U. S. Marines

One Man’s Response to Pearl Harbor

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

PEARL HARBOR, 1941, FREEDOM IS NOT FREE - black & red

The following is a quote of my dad’s own words as he explained his personal response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941:

DADMARINEJPG - ED.“The dramatic part of my life began, as that of so many members of the armed forces did, on one of the most infamous days in U. S. history — at Pearl Harbor. Even though I was only 17, I talked my dad and step-mom into signing their permission for me to enter the Marine Corps and do as much as I could to help win that war and make it as short as possible.

“Actually, I had always wanted to be a Marine. All through high school, it was my dream. At the age of 15, I’d felt the call of God on my heart to become a preacher of the Gospel, but as far as I could tell, that wouldn’t preclude my serving my country as well. And if I were going to serve, I was going to be a Marine!”

My father went forward — as did thousands of other brave and committed men and women — to engage in horrific and often mortal combat with the enemies of freedom and human integrity. He and his Marine unit faced every conceivable type of warfare — including a direct hit by a Japanese Kamikazi plane. which caused their LST to be engulfed in flames.

The Lord protected my dad and all the men in his unit, for which I’m enormously grateful. But the price he paid — and the even higher price so many others paid — is something we must never lose sight of. They did it to keep us free and safe from all those forces that would enslave us to inhumane and deadly control by totalitarinan governments.

May we never forget. And may we never allow our nation to be deceived into giving up all that they sacrificed to give us.

Part of this post is a repeat from a couple years ago. I just felt like giving it another day of recognition.

 

~~~

Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

PEARL HARBOR, 1941, FREEDOM IS NOT FREE - black & red

The following is a quote of my dad’s own words as he explained his personal response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941:

 DADMARINEJPG - ED.“The dramatic part of my life began, as that of so many members of the armed forces did, on one of the most infamous days in U. S. history — at Pearl Harbor. Even though I was only 17, I talked my dad and step-mom into signing their permission for me to enter the Marine Corps and do as much as I could to help win that war and make it as short as possible.

“Actually, I had always wanted to be a Marine. All through high school, it was my dream. At the age of 15, I’d felt the call of God on my heart to become a preacher of the Gospel, but as far as I could tell, that wouldn’t preclude my serving my country as well. And if I were going to serve, I was going to be a Marine!”

~~~

Award Rebels

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

semper-fidelis-awardHey, I got a treat today: Gerry, (Sitting on the Porch, Rocking Away the Blues) and I are both what one might call award rebels. We believe in giving awards to other bloggers because they have done great work, been inspiring, or added some other positive dimension to the world of their readers. But we DO NOT believe in attaching a bunch of rules to those awards that the recipients must comply with. We figure if someone deserves an award, then they have already done everything they need to do. So we have decided that we will accept awards — and gladly so — ONLY if it’s understood that we do so on our own terms (which we consider much more sensible and friendly).

Since I know his heart in the matter is similar to mine, I am able to accept awards from Gerry and enjoy them. That is what I am doing today. This particular award says a lot, as far as I’m concerned. The title of the award is “Semper Fidelis.” That term is the official motto of the United States Marine Corps, and was one of the primary mottoes my dad lived by all of his life — faithful to God, faithful to his wife, faithful to his children, faithful to his nation, faithful to his employers, and faithful to his friends. And I, of course, was brought up to live by the same motto.  

So this award touches on that part of my life. But it offers something else. In the explanatory notation on the award, “May you never howl alone,” I find a fun way of saying that friendship and faithfulness to it are so important in life. And sending someone this wish is just a creative and light-hearted way of saying I’m wishing you faithful friends to be with you in every phase of your life — good, bad, and indifferent. Because when we are happy and laughing, we need someone to share it; when we are sad and crying in pain, we need the same; and when we are just aggravated, bored, or generally out of sorts — and need to howl at the moon — we need a friend to howl with.

So with this acceptance post, I send my thanks to Gerry, and I offer this award to any and all of my faithful readers who have also become faithful friends via Cyberspace. If you would like to receive this award yourself, please accept it and post it to your own site as my way of sending you this friendship wish: “May you never howl alone.” If you’d then like to pass it on to others, feel free to do so. I’m also passing it on to one of my great writing friends who does not blog, but is active on Facebook. Her online name is “Lone Wolf,” and I think she needs this wish as well.

I probably should add that if you hear someone howling today, it might be yours truly — or it might be Gerry!

~

 

‘Sarge, Will You Tell Us About God?’ – The Story of God’s Miraculous Protection of an Entire U. S. Marine Unit

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

This post is the true story of my dad’s miraculous experiences of God’s protection during World War II.

 

 

A Walk In The Word

DADMARINEJPG - ED.In celebration of Memorial Day, I am re-posting this story. I have several new readers and followers who were not with me when I originally posted “Sarge, Will You Tell Us About God,” and a number of Marine veterans have now discovered that the book is available. So I’d like to share the story again in the hope that many more people may be blessed by what the Lord did for an entire Marine unit during World War II.

The story itself makes up a small book, published by St. Ellen Press and is available on their website as well. Although it’s my story, and that of the other 321 men in my squadron, it is primarily HIS story.

In the past few years I have shared free copies of the book with hundreds of soldiers who were in the midst of horrible combat overseas. In response, I have received…

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