Stories tagged with: just war

• Twin brothers, WWII veterans, joined for eternity

  by Mike Schueler, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of Hannah Hanzel/Baptist Messenger

  MCALESTER, Okla. (BP) -- Claude Stokes guessed he had about 15 seconds to decide how he was going to die.

  It was 1944, and the 20-year-old tank commander was lying face-down in a ditch in the middle of a firefight in central Italy when he heard something sizzling. Claude looked up to see a German artillery shell sticking out of the mud about six inches from his head. Since the shell didn't explode on impact, he had a choice: stay put to hope for a dud or run for it through a cloud of German machine gun and mortar fire. Read More

• WWII ship's discovery prompts survivor to 'praise the Lord'

  by David Roach, posted Thursday, August 24, 2017 (7 years ago)

  

  CBSNews.com screen capture

  CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- When Edgar Harrell learned about the recovery of the U.S. Navy cruiser whose sinking he survived 72 years ago, his first reaction was "praise the Lord!"

  "I'm so excited," Harrell, 92, told Baptist Press. "It kind of brings closure."

  The U.S.S. Indianapolis' discovery was announced Aug. 19 by Paul Allen, an entrepreneur whose research ship located the wreckage 3.5 miles below the surface of the Philippines Sea. The Indianapolis was sunk by Japanese torpedoes July 30 ... Read More

• North Korea nuclear escalation spurs call to prayer

  by David Roach, posted Wednesday, August 09, 2017 (7 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from CNN

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- Amid escalating tension with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, evangelicals are calling for prayer and advocating wise use of America's diplomatic and military capabilities.

  "It appears that the time for a diplomatic solution to curb North Korea's increasing acts of aggression is quickly running out," said former U.S. Army chief of chaplains Douglas Carver. "Now is the time for Southern Baptists to pray for the commander in chief and his cabinet members, our congressional leaders and members of the armed services who may be required to make grave and costly decisions in the near future." Read More

• U.S. entry to WWI remembered as chaplaincy catalyst

  by David Roach, posted Monday, April 24, 2017 (7 years ago)

  

  Photo from Wikimedia Commons

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- The 100th anniversary of the United States' entry to World War I is also, says former U.S. Army chief of chaplains Douglas Carver, the 100th anniversary of when "the U.S. military chaplaincy came into its own ... as a distinct branch of the Armed Services."

  Among Southern Baptists, April 2017 additionally marks the 100th anniversary of the North American Mission Board's assignment to coordinate Southern Baptist Convention participation in U.S. military chaplaincy -- initially under the auspices of NAMB's precursor, the Home Mission Board. Read More

• Strike on Syria called 'just,' prayer urged

  by David Roach, posted Friday, April 07, 2017 (7 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from U.S. Department of Defense

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- Following a U.S. missile strike against Syria, Southern Baptists pledged prayer and claimed the action was appropriate retribution for deadly chemical attacks allegedly carried out by the Syrian military.

  Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines said he "completely support[s]" President Trump's authorization of the attack. Former U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains Douglas Carver said the strike "met the 'just war' criteria for military actions." Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission ... Read More

• Frank Gillespie remembered by Clemson's Dabo Swinney

  by Gerald Harris, posted Wednesday, March 22, 2017 (7 years ago)

  

  Photos courtesy of ClemsonTigers.com

  VILLA RICA, Ga. (BP) -- Frank Irvin Gillespie's last year playing football at Clemson was 1949 -- 20 years before Dabo Swinney, coach of the university's national championship football team, was born.

  However, Coach Swinney called Gillespie's son Frank the day after his dad died to offer his condolences -- a call evidencing that Frank Irvin Gillespie's influence at Clemson is legendary and still being felt nearly 70 years after his last football game. Read More

• Pearl Harbor attack cited as evangelism catalyst

  by David Roach, posted Wednesday, December 07, 2016 (7 years ago)

  

  Photo from Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

  HONOLULU (BP) -- As Americans commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, some Christians also are remembering a series of evangelistic harvests that emerged from the death and destruction.

  Among those to find a saving relationship with Jesus in the aftermath of Dec. 7, 1941, were the commander of the Japanese air fleet that carried out the attack, Japanese Buddhists in Hawaii and other Hawaii residents who heard the preaching of missionaries recalled from East Asia. Read More

• MIA 65 years, Korea veteran draws pastor's gratitude

  by David Roach, posted Friday, November 11, 2016 (7 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of Paul Kim

  CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (BP) -- The return of a Korean War veteran's remains to his hometown of Cambridge, Mass., 65 years after his death in 1951 provided opportunity for local Korean Christians to pay tribute and for pastor Paul Kim to offer a public Gospel witness.

  U.S. Army Cpl. Ronald Sparks, then 20, was wounded in action and captured by Chinese troops the year after he arrived in Korea to help defend it against a communist advance. Shortly thereafter, his family received notice he was missing in action and presumed dead, his nephew Bob Sparks recounted in The Vineyard Gazette of Martha's Vineyard, Mass., in July. Read More

• Southern Baptists honor Pearl Harbor survivor

  by Todd Deaton, posted Thursday, June 16, 2016 (8 years ago)

  

  ST. LOUIS (BP) -- World War II veteran Bill McAnany, one of 2,000 living survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, was introduced to the Southern Baptist Convention as messengers honored America and recognized military veterans June 14 at the SBC's annual meeting in St. Louis.

  Calling it an "awesome privilege," SBC President Ronnie Floyd observed that a memory of WWII disappears from American culture every three minutes as those who fought in the global conflict pass into eternity. Read More

• MEMORIAL DAY: Jimmy Connelly's greatest honor

  by Jim Burton, posted Friday, May 27, 2016 (8 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo

  ST. GEORGE, S.C. (BP) -- An estimated 3.6 million Americans fought in the Pacific Theatre in World War II, overcoming brutal encounters on island after island against Japanese soldiers burrowed into the hillsides.

  The late Jimmy Connelly was one of those Americans.

  The Navy made Connelly chief of a troop-landing Higgins Craft during the massive amphibious assaults at the outset of the Allies' first major Pacific offensive against the Japanese -- Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

  Each craft could ferry up to 36 Marines, and when they stormed the beaches, Connelly operated a 7.62mm belt-fed machine gun to provide cover. On his 10th trip to transport troops into the Solomon Islands battle zone, he also was carrying several hundred five-gallon cans of gasoline. When a mortar round struck their craft, shrapnel pierced his neck and arm, and his pants were set afire, propelling him into the ocean. Read More