Article June 6, 1942 Issue

"The whole armour of God"

[Written Especially for Young People]

LYMAN S. ABBOTT

A Detail of young soldiers was assigned to do a rather disagreeable job of cleaning paint from the floor of a barracks in a certain camp after the walls and ceiling had been sprayed by a paint gun operated on compressed air. Some of the men were grumbling because it had to be done in the evening after the regular busy routine of the day. However, one of them went about his work without complaint, considering it a part of his duty as a soldier to be cheerfully obedient under all circumstances.

In the room where the soldiers were working were two heating stoves, and because of the severe cold weather, both were filled with briskly burning fuel. The oils used in quick-drying paints are highly volatile, and the room was filled with potent fumes as a result of using the spray gun for some three hours. The boys who were cleaning the floors had not been at work long when, with a blinding flash, the fumes were ignited by the fires in the stoves, and the room became a blazing inferno.

The young man who had cheerfully accepted the assignment was at the far end of the room from the exit, and the only part of the place which was not burned was the floor where he stood, but the only exit was at the other end of the room. However, literally walking through the fire, he made his way to safety unscathed, and immediately began to assist in rolling his companions in the snow to put out their burning clothing, some of them being so severely hurt that they were taken immediately to the camp hospital.

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