I think of prayer as a spiritual lifeline back to where I most want to be.
Marianne Williamson
(US Sailor Petty Officer First Class Joe George / Photo: George-Taylor family / Speical for The Republic)
(****for some bizarre reason, the post I wrote yesterday and attempted to post
via my phone this morning did not post in its entirety.
I’ve had to delete it and go back in to find what I had last written and saved.
I’ve cut, paste and fixed the original post intended…which you will see here…)
Last night with the television on, while the news played on in the background
as some sort of mindless white noise,
I was perched on the couch with my trusty little laptop in my lap.
I was struggling with my ponderings.
I didn’t know what to write.
What was to be the next day’s post??
Time, or the lack thereof, has been such an issue so being short, sweet and concise
seemed essential.
Suddenly, a familiar voice caught my attention, pulling me back to the moment.
The voice was that of Gary Sinise and it was coming from a trailer for a new story coming
to PBS.
As most folks know, Gary Sinise is most remembered for his iconic role as Lt Dan
in the movie Forrest Gump.
I was not a fan of the movie.
I found it just way too silly and bordering on stupid.
Sure there was that hoped-for lesson at the end of unconditional love, but I just
wasn’t won over by the attempt.
However, my appreciation for Gary Sinise runs deep and comes from his tireless work for
and with veterans along with and for their families.
He actually oversees a foundation that focuses on our veterans, first responders
and their families…
At the Gary Sinise Foundation, we serve our nation by honoring our defenders,
veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need.
We do this by creating and supporting unique programs designed to entertain, educate,
inspire, strengthen, and build communities.
Freedom and security are precious gifts that we, as Americans, should never take
for granted.
We must do all we can to extend our hand in times of need to those who willingly
sacrifice each day to provide that freedom and security.
While we can never do enough to show gratitude to our nation’s defenders,
we can always do a little more.
-gary sinise
So now it seems that there is a new documentary coming to PBS about Pearl Harbor.
The trailer is narrated by Gary Sinise.
The story is about the heroism of an unsung naval roughneck and boxer,
Naval Petty Officer First Class Joe George.
With only seconds to make a life-altering decision, to defy or not to defy the orders given
by his commanding officer, a 26-year-old Petty Officer George unwittingly turned hero.
It was within those few seconds of wavering that meant the saving of 6 men who
were caught on the burning USS Arizona, men who without the quick thinking and action
of Joe George, would have all burned alive–
right in front of the eyes of this young sailor.
However, despite his selfless act, Petty Officer George was never recognized for
his action of heroism nor was he to ever talk about what happened that
fateful December 7th day…
not until very late in his life did he verbally recall a very visceral nightmare.
Fast forward to our current day.
Joe George passed away in 1996, at the age of 81, but that did not stop efforts to
bring a long overdue recognition to a man who was never acknowledged as the one man
who made the difference between life and death for the lives of the last living
6 men on the USS Arizona on that horrific Sunday, December 7, 1941.
PBS will be airing his story.
President Donald Trump posthumously awarded the Bronze Medal of Valor to George’s
daughter in 2017.
The ceremony took place on the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii–it was the first
time a medal ceremony had ever taken place at the Memorial.
But there would never have been a ceremony or a PBS story had not two of the
surviving 6 men, who now in their mid to upper 90’s, made it their mission to
make certain that Petty Officer George was recognized for saving their lives
as well as for his actions of bravery and heroism.
In a previous article written in an Arizona newspaper, the story ran that,
“Donald Stratton, 94, and Lauren Bruner, 96, will go to Washington, D.C.,
next month and hope to meet with lawmakers,
Navy officials and representatives from the White House.
Their goal is to secure a posthumous award for the sailor, Joe George.
“He should have the Navy Cross,” Stratton told The Arizona Republic last year.
“He saved six people’s lives. Joe saved six lives and he didn’t get crap.”
Their decades-long efforts were finally acknowledged when Petty Officer Joe George
was officially honored by the Navy and the US Government on December 7, 2017…
76 years after the very day he risked everything for his fellow sailors.
The story is full of the providence of God’s hand.
George had been confined to his to repair ship which was tethered to the
USS Arizona there at the Pearl Harbor docks…
Had George not gotten into trouble the day prior for brawling in town,
he would not have been on the repair ship, confined to quarters.
He would not have seen those last 6 men stranded on the deck of a ship engulfed
in flames.
With the final bomb dropped, engulfing the Arizona in a massive fireball,
had George not defied the orders given to cut the tether, he would
have left those 6 men to perish in the flames joining the other 1177 men
who perished on that ship that life-changing day in 1941.
Instead, he managed to throw another rope 70 feet to the stranded men, who quickly
tied it off and began the hand over hand climb from the burning and sinking
death trap to the safety of the repair ship.
Once the men were safely aboard, the tether was cut allowing the repair ship
to slip away unharmed from the dying Arizona.
Stratton and Bruner both acknowledge that George saved much more than 6 men.
He saved the lives of the children and the grandchildren and the
great-grandchildren that would grow from those 6 men.
Generations of families now exist because of the bravery of one man.
Stories of men like Petty Officer Joe George are so important.
They remind us of what was.
They remind us of what we can be.
They remind us how fortunate we are and just how much we owe to one another,
our fellow human beings.
They remind us, a currently hate-filled and divided people,
that we are better together then we are separate.
To forget such stories, allowing them to slip away into the fog of the past
is not an option.
We are who we are because of who they were.
I somehow doubt that many of our current day, angst-ridden, hate-filled,
angry progressive liberal culture understands the gravity of the actions of men
like Petty Officer Joe George nor of the lasting impact such actions have had
on our own lives today.
If we opt to ignore and forget our past, we are bound to repeat our mistakes.
https://www.foxnews.com/shows/the-story
http://www.wwiifoundation.org/films/sinise/
https://www.aptonline.org/offer/LIFELINE-PEARL-HARBOR-S-UNKNOWN-HERO
https://www.nps.gov/valr/learn/historyculture/joe-george.htm
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:12-13
cookiecrumbstoliveby 
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
“I think of prayer as a spiritual lifeline back to where I most want to be.”
Love this quote! I’m a bit of nerd so I often think of prayer as “ET, phone home.” I enjoyed the movie, but really it’s just that one phrase that has stayed with me in regards to prayer. And sometimes those who are serving in the military have shared with me looking forward to the time scheduled for them to phone home, to talk to their families and loved ones. It reminds them of where they are from, who they are, and why they serve. That’s kind of the essence of why we should phone home and pray, too.
I’ve never met anybody who didn’t really like Forrest Gump! I’m not even sure such things are allowed! I think I hear you however, it has a comedic style that kind of plays fast and loose or perhaps light hearted with some painful things that perhaps are best contemplated with some sober mindedness. We don’t really need more cynicism, more superficiality in the world.
Regardless, Merry Christmas!
Yeah I know I’m probably the only one on the planet…I just thought it was silly. I wasn’t “impressed” with the special effects of the time superimposing him into actual archived historic footage–the message was good, that being an unconditional love, I just wasn’t a fan of the delivery…that message is so much more than Hollywood trying to be slick…but like I say, I’m pretty much alone in that camp…
My Godmother who was the wife of my Godfather who was the priest of my parish church loved it and had raved about it…but when I saw it I just shrugged my shoulders…but of course I had loved On Golden Pond and she hated that…go figure 🙂
The lifeline here was the fact that sailor Joe George did not cut the line linking the two ships…not until he got the 6 men to safety.
I’ve wirtten about our spiritual lifeline before…
What was that show that used a lifeline when a contestant was trying to answer some million dollar question??? Million dollar pyramid or something like that where they allowed ” phone” home as it were to seek help with the question at hand….
Well, we as Believers certainly have that donn’t we 🙂
Run IB, run 🙂
What a powerful and compelling story of heroism. I think that generation had a lot of heroes…
When I was watching Martha MacCallum do the interview with a man who I assume was connected with getting the story together and “out there” as it were, I was really hit with the whole Divine Providence display as things really had seemed otherworldly orchestrated because of the circumstances of Joe George being on that ship on the morning of Dec 7th—and I am amazed at how many stories there are across the globe, during a global confilct of the sacrifices made for one’s fellow men and women—I’m currently reading about a book about a devout Greek Orthodox family who hid and sheltered a Jewish family during the war, risking their own lives but did so none the less.
These are the stories that remind me that even in times of great Evil, Hope remains a constant.
It behooves me to remember such now during our own dark times…we might not be engaged in a global war of sorts, but we are indeed living in some very dark times—
Yeah the providence is incredible. Going a bit tangent with the story: Joe George being described as someone being providentially punished for brawling in town and then heroically rescuing others reminded me of my time in the Marines of how there were two “bad apples” Marines in garrison but who in Iraq or other difficult situations turned out to be quite heroic and went above and beyond in protecting others. Sometimes God’s providence works in ways that reminds us He’s in control and He can do things beyond our imagination.
It really is amazing!! Look at peter and Paul!
Exactly!