The Parson
Radm. Robert Mills tells the story of an unnamed Kansas divinity student who enlisted in the Navy in 1941. Seeing an opportunity to serve his country and the Lord, the young man brought one hundred miniature Bibles with him when he reported aboard his first ship, the destroyer USS Ralph Talbot . Since storage on the ship was extremely limited, the Bibles had to go in his own locker. Also, no chaplains were assigned to destroyers, so he started holding worship services himself. The rough-talking crew attended sparingly and showed little interest in the Bibles. They did start calling the young man “Parson.”
In August 1942 the Ralph Talbot was assigned to support the landings on Guadalcanal. The Parson’s battle station was the Number 4 five-inch gun mount on the main deck. This mount was unshielded and ammunition had to be passed hand-to-hand across the deck from the ammunition hoist. The Parson was the last man in the chain and had to hand the sixty-pound shells up to the ever-moving gun mount.
During the night Battle of Savo Island the Ralph Talbot was heavily engaged, attracting the fire of at least three enemy cruisers. One of several shells hit the crew living compartment, flooding it with a mixture of seawater and oil. Another shell struck the main deck, as the admiral described while telling his story:
Of more instant concern, one incoming shell hit the underside of #4 five inch gun, bursting just behind the large brass and steel fuse setter, not three feet from where the Parson was busy at his battle station. The explosion and shrapnel killed the man on the Parson’s right, the man on the Parson’s left, and killed or injured nearly every other man in that gun crew. The Parson was untouched.191
After this incident, the crew regarded the Parson with a sense of awe. His church services on the fantail soon became overcrowded. The hottest items on the ship were salt-water-soaked, fuel-oil-stained miniature Bibles.192 Surely the hand of God was on this man dutifully trying to do God’s work in a difficult place.
But you, O Lord, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
—Psalm 22:19–20