Testimony of Healing August 21, 1943 Issue

On the morning of October 18,...

Walter H. Keene

On the morning of October 18, 1918, the second battalion of the One Hundred and Fifth Infantry Regiment, holding the extreme right flank of the division, found that the enemy was firing on it from three points, front, right flank, and rear. This was due to the division on our right being unable to keep up with us. There was open ground on our left, so it was impossible to join the rest of the division, and it was inadvisable because it would have widened the gap between us and the division on our right, which was fighting its way up, trying to make contact.

The firing got so severe from the rear that a volunteer was called for to go through the enemy with a message for reinforcements. As a company runner I stepped forward. The lieutenant said I did not have to go because I was a runner. He would prefer a volunteer, because the odds were so heavy against the runner; in fact, they said it was suicide. Nevertheless I started back, and as I did so, direct machine-gun fire opened up on me. As the first burst of fire whistled and snapped all around, the words of the Lord's Prayer came automatically to my lips and continued with me, all through the gauntlet of artillery and machine-gun fire. By the time I reached Battalion Headquarters the prayer was coming from my lips in great gasps, but I was unhurt. I returned with the reinforcements without meeting any resistance, and I was told later that the machine-gun fire had stopped all of a sudden. Incidentally the division on our right did not make contact till the following day.

The questions that had always mystified me in regard to the above were all answered when I took up the study of Christian Science. I learned that the angel thought had come when needed, and my staying with the Lord's Prayer had confirmed my relationship with the Father, and had blessed all those whom my thought had rested upon. It explained my protection from the machine-gun fire, why the guns had ceased and the enemy had disappeared by the time I had returned.

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