Article March 27, 2000 Issue

When faced with danger

A soldier's protection at sea

Richard S. Raffles

WORLD WAR II was raging while I was still in Sunday School. Like many other young men, I volunteered for duty in the United States Army Reserves and was soon called to active duty. Before long I found myself on a troopship, part of a convoy heading east through the Mediterranean Sea toward the Suez Canal.

It was a journey full of menace, with hostile planes threatening our slow-moving trail of ships. As many know, a convoy moves at the fastest speed of the slowest ship, and that is slow indeed. Within just a few days, the convoy was bombed twice. Our ship was not hit, but the atmosphere aboard became increasingly thick with tension.

I was as fearful as anyone, but I often allayed my concern by studying the Bible along with Science and Health. I had a pocket-sized set, a gift that The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, gave to many servicemen. These books were invaluable, even though my thought was often so gripped by fear that I found it difficult to concentrate on their message.

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