Follow Me
The first wave to hit Omaha Beach was devastated. As the ramp dropped on his landing craft, Chuck Hurlbut stepped into the water and quickly saw the ranks of his unit shredded by enemy gunfire. He struggled through the surf to the sound of explosions, small arms fire, and the cries of wounded soldiers. Somehow he made it across the beach to the dune line, where he found more devastation and chaos. He didn’t know where he was or where the others in his unit were. There were no leaders, only other scared and disoriented soldiers like himself. Looking seaward he saw landing craft burning and bodies all over the beach. The rumor swept through the dispirited men that the invasion on Omaha Beach had failed and that those there were stranded. He wondered where they would go. Into the water? At this dark moment he witnessed an amazing phenomenon:
All of a sudden, a guy here, a guy there, a sergeant here, “Come on guys, let’s go get them.” They started up. They got these snipers along the way. They blew out a pillbox. About 1 o’clock, 1:30, up on a hill, way up on the horizon, I saw some Yank ees, waving, “Come on up! Come on up!” And whoever those guys were, they were the heroes. They lacked the leadership but they had that initiative, the soldier quality, that said, “We’re not gonna die here. Let’s go get these guys!”427
The hallmark of American fighting men in World War II and in the present day is summed up in one word: initiative. When officers are not physically present, small-unit leaders and individual soldiers step up to do what needs to be done. This is partly due to training, and partly due to something in the American character. The individualism and personal responsibility that we see in our soldiers are by-products of the freedom that they enjoy as Americans. This freedom was God’s gift at the founding of this nation and the reason he has blessed America throughout much of her history.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
—Galatians 5:1