Summer 2024 Chaplain Update

One of my favorite war movies of all time is Away All Boats, released in 1956, about the captain and crew of an amphibious attack transport ship during World War II, from its early sea trials to battle action in Saipan, Pelelieu, Guam and Okinawa. 

These ships carried landing craft and Marines to go ashore and secure enemy-held islands. At the beginning of the film, Captain Jebediah S. Hawkes, played by actor Jeff Chandler, a battle tested, no-nonsense skipper, takes command of a largely green crew. The ship is put to sea and some serious incidents occur due to the crew’s inexperience. Captain Hawkes bears down hard on the men to get them ready to take on the Japanese. His training measures seem unreasonable and unusual. The sailors grumble … a lot.

As time goes by, BELINDA participates in more island-hopping battles, and the crew becomes ever more efficient. Many are decorated for bravery. Still, they do not like their captain because he keeps pushing them to improve and cannot understand his unusual way of going about it.

The ship is dead in the water, with fires raging. Captain Hawkes’ wounds are mortal and he falls in and out of consciousness.

BELINDA’s engines are destroyed, and the chief engineer determines that BELINDA will sink if they suffer another Kamikaze hit. And they are indeed coming — en masse!

The crew must save the ship without their captain and they begin to argue about what to do.

One says we must do this!; the other says, you’re nuts, we must do that! Captain Hawkes, hears the arguing and with his last breath says, “The children save the mother! THE CHILDREN SAVE THE MOTHER!!” He then collapses to the deck and dies.

The officers and men don’t know what he meant. Then it dawns on them … the captain was telling them to lower the landing craft into the water and have them tow BELINDA to safer waters. They finally realize that their skipper knew what he was doing all along, and they will live through the battle and go home to their families because of him. They are mournful and humbled as they now appreciate what a great leader they had. One officer says, “He saved us and the ship.” Another adds … “He saved us the first time he stepped foot onboard BELINDA.”

Today, Captain Hawkes would be called an out-of-the-box thinker. He did not follow the timeworn script, but constantly thought of new strategies to accomplish the mission. Although misunderstood, he proved to be right. Every. Single. Time. So many achievements in mankind’s journey out of the caves and up to the stars are the result of such innovative people. Think: the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, etc.

Closer to home, here in the VDF we can use our powers of creative thinking to problem solve, work smarter, and get better results. Don’t be shy about offering suggestions if you have an idea to make things better. Don’t ever think, who am I to make suggestions to those who are much more experienced and senior to me? Speak up! All good ideas will be considered. If they aren’t, let me know.

“There’s no limit to the quality you can build into a chicken!” -Frank Purdue

If you’d like to speak to a chaplain at any time, please contact me at (484) 280-6023 or okichap@hotmail.com.

God Bless & Stay Great!

MILITARY FACTOIDS:

Navy ships are referred to by their name only, and written in all caps. You don’t say USS ENTERPRISE, you say ENTERPRISE. A sailor does not serve on a ship. He/she serves in a ship.

The Battle for Okinawa was fought April to June 1945. It was a larger invasion force than that of D-Day. Thirty-six Navy ships were sunk by Kamikazes.

Most World War II landing craft were the brainchild of Andrew Jackson Higgins. He was a heavy-drinking man who designed the forerunner of the WW2 Navy boats during Prohibition to help bootleggers smuggle alcohol onto American shores. Over 26,000 LCVPs were built by Higgins Industries during WW2. Not bad for a man who enjoyed his whiskey a bit too much.

A young Clint Eastwood appears briefly in Away All Boats, as does Jock Mahoney (aka Tarzan, as in “Me Tarzan, you Jane.”)