Fate
In June 1944 Arnold Brown took command of Company G of the 358th Infantry Regiment fighting in France. His company had seen a lot of action and had suffered fifty percent casualties in recent engagements. He had three days to reorganize for the next attack on the Island of Seves. On the day of the battle he learned a lesson:
There was one sergeant, I couldn’t get him out of his foxhole to join us for the attack. He was squatted down below ground level, and he was frozen with fear. After this attack, which was also a failure, I went back to check on him. There he was, crouched down in that foxhole in the same position I’d last seen him. The only difference was, he had a hole in his steel helmet. For him to get killed like that it took a treeburst artillery shell, and a piece of shrapnel had to go straight down into that foxhole. The lesson I learned was, if it’s your time you cannot hide. I decided that I may get it, but I’m going to be doing my job when I do. If he had joined us in the attack, he might be alive today.447
I had a similar experience in Vietnam that haunted me for a long time. Due to a premonition, one of my men refused to go with his unit on an operation. I sent him back to a rear area intending to deal with him on our return. Unfortunately, the man was killed by a rare rocket attack on the base. My feelings then were similar to those of the officer in this story. As a Christian, however, I have come to see a different lesson in these incidents. I believe that these men did not meet some preordained “fate.” They were killed by random and senseless acts of war. In any dangerous situation we can take measures to minimize our risks, and we can pray for God’s protection. Our actions and prayers can make a difference. One thing is for certain: our prayers will always bring us closer to God, our ultimate source of comfort and peace.
Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.
—Ecclesiastes 9:12