There is Faith in Foxholes

  "That night, I took time to thank God for seeing me through that Day of Days . . . and prayed that I would make it through D+1.  And if somehow, I managed to get home again, I promised God and myself, that I would find a quite piece of land someplace and spend the rest of my life in peace." 

                                                                      Major Richard Winters, Easy Company survivor 

 There aren't many TV series we don't watch together but it does happen. A couple of months ago I came upon Band of Brothers which first aired more than 20 years ago, to considerable acclaim. It is about the men of Easy Company, an American regiment of the Airborne Division, US Army.

Through 10 episodes we see their demanding training in the state of Georgia, and then follow them through the hell of war across Europe until their eventual capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest retreat and stronghold in the mountains of Germany. The series is based on a book of the same name which involves interviews with those who survived -- so many didn't -- and while the episodes are dramatizations they begin with film footage of conversations with the ordinary elderly men who were extraordinary in battle and the sheer will to live through the harshest conditions.

There was enough graphic violence that Ruth decided to leave the series to watch on my own, and I gave up for a while. I did return and realized what a remarkable, compelling story Band of Brothers tells.

Several episodes allude to the Christian faith of the men, and in segments  six and seven this comes to the fore. A medic, Eugene Roe, struggles with the horror he has seen and his sense of helplessness. Yet he connects his role as "Doc" with his grandmother. Speaking to another medic he offers: 

You know my grandmother was a [healer] .Laid her hands on people and cured them, took away sickness, cancer, you name it.  I remember she used to pray a lot.  Talked to God about the pain she pulled out; asked him to carry it away.  That's what she did."  

In another scene a church is being used as a makeshift hospital, and in another the sisters of a Convent sing the office before a group of attentive men. A chaplain leads a communion service from the hood of a jeep, men say the rosary during lulls in the heat of battle, another chaplain gives the last rites while under heavy fire. 

It's strange, but I would not characterize Band of Brothers as overtly "religious" and yet the themes of faith in foxholes recurr. 

In doing some reading I discovered that Major Richard Winters, a central figure in the story was a devout Christian. While in Great Britain before deployment he attended Sunday worship faithfully and his Christian convictions were a bedrock during the chaos of years of battle. This anecdote shared in an article was striking: 

However, his most powerful spiritual experience during the war happened outside any walls at all, when he found “church” while hiking the Alps at the close of his mission in Europe:

l experience during the war happened outside any walls at all, when he found “church” while hiking the Alps at the close of his mission in Europe: The aisle is two mountain ranges down which you can see for ten miles at least. At the end there’s just a series of mountain peaks. 

A storm came up and the dark clouds covered everything but the far end, where the sun shone through on those magnificent peals [sic]. The color was all shades of rose, a light, soft rose, nothing hard or bright, but just rays of light coming through the clouds. There were the most beautiful stained glass windows I’ve ever seen, or hope to see. What a wonderful place to pray. What a magnificent church. I’ll never forget it.