Creating a Bond
Bob Benvenuto enlisted in the Navy in 1943 as a seventeen-year-old. When he finished boot camp, he found his name on a roster of men heading to an unknown destination beginning an almost indescribable odyssey. It started, with more than a thousand others, on a waterfront pier in New York, where he waited for two weeks. Finally, his group was marched onto the
Queen Mary, which arrived in Scotland five days later. After another week he went by train to Southhampton, England, where he was herded into an open field early in the morning to wait all day in the rain for a ship to arrive. At 1:00 a.m., after his personal “longest day,” a large ship came into the loading ramp and opened huge clamshell doors. Bob went aboard LST (Landing Ship Tank) 279 to receive the biggest surprise of his life:
I was amazed! At two a.m. we went on board exhausted… And surprise of all surprises, awaiting us, in spite of the hour, were hot showers and a turkey dinner. The Captain welcomed us aboard and explained that he was aware of our ordeal and sorry for the delay in bringing the ship in. He had ordered the cooks to prepare the special dinner and directed the chief engineer to open the fresh water showers just for us. To make our welcome complete he advised and allowed us to sleep in til mid day. And so it was, that we became shipmates of, and part of the crew of the LST 279. The concern and compassion of the captain (Lt. James T. Beard) had created a bond that night between his new crewmen, ship’s company and ‘his’ ship, that lasted throughout the entire European tour of duty.413
This story gives food for thought on the subject of hospitality. Are we doing all we can to welcome guests into our churches? If we are truly mission-oriented, these are the most important people at every service, not our friends and fellow church members. The first experience of a visitor can shape his or her attitude toward the message and body of Christ for a long time to come. An unexpected kindness may have a lasting and even an eternal impact.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.
—Matthew 25:35
Gen. Eisenhower gives encouragement to paratroopers. (Eisenhower Presidential Library)
Church service before invasion. (National Archives)