At the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, one reader, Walter "Bud" Rockwell of Hartford, Connecticut, shared some of what he calls "my blessings and holy experiences while serving in the United States Infantry in Europe, during 1944 and 1945."
I left the Port of New York on my nineteenth birthday in May 1944. Knowing that I'd be shipping out, my parents came from upstate to visit me, in case I could get a weekend pass from embarkation camp. There was no way for me to tell them I couldn't get a pass, or when I was leaving, because telephone calls were forbidden. Knowing the very building in which they were staying, I waved at it as we sailed down the Hudson River, hoping they were looking out, but knowing that I was really too far away to be recognized. Nonetheless, I felt no sadness, but gratitude for their being there and for their having given me Christian Science from birth. It was because of this that I knew prayer was the only safe foundation to trust in while serving my country. I felt confident that I was under the control of God, not chance. This would be proved true time and again.
I arrived in Normandy ten days after D-day. After a month, I was assigned to an infantry division, and served as one of the radio operators to a major, a battalion commander in the Normandy campaign. He was always at the front of battle, radio operator at his side so that he could talk with the four infantry companies he commanded. I found myself praying constantly, when walking or resting or waiting. Sometimes I spoke Bible verses in cadence with my steps. At any need, prayer was always my first response. My prayer was always fashioned to meet the current need— sometimes thoughtful and deliberate, sometimes a remembering of a verse from the Bible or something from Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. Prayer eased my concern and brought results. If I felt urgency or fear, God always delivered peace to my thought—not always in the way I'd expected, or hoped, but always through a blessing. A Sunday School teacher back home sent the following citation by Mrs. Eddy, which refers to the purification of thought produced by the "baptism of the Holy Ghost": "By purifying human thought, this state of mind permeates with increased harmony all the minutiae of human affairs. It brings with it wonderful foresight, wisdom, and power; it unselfs the mortal purpose, gives steadiness to resolve, and success to endeavor." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 204
