Shipboard Service
The troopship weighed anchor at 6:30 p.m., moving south into the gathering darkness. The night was not totally black and the outline of untold numbers of other ships could be seen on all sides. The lanes through the minefields had been cleared and marked, and the ships moved through uneventfully. At about 9:00 p.m. someone came on the ship’s public address system to read D-Day messages from the Navy admirals and General Eisenhower. Not long after, the ship moved past a line of battleships, waiting in the darkness.
Later still, one of the unit chaplains held a service on the quarterdeck. He stood on top of a packing crate as the troops gathered around. The ship was rolling by then in heavy seas and several men had to support the chaplain to keep him from falling off his perch. The troops crowded round in their life belts and steel helmets, seeking comfort in the chaplain’s words and familiar passages of Scripture. In the words of the old hymn, “Abide with Me,” they found special reassurance of God’s presence on a dark night:414
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens: Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word; But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free. Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.
Thou on my head in early youth didst smile; And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee, On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.
I need Thy presence every passing hour. What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.415
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
—Psalms 91:1 2 (KJV)