glenn Frazier was captured on the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942 and spent three and a half years in Japanese prisoner camps. His worst ordeal was the first six days and seven nights. Glenn surrendered with seventy-eight thousand other U.S. and Philippine troops who found themselves at the mercy of an enemy who held the act of surrender in the greatest contempt. The Japanese forced their already exhausted and disease-ridden captives to march overland with practically no food or water to distant prison camps. Those who fell out along the way were killed. Thousands died along this grim trail in a tragedy that the survivors would never forget. Throughout the infamous Bataan Death March, Glenn Frazier turned to God for the strength to keep going and, because of his powerful faith, ultimately survived the brutal trial of endurance. He later described his ordeal and his salvation in a paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm:
Yea though I walked 106 miles through the valley and in the shadow of death, I feared the evil of the imperial Japanese soldier. They had the guns and bayonets to use against me. All I had was the love and faith that God would comfort me. I knew the Lord was my shepherd. They forbid me to lay down in green pastures for six days and seven nights. I was marched by running water but was forbidden a drink. The Japanese prepared their tables before me but I was forbidden food. They maketh me march without mercy. But only God could restoreth my soul. He leadeth me step by step along the way in the face of my enemies. He promised to anoint my head with love and understanding and, even though my cup was empty, I knew it would be filled in his name’s sake. I knew that goodness and mercy would follow me. My life would be spared in his name. I knew that even though the path was long and hard, it was the path of righteousness for his name sake.165
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens… Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.
—Psalm 68:19–20