The fall of Saigon to Communist forces in April 1975 signaled the end of war that lasted over a decade. More than a million Vietnamese perished during that time, and the dark granite walls of the memorial in Washington, DC bear the names of over 58,000 Americans who gave their lives in that conflict.[1] Vietnamese who supported the United States and the South Vietnamese regime, faced the coming of dire consequences. If they remained in their country they would be subject to severe ostracism and probable incarceration in ‘re-education camps.’[2] If they fled, they would face the dangers of a journey by land, sea, or air, and an uncertain future. Regardless of the outcome, approximately two million South Vietnamese chose to leave their homeland.[3] Of that number, almost 800,000 chose to flee by boat in the years following the capitulation of the South. Theirs was perhaps the most hazardous choice. According to the records of the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) one third of these would perish, falling prey to exposure, dehydration, storms, and marauding pirates.

Among those who chose to flee by boat was Nguyen Van Vu. Gathering his family together on April 29, 1975 they made their escape on a small fishing boat. As the days drew on fear became a presence among them. They were far from land, making their way eastward in the China Sea hoping to spot a rescue vessel, but none came into view, not even another of the small craft carrying refugees. Van Vu soon found himself wrapped in dread. Had he made the right decision? As darkness descended on the second night the weather worsened. Adrift at sea Vu recalled that the “thunder, lightning, winds, and rains lashed us with unrelenting anger.”[4] Pitched violently about in the darkness with hope and courage quickly evaporating, Vu began to pray. As Jesus’s disciples who in their own storm tossed boat on the Sea of Galilee cried out to the Lord to save them, (Matthew 8:23-26) Vu prayed, “Oh, God, I know you are out there somewhere. Why, God, haven’t you come to rescue us?”[5] With the night wearing on and the storm raging, he continued in prayer and encouraged others to join him. Isaiah 43:2 reminds us of the Lord’s words, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” So did Vu pray with the understanding and hope to “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:9)

Eventually, a US Navy ship spotted the small flashlight that Vu and the other passengers had been waving desperately into the darkness. After a harrowing three days at sea, far from land, with little food or water, they were rescued. The rest of his story unfolded as Vu could only wish for his family – transport to Guam then the United States, and welcomed support from a church group.[6] In time, a home and jobs would follow. Other Vietnamese refugees were not as lucky. Many perished at sea, some returned to Vietnam, and others languished in camps. But for Nguyen Van Vu the power of hope and reliance on prayer for the mercy of God prevailed. How many times in our storm tossed lives, in moments of desperation, have we turned to God in prayer?

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[1] The exact number of names is 58, 318. See “The Names,” Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, accessed 23 August 2023, https://www.vvmf.org/About-The-Wall/the-names/ .

[2] One source cites the number of those sent to such camps as between 500,000 and one million. See “Reeducation Camps,” Vietnamese Heritage Museum, accessed 23 August 2023, https://vietnamesemuseum.org/our-roots/re-education-camps/.

[3] “Vietnamese Refugees Documents of Response,” Canadian Red Cross, accessed 23 August 2023, https://www.redcross.ca/history/artifacts/vietnamese-refugees-documents-of-response.

[4] See “Second Day at Sea,” excerpt from At Home in America by Nguyen Van Vu, in My Viet: Vietnamese American Literature in English, 1962-Present, ed. Janette Michele, 107.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Approximately 1.6 million Vietnamese refugees found new homes across the globe in the United States, Canada, Italy, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong France, West Germany, and the United Kingdom during the period 1975 to 1997. See “The Resettlement of Vietnamese and Montagnard Refugees Residing in Thailand,” The National Bureau of Asian Research, accessed 23 August 2023, https://www.nbr.org/publication/the-resettlement-of-vietnamese-and-montagnard-refugees-residing-in-thailand/.

            In the early years following the end of World War Two, triumphal banners fluttered high above the American landscape. The war was over, and America and her allies were victorious. Hearts swelled with a mix of pride, joy, and a sense of hope for the future. All too soon however, dark clouds began appearing on the horizon carried on a chill wind that threatened to cool the victorious fervor. Onetime allies had become geopolitical opponents, vying for the hearts and minds of people around the globe. In the clash of ideologies that followed in the early 1950s, a democratic West faced off against a communist East. Principals in this arena of conflict were the United States and the Soviet Union. Concerned that our message was not powerful enough, American elites pondered how to identify the ideals that best exemplified the nation’s character. In this effort, it was President Dwight Eisenhower who believed that the defining trait setting the United States apart from the Communists was a fundamental belief in God, as our “refuge and fortress.” (Psalm 91:2) That faith found its way into a bill introduced to the US Congress on February 8, 1954. It recrafted the Pledge of Allegiance to include the words “under God.”[1] That took effect on June 14, 1954 in a Joint Resolution of Congress that amended paragraph 4 of the 1942 Flag Code.[2] Addressing the change, Eisenhower commented, “From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.”[3] That adoption to the pledge stood to make a distinction between the spiritual and religious foundations of the United States and the atheism of the Communists. But the American leadership did not rest there. Many on Capitol Hill still felt a need to further remind Americans and the world that a reliance on a higher power was central to the ideals of the United States. Consideration of a national motto that would reflect that came to their minds.

            A number of historical examples foreshadow the acceptance of the phrase “In God We Trust” as the national motto. One historical account notes that it was a motto used by Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania militia in 1748. Another locates the words in a variation of Psalm 115: 9-11, found in a 1785 Psalter used in both England and the United States. Another finds the phrase in the 1814 manuscript of Francis Scott Key’s poem Defense of Fort M’ Henry, “And this be our motto-In God is Our Trust.”[4] By 1864 the words appeared on the nation’s two-cent coin, as Union leaders sought a way to boost morale and steel the public’s resolve for a continued wartime effort. Eventually, that thread of usage wound its way to the halls of Congress in 1955. During those tense Cold War days, many political leaders felt that the current national motto, E Pluribus Unum, did not hold the same ideological currency as did the words “In God We Trust.” Others argued against change. Eventually, the Eisenhower administration applied political leverage and won the day. Through a joint resolution of the 84^th US Congress (Public Law 84-140) the United States adopted its new motto on 30 July 1956 replacing E Pluribus Unum with “In God We Trust.” With that action, our national trust and reliance on the providence of God that Washington prayed for at Valley Forge, became evident to the world. In little time, the words began appearing on American currency, and in December 1962 artisans carved the words in marble above the rostrum of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

            Over the years, a number of cases have arrived in court with efforts to remove the newer motto as being contrary to the US Constitution, which clearly outlines the separation of church and state. In each instance however, such motions have failed. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor ruled, “I believe that government can, in a discrete category of cases, acknowledge or refer to the divine without offending the Constitution.”[5] Similarly, in a 2001 case, plaintiffs argued to replace the Ohio State motto, “With God, All Things Are Possible,” a clear reference to the words in Matthew 19:26. Again, that effort failed with the court ruling that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment does not forbid “generalized religious language in official discourse.”[6]

            John Winthrop’s famous 1630 sermon proposing that America should be as like “City upon a Hill” wherein “The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as his oune [sic] people” continues to echo from our nation’s past.[7] It set a precedent for the founders, and again for America and its leaders through the centuries, to turn our eyes to Heaven to seek guidance and protection from above. From the earliest days to today, belief in our motto, “In God We Trust,” stands as a testament to who we as a people can and should be. (Psalm 56:4)

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[1] “Why Eisenhower Added ‘Under God’ to the Pledge of Allegiance during the Cold War,” History, accessed 14 August 2023, https://www.history.com/news/pledge-allegiance-under-god-schools .

[2] “United States Flag Code,” Wikipedia, accessed 14 August 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code .

[3] “God in the White House,” American Experience, accessed 14 August 2023, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/godinamerica-white-house/ .

[4] See full transcript at “History Resources: Defense of Fort McHenry,” Gilderman Institute, accessed 14 August 2023, https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/%E2%80%9Cdefence-fort-mchenry%E2%80%9D-or-%E2%80%9C-star-spangled-banner%E2%80%9D-1814 .

[5] Reference Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2004), accessed 14 August 2023, https://www.oyez.org/cases/2003/02-1624 .

[6] Reference American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio v. Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board (2001), accessed 14 August 2023, https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/cases/aclu-v-capitol-square-review-advisory-board .

[7] John Winthrop’s “City upon a Hill,” 1630, Gilderman Institute, accessed 14 August 2023, https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/Winthrop%27s%20City%20upon%20a%20Hill.pdf .

Accounts of the Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778 include descriptions of bloody footprints in the snow, a scarcity of food, lack of warm clothing, and inadequate shelter. There was little to be hopeful about in the forlorn group who had previously suffered a string of defeats at the hands of the British Army. Of the 11,000 soldiers who had come to this place, just to the northwest of Philadelphia, approximately one quarter would die of the cold, exposure, illness, and starvation.[1] Desertions, by others disillusioned with the progress of the revolution, would reduce the ranks still further. Above it all, the pale December sun seemed to mock the ragtag American army with a diluted warmth that mimicked the fading patriotic ardor in their hearts. Still, in the midst of this discontent, there was one individual who held fast to a belief in the cause with faith in a greater power to preserve their endeavor. He was General George Washington.

For a long while, it seemed to the American colonists that a special destiny had wrapped Washington in its cloak. Two decades before Valley Forge, while serving as a subaltern in the army of General Edward Braddock, he had survived the calamity of a murderous ambush by an enemy force.[2] As French militia and their native allies overwhelmed the stunned column of redcoats and killed General Braddock, Washington acted to rally the troops. During the action, the enemy shot two horses from under him, and numerous bullets tore through his uniform coat. Although the enemy decimated the British force, he remained unscathed. Later, recounting the episode, he confessed, “The miraculous care of Providence…protected me beyond all human expectations.”[3] This was but one of several recorded instances when Washington astoundingly avoided harm at the hands of an enemy while in battle.

Still, the popular mystique of invincibility that grew to surround Washington never inspired him to believe that he was far above the common pale. There exist stories of his appeals to God to provide him with the wisdom and discernment that a leader requires. One such account came from a Mr. Isaac Potts who, while traveling through the encampment at Valley Forge, came upon the general. Silently approaching him, Potts noted that “to my astonishment, I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis, & the cause of the country, of humanity & of the world.”[4] In that time of despair, it was clear that the leader of the ragtag American military understood that only a higher power could save them.[5] Surrendering himself to that knowledge his appeal might have flowed from Psalm 16:1: “Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust.” Understanding the responsibility placed on his shoulders Washington was never above humbling himself to ask for God’s guidance as scripture reflects, “But respond favorably to your servant’s prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today.” (1 Kings 8:28, 2 Chronicles 6:19). The historical record shows that the Continental Army survived the harsh winter, and in several years’ time the fledgling nation was victorious in its quest for independence in answer to its prayers.

Even after those fateful war years, there is evidence that Washington remained close to his foundations of faith. Before retiring from the command of America’s military in June 1783, he crafted a circular letter to the states of the new republic. In it, he offered a supplication, “I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have the United States in His holy protection,” and that its citizens would “do justice, to love mercy, and demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristicks [sic] of the Devine Author of our blessed Religion.”[6] While there is some scholarly debate surrounding Washington’s spiritual dedication in his later years, it is apparent that despite the popular heroic image he projected, he remained humble during the times of prayer and worship. In this, he provides an example for us all to “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:10)

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[1] “Valley Forge,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/valley-forge/ accessed 30 July 2023. There were also 500 women and children present at Valley Forge. Many were family members who followed the army providing services such as cooking and laundry.

[2] On 9 July 1755, early in the French and Indian War, a British force under the command of General Edward Braddock suffered a stunning defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela.

[3] “The Miraculous Care of Providence,” American Heritage. https://www.americanheritage.com/miraculous-care-providence accessed 30 July 2023.

[4] “Washington in Prayer,” Historic Valley Forge. https://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/washington/prayer.html#03 accessed 31 July 2023. During the time of the encampment, Isaac Potts was overseeing the operation of a family gristmill in the vicinity of Valley Forge. He was a Quaker who opposed war, but he was pleasantly surprised to see Washington in prayer.

[5] A famous painting by the artist Arnold Friberg, “The Prayer at Valley Forge,” created in 1975 for the Bicentennial Celebration, offers a romantic image of Washington kneeling in prayer.  

[6] “George Washington’s Prayer for His Country,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, https://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/the-tombs/george-washingtons-prayer-for-his-country/ accessed 3 August 2023.

            As late autumn arrives so do the frigid winds that blast out of the depths of Siberia coursing southward along the Korean peninsula. Many men have attested to the cold that drives like a knife through layers of clothing to rob the body of its essential warmth. In no time at all fingers and toes lose their feeling and consciousness becomes muddled in the slow embrace of hypothermia. In those conditions, under the steely grey November skies of 1950, the troopers of the US Army’s 3^rd Battalion, 8^th Cavalry Regiment found themselves locked in a desperate fight near the village of Unsan. With ammunition and food running low the unit was following orders to hold ground until the remainder of the regiment could exfiltrate from an attempted encirclement by superior forces of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army. Over a period of two days casualties mounted as the Americans endured repeated human-wave assaults and engaged in hand to hand fighting.

            As this action intensified, the battalion chaplain, Father (CPT) Emil Kapaun, made numerous forays beyond the safety of the defensive perimeter to retrieve the wounded. Despite having frozen feet he managed to save the lives of 40 troopers of the “War Horse” battalion.[1] Although members of the unit pleaded with him to join some others in making an escape, Father Kapaun refused to leave. He remained with them, bolstering morale, encouraging their faith, and ministering to the injured. Years afterward, the Army would posthumously award him the Medal of Honor for his actions during this fight. The citation reads, “Chaplain Kapaun calmly walked through withering enemy fire in order to provide comfort and medical aid to his comrades and rescue friendly wounded from no-man’s land.”[2] It also notes that as the enemy eventually overwhelmed the American forces Father Kapaun negotiated with a Chinese officer for a safe surrender for the survivors. Following this, “with complete disregard for his personal safety and unwavering resolve, [he] bravely pushed aside an enemy soldier preparing to execute Sergeant First Class Herbert A. Miller.”[3]

            After their capture by the enemy, on 2 November 1950, Chaplain Kapaun and the remaining members of his unit found themselves in Prison Camp 5 at Pyoktong, North Korea. While interned there he would continue to serve. During his six months of imprisonment the chaplain continually circulated among the other prisoners encouraging them with words, nursing the sick and the injured as best he could under the circumstances, and scavenging food to supplement the men’s meager diets. After celebrating Mass on Easter Sunday in 1951, Chaplain Kapaun fell ill with pneumonia. He died shortly afterward, in isolation, on May 23rd of that year. A fellow prisoner testified that as his captors took him away he confided, “Don’t cry for me. I’m going to where I’d always wanted to go, when I get there, I’ll say a prayer for each of you.”[4]

            Chaplain Kapaun served without fear, and his faith endured. Time and again he placed himself in perilous danger, confidently cloaked in the words of Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” He drew strength also as Jesus preached “…do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matthew: 10:28) The same fortitude that served him as a shield on the battlefield gave hope to those men trapped in the crucible of war with death as a near companion. They saw in Chaplain Kapaun the light of faith that Paul shared with the Romans, “…affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5: 3-5) It was this enduring example of faith and hope in God that Father Kapaun gave as a gift to those around him.

            Across the globe various memorials serve as testimony to Father Kapaun’s character and spirit. Military chapels in Korea, Germany, Bosnia, and Kansas carry his name, and monuments in Hawaii, Kansas, and at the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania reflect it as well. In 2015, an organization known as “Kapaun’s Men” formed with the purpose of encouraging others in their faith formation. But perhaps the greatest tribute came with the cause for sainthood that began when Pope John Paul II named him a Servant of God in 1993. This lengthy process continues today, and includes recovery of his remains in Korea that upon consideration could lead to his recognition as a martyr who died for his faith. If approved, the process for Father Kapaun’s beautification and eventual canonization would gain momentum. His was a life of fearless dedication to faith, an example to us all.

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[1] US Army’s 3^rd Battalion, 8^th Cavalry Regiment has the nickname the ‘Warhorse Battalion.’ Their moto is ‘Honor and Courage.’

[2] President Barack Obama, “Medal of Honor Citation for Chaplain (Capt.) Emil J. Kapaun.” U.S. Army, https://www.army.mil/article/100859/medal_of_honor_citation_for_chaplain_capt_emil_j_kapaun, accessed 24 June 2023. The President made the presentation to a Kapaun family member on 11 April 2013.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Dan De Luce, “After 70 years, Pentagon identifies remains of Korean War Chaplain Who Received Medal of Honor,” NBC News online. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/after-70-years-pentagon-identifies-remains-korean-war-chaplain-who-n1259777 accessed 24 June 2023.

            Jarred out of their sleep, when a torpedo pierced the ship’s steel hull, most of the passengers and crew tumbled from their crowded bunks onto the hard metal deck. Immediately cast into complete darkness as all electrical systems failed, those berthing in the lower holds faced a confused nightmare of flailing bodies and panic as the cold waters of the north Atlantic began rushing into their compartments. With the ship listing heavily to the port side, they struggled to find a way up and out. Many never made it. Those that did searched frantically for a place on one of the too few lifeboats. Spaces were at a premium. Within minutes, many who attempted to swim away from the sinking ship to avoid the downward suction succumbed to the numbing cold waters. Of the 904 passengers and crew, only 230 survived.[1] The American troop transport ship SS Dorchester had fallen prey to the German submarine U-223 at 00:55 AM, February 3, 1943.[2]

            Listed among the ship’s passengers were four military chaplains, Methodist minister George L. Fox, minister Clark V. Poling of the Reformed Church in America, Catholic priest John P. Washington, and Rabbi Alexander B. Goode.[3] As men staggered up from below into the chilly night air they scrambled for footing on the slanted deck. Calmly, the chaplains guided them into the available lifeboats, and assisted the injured, helping them find places. As life jackets were also at a premium, the chaplains gave theirs to those who had none. Witnesses attest to the fact that as the ship slowly slipped beneath the dark Atlantic waters, the chaplains appeared standing, with arms linked, peacefully singing hymns and saying prayers. They perished as the Dorchester went down.

            As Jesus had commanded, “Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Without hesitation, abiding by these words, the chaplains acted to place the lives of those they could assist above their own. With certain death facing them, and with little time to weigh any decision, they moved as God had willed. The moment resonated also with Paul’s words of counsel to the Philippians, “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3) For the least of those among them, the chaplains did this and placed others above themselves in those very dark desperate minutes knowing that death was at their side.

            Since the time of the Dorchester’s sinking, the selfless acts of the four chaplains have received commemoration in a number of ways. In 1948, Congress established February 3^rd as “Four Chaplains’ Day,” and the US Postal Service issued a 3 cent stamp bearing the images of the four chaplains. At the dedication of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in February 1951 in Philadelphia, President Harry S Truman opened his comments by noting, “This chapel commemorates something more than an act of bravery or courage. It commemorates a great act of faith in God.” He then reflected that, “They were not afraid of death because they knew that the word of God is stronger than death. Their belief, their faith, in His word enabled them to conquer death.”[4] These words resonated in the minds of most Americans during those dark postwar years when the United States found itself locked in an ideological struggle with the forces of Communist atheism.

            A decade later, an act of Congress created the Chaplain’s Medal for Heroism, which the Secretary of the Army, Wilber M. Brucker, presented to the chaplains’ next of kin on January 18, 1961.[5] Today, a number of memorials in various locations across the country honor these four men including one in the shape of a dove in the National Memorial Park, Falls Church Virginia, and a stained glass window at the public library in East Rutherford, NJ. Additionally, a statue that features a likeness of the chaplains praying on the deck of a sinking ship stands outside St. Stephen’s Church in Kearney, NJ.[6] Still, unique among the commemorations were the comments shared by the former Kriegsmarine First Officer of the U-223, Gerhard Buske. Attending an Immortal Chaplains Foundation ceremony in 2004, he reminded all present that “we ought to love when others hate…we can bring faith where doubt threatens; we can awaken hope where despair exists; we can light up a light where darkness reigns; we can bring joy where sorrow dominates.”[7] 

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[1] History records it as the worst single loss of military personnel in an American convoy during World War Two.

[2] The Dorchester was one of three ships in convoy SG-19 bound from New York for Narsarsuaq, Greenland. The other two ships were the merchantmen SS Lutz and SS Biscaya. Their escorts were the Coast Guard cutters Tampa, Escanaba, and Comanche. The commander of U-223 was Kapitänleutnant Karl-Jürg Wächter, a recipient of the Iron Cross First Class and the German Cross in Gold. The submarine was on its first war patrol and fired five torpedoes at the troop transport with only one striking its target. U-223 later sank in the Mediterranean during a fight with the British Royal Navy on March 30, 1944.

[3] Each man wore the rank of a US Army First Lieutenant. They met earlier at the US Army Chaplains School at Harvard University in 1942. The school functioned to fill a wartime need between 1942 and 1944.

[4] “Address in Philadelphia at the Dedication of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains,” 3 February 1951. The American Presidency Project, accessed 13 June 2023, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-philadelphia-the-dedication-the-chapel-the-four-chaplains.

[5] Approved as P.L. 86-656, 74 Stat. 521, other titles for that medal are the “Chaplain’s Medal of Honor” and the “Four Chaplains Medal.”

[6] After his ordination, Father John P. Washington served at St. Stephen’s for five years before entering the service as a military chaplain.

[7] See “No Greater Glory: The Four Chaplains and the Sinking of the USAT Dorchester,” James H. Clifford, US Army Historical Foundation, https://armyhistory.org/no-greater-glory-the-four-chaplains-and-the-sinking-of-the-usat-dorchester/ accessed 12 June 2023.