Testimony of Healing January 16, 1978 Issue

I would like to relate an experience I had over twenty-one years...

Kenneth E. Brooke

I would like to relate an experience I had over twenty-one years ago when I was an aircraft pilot in the United States Navy. One evening, in February, I was flying a single-engine aircraft in low altitude maneuvers about thirty miles off the coast of southern California when the engine began running rough. I began climbing to gain enough altitude to bail out if necessary and asked the flight leader for a wingman to escort me back to the base. I was scared and began to pray the Lord's Prayer over and over.

Not only was the engine failing, but for some reason my emergency radio and electronic equipment had also failed, so I was not able to contact anyone who could get a navigational fix on my position. I repeatedly asked my wingman to radio the emergency, but he apparently didn't believe me. A few minutes later the engine backfired several times and then stopped running. I then told my wingman I was bailing out and to alert the rescue group.

I was down to about eight hundred feet of altitude when I went out, and almost immediately after I felt the chute open I was underwater, struggling to get to the surface. It was pitch-black out, and when I inflated my life raft, I could see only its outline against the stars.

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