WHOSE SIDE IS GOD ON ANYHOW ?

  Some historians question whether the scene of Washington praying by his horse at Valley Forge actually occurred. Personal testimony from eyewitnesses confirm that Washington was a praying man. Especially on one occasion when he was discovered in the woods earnestly praying by himself as depicted in the famous picture that was painted in 1975. Military commanders, however; have been known to ask the question from time to time. Whose side is God on?  In the movie the Longest Day John Wayne played the role of American Lt. Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort. Curd Jurgen's played the role of German General Gunther Blumentritt. At different times in the movie they ask the same question, " Sometimes I wonder whose side God is on". Lincoln said it best. When asked whose side God was on he said,  "Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right". Personally I believe that when we are on God's side he will be on ours. Does God intervene in the affairs of nations? If you are an atheist the answer would be no. For the believer, like myself, we can only look at the evidence of history. Was it God or pure chance? I will let the reader decide.

  The fate of the Jewish race and Israel has always seemed to be directly connected to how faithful they were to God, at least as recorded in the Old Testament. They rose to the height of power during the reigns of David and Solomon but by the time of Jesus they were living under the tyranny of Rome. Over time the Jews have spread throughout the world suffering persecution and death under Islam, Catholicism and Eastern European pogroms. They were easy prey for Hitler and the Nazi's. When Hitler passed his Nuremberg laws the Jews were so used to living with persecution they thought that this too would pass. Even they could not fathom that someone actually wanted to eradicate the Jewish race from the face of the earth. All of this misery had been prophesied. God also promised the recreation of the nation of Israel which occurred in 1948. Atheists and skeptics might ask, where was God during the holocaust? Why would he allow so many innocent people to suffer? The answer might be found in the Book of Job. By the end of Job we see God's plan revealed and Job was rewarded ten times over for his faith. God allows evil to occur sometimes. What other event could have motivated the Jewish people to return to the promised land? Nobody is pushing Israel around these days. Modern Israel seems to have have had a divine hedge of protection around it. The country is more secular than theocratic today but God seems to have a definite plan for Israel.

Three Israeli soldiers in 1967 after capturing the Wailing Wall

  There are many miracles regarding Israel that are recounted in the Bible but the following miracle occurred in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Israel had been surprised by the Arab armies during the Jewish holy days of Yom Kippur. They were hanging on by a thread. General Effi Eitam who was a young commander in 1973 was leading an elite commando unit. Effi's unit was fighting overwhelming odds on the Golan Heights. He described the Syrian attack this way. “I saw hundreds of Syrian tanks moving forward, and they were painted in a camouflage of green and yellow. And I remember, I thought to myself that they looked like prehistoric lizards, you know, who just came out of a cave, because they came out of nowhere.” Effi received orders to go behind enemy lines and take the Syrian headquarters. During a vicious battle he said, “I was throwing hand grenades, shooting …and then when I turned, in the corridors full of smoke and dust, I saw a silhouette coming towards me. I was very sure it was a Syrian soldier, and I was ready to pull the trigger, and then I saw a bird coming out of the smoke. She just flew behind my head and stood on my right shoulder. But she turned and stood on my left shoulder. I didn’t have time to argue with a bird! I was in the middle of a battle! So I completed the assault and when I went out of the bunker, I saw a dove, a pigeon, standing on my left shoulder. . . very determined not to leave me. Since we had that ‘angel’ protecting us, none of my company’s soldiers was killed or wounded, and we were involved in very intensive battles. . . but she was there. What was unnatural and very interesting was that, even in the night… operations . . . she was with us patrolling, a little bit forward, looking what’s going on around, and sitting here [on my shoulder].” After two weeks of fighting Effi's unit went to the rear for a rest. When they were safe the dove flew away.

Effi Eitam

  One can argue that God may have intervened in European history. At one time Turkey, North Africa, and much of the Middle East was both Jewish and Christian. Afghanistan was Buddhist and Pakistan was Hindu.  Beginning in 624 AD the Muslims would eventually conquer all of this area and push as far as Spain where the Muslim Moors would be defeated in 1492 and as far as Vienna Austria where the Ottoman Turks would be defeated in 1683. If the Muslims had been successful the world would have been deprived of the benefits of western culture. Western culture participated in the slave trade for example. The Muslims started it. They enslaved every Christian or non Muslim population that they encountered, both Black and White. Muslim slave traders sold Blacks to White slave traders. In the end it was the Western rule of law combined with Christianity that ended the slave trade and slavery. Slavery is still recognized as a legitimate institution in Islam today and some Muslims still practice it. One can even make the debate that the United States of America would not exist if Islam had conquered Europe. The Christians Crusades were partly a reaction to Islamic brutality. and the loss of vast amounts of Christian territory. Muslims were doing the same thing to the infidel or Kafir that ISIS is doing today. Cutting off heads and every other form of brutality. Christian Europe almost waited too late to react. The first Crusade occurred in 1095 and Muhammad began invading Christian and Jewish lands in the 600's.

The Crusades

  In 1588 King Phillip the II of Spain sent a massive 130 ship fleet to England in order to oust Queen Elizabeth I from power and return Catholicism to England. The smaller English navy outfought the Spanish but a massive storm virtually destroyed a third of the Spanish fleet. On May 10th 1940 Hitler's Panzer's invaded Belgium through the Ardennes bypassing the Maginot Line. The French Army was split in two. Part of the French Army, and all of the English Army became trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk. All Hitler had to do was drive them into the sea and Britain would be forced to surrender. France would surrender to Germany on June 25, 1940. Inexplicably Hitler halted his forces giving Churchill the opportunity to organize a flotilla of ships and boats in order to evacuate his army and a large number of the French Army off of the beaches. The British Army would live to fight another day, minus most of their weapons, which were left on the beaches of Dunkirk. America would become the Arsenal of Democracy, helping England to get back on their feet. Historians have speculated over the years why Hitler stopped his army when he had a chance to destroy the entire British Army. Some speculate that Hitler liked the British. Hitler ranked people on ethnic purity. For example Jews and Blacks were the lowest of the low. Germans were the highest on the list but to Hitler the British were very high also. Hitler had the fanciful delusion that he could talk the British into an alliance. This might have been possible if the appeaser Neville Chamberlain was still Prime Minister but it would never happen under Winston Churchill. Did God have a part in Hitler's decision to stop when he had the chance to destroy the British or was it Hitler's stupidity that was a factor throughout the war? It might have been a combination of both.

Dunkirk

  If ever there was a person that seemed to have a hedge of divine protection around them it was George Washington. He died fairly young at the age of 66 but Americans are blessed that he lived just long enough to oversee the formation and birth of our republic. I cannot see a United States of America without George Washington. He was the essential element to our existence. Twenty one year old George Washington's defeat of a small French force at Jumonville Glen in 1754 started a world war that came to be called the French and Indian War in this country. In this battle, and at the later battle of Fort Necessity, where he was captured by the French, Washington escaped being harmed in any way. On July 9, 1755 at the battle of the Monongahela, as an aide to British General Edward Braddock, he rushed in to restore order. The British forces had been ambushed by French and Indians and Washington was the only officer left unhurt after Braddock had been killed, and all of his officers had been killed or wounded. Washington himself had two horses shot out from under him and his coat was later found to have had four bullet holes in it. He escaped this battle without a scratch. On horseback Washington made a clear target but the Indians said that no matter how hard they tried they couldn't kill him. Despite the fact that this was a huge defeat for the British in which they suffered almost one thousand casualties, Washington was looked at as a hero. He would fight in other battles before the war ended in 1763 and would not be harmed.

Washington with Braddock

  Washington's good fortune lasted throughout the American Revolution. He was always exposing himself to danger during battles and was never injured. The British had an elite group of sharpshooters led by a 33 year old Scotsman named Captain Patrick Ferguson. He was considered to be the best shot in the British Army. Ferguson had armed his men with a rifle that he had designed himself. During the battle of Brandywine Ferguson saw two officers ride into view. One was dressed in a fancy European cavalry uniform and the other was a high ranking American officer. Ferguson ordered three of his sharpshooters into position in order to shoot the men but before they could accomplish this Ferguson gave orders to his men not to fire on them. The thought of ambushing and killing these officers, in such a manner, was repulsive to him and he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Ferguson shouted at the American Officer and he slowly and nonchalantly looked at him. He shouted again and this time leveled his rifle toward the officer. As if Washington had all day he slowly rode away. Ferguson did not know until the following day that he had Washington in his sights. Most American sharpshooters were not as chivalrous as Ferguson. They routinely killed British officers. At a key moment in the battle of Saratoga an American sharpshooter killed the British army commander and this was a key event that led to an American victory there. Saratoga was the turning point of the American Revolution because it would lead to an alliance between America and France. We can only guess how the American Revolution would have ended if Washington had died at Brandywine.

British sharpshooters

  Although Washington was a hero during the French and Indian War he might have been a footnote in history if not for the death of General Joseph Warren at the battle of Bunker Hill. The American Revolution began in Massachusetts and General Joseph Warren was the man of the hour there. He had been involved in just about every aspect of the patriot cause prior to the Battle of Bunker Hill but his death opened the way for Washington to become the leader of the Continental Army and as they say the rest is history. Much like the wounding of Joseph Johnston at Seven Pines was Robert E. Lee's shot at immortality. Divine intervention or pure chance? When Washington took over the leadership of the ragtag patriot army in July 1775 it surrounded the British Army in Boston. Washington, like Lee, had a very aggressive nature and was always looking for a way to engage the British head on but the opportunity never presented itself. During the winter of 1775 - 76 Colonel Henry Knox incredibly drug captured British heavy artillery over miles of snow on sleds from Fort Ticonderoga in New York to Boston Massachusetts. A distance of almost 225 miles. From January to March 1776 Washington secretly positioned these guns on Dorchester Heights from January to March under British noses. When the British saw those big guns looking down on their army in Boston they realized that their position was untenable. The British Army and Navy evacuated Boston on March 17, 1776. Washington had won his first great victory without hardly firing a shot.

Washington on Dorchester Heights

  After the American occupation of  Boston Washington set his sights on New York city. To the British and the Americans New York was of great strategic value. Both believed that whoever controlled New York would win the war. The Continental Army dug in on Brooklyn Heights to wait for the approach of the British Navy and Army. On August 22, 1776, just over a month after the Americans declared independence at Philadelphia, the British Navy led by Admiral Richard Howe landed troops at Gravesend on the southern tip of Long Island led by his brother General William Howe. The Americans were outnumbered 2 to 1. British troops numbered 20,000 troops to our 10,000. Howe's  army was made up of British, German, and Tory troops. Washington was occupying the high ground and had a good position. He was hoping for a repeat of Bunker Hill in Boston where the British were massacred attacking our troops dug in on the high ground in a fruitless frontal attack. Washington was risking the destruction of his entire army because he had no way to escape in a hurry in the event of an American disaster. His back was to the East River. He had made a rookie mistake planning for the battle, however; and left a trail undefended through the Jamaica Pass that led right into his rear.

The battle of Brooklyn Heights

  On August 27th the Redcoats attacked the American position on Brooklyn Heights. At first the Americans were doing very well. Part of Howe's army attacked our positions head on and in bitter fighting we were holding off their attacks. Ten thousand soldiers led by General Howe himself, and with the help of three Tory farmers leading the way, found their way on a night march into Washington's rear through the Jamaica Pass. Howe's attack caught the Americans completely off guard and the Americans ran for the rear in a panic. Washington's final position had been fortified on Brooklyn Heights. The American Army probably would have been overwhelmed fairly easily by a British attack. The revolution could have ended right then and there with the destruction of the American Army but Howe called off the attack. This in spite of protests from many of his officers. His excuse was that he wanted to avoid heavy British casualties. The British had been badly shaken by the slaughter at Bunker Hill and they wanted to avoid another such disaster. In addition Howe actually liked the Americans and he was hoping for a negotiated settlement with them. There were many similarities between what happened to Washington at Brooklyn Heights and what happened to the British at Dunkirk, which you will see.

  While the British waited they began digging entrenchments closer and closer to the American lines so that when they did launch an attack it would not be over so much open ground like at Bunker Hill. On the 29th it was suggested to Washington that the Americans should gather every boat and scow that they could get their hands on over in Manhattan, which was across the river. They would evacuate the men trapped on Long Island. John Glover's regiment of Marblehead Massachusetts's men were mostly fishermen and sailors. They were tasked with the job of evacuating the American Army. The first men evacuated were the sick and wounded. All through the night of the 29th and through the early morning hours of the 30th the bulk of the army was evacuated over to Manhattan. The men were forbidden to talk and wagon wheels were muffled. The evacuation was not complete As the sun rose on August 30th it looked like the British would be sure to discover what was happening right under their noses. Incredibly a heavy fog moved over the American and British forces. Men said that the fog was so thick that you couldn't see the man next to you. Washington was the last man to step into the last boat leaving Long Island. He had managed to save 9,000 American soldiers to continue the fight for American independence. When the fog lifted the British were stunned to find that the American Army was no longer in their front.

  Washington would eventually be defeated in New York and he would have to evacuate the city altogether. He lost many men trying to defend it in killed, wounded.and captured. Thousands of captured American soldiers would live out a nightmare existence in the holds of British ships anchored in New York Harbor. They would die like flies from the effects of starvation, disease, and abuse. The battle of New York was decisive. Washington came so close to complete disaster fighting for New York it forced him to develop a winning strategy to achieve American independence. At that time Britain had the best army and navy in the world. His rag tag and untrained army was no match for a toe to toe battle with the professional and highly trained British and Hessian soldiers. If he won a battle here and there that would be great. Winning, however; was not his main goal. Protecting his army would become his main goal. Instead of fighting to win he must fight not to lose. If he lost the army he would lose the country. In the end this strategy would wear Britain down until they became too war weary to continue the fight. This war lasted eight years from 1775 until 1783.

  In 1991 I visited Yorktown Virginia. This was the decisive battle during the American Revolution where we won our independence. I felt like I was walking on holy ground. At one moment in time everything came together for the Americans. George Washington's troops, along with the French forces of General Comte de Rochambeau surrounded 9,000 British troops in Yorktown led by Charles, Lord Cornwallis. After a decisive naval battle in which the British Navy was defeated the French Navy blockaded the Chesapeake Bay trapping the British Army between the combined American and French armies and the French fleet. The British had no choice but to surrender or starve to death. There was only one possibility of survival. Yorktown sits on a peninsula with the James River to the south and the York River to the north. If the British could cross the York River to Gloucester Point they might escape and unite with British forces in the north. Cornwallis's army consisted of British, Hessian, and Loyalist soldiers, along with their women and children. By this time Cornwallis was living in a cave while Yorktown was being reduced to rubble by American and French artillery. On the evening of October 16, 1781 Cornwallis made an attempt to cross over the York River with his army. Suddenly one of the most violent thunderstorms ever witnessed struck during the attempted crossing. The wind and rain made the escape attempt impossible. Three days later on October 19, 1781, the British surrendered to Washington while their band played The World Turned Upside Down. When the British Prime Minister Lord North heard the disastrous news about Yorktown he exclaimed "Oh God! It's all over!". The Treaty of Paris was signed officially ending the war on September 3, 1783.

Cornwallis's surrender @ Yorktown

  Our country was born during the American Revolution but the War Between The States was the greatest crisis that we have faced since our founding. Many historians cite Gettysburg as the major turning point of the war but I disagree. Gettysburg was a turning point but not the turning point.  In my view Antietam was the turning point of the Civil War for several reasons. Lee's defeat there ended any real chance of a British or French alliance with the Confederacy. Primarily because in July of 1862 Lincoln informed his cabinet of his intention to sign an executive order that has come to be known as the Emancipation Proclamation. As a war measure Lincoln would declare all slaves free in those states that were disloyal and had seceded from the Union. Since slavery was legal he could not  legally end it in the loyal slave states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri. In his role as Commander in Chief he was declaring those slaves in the seceded states free even though he did not yet control most of the Confederacy. Slaves were property and as commander in Chief he had the right to confiscate the property of those slave owners in rebellion. These slaves were freeing up soldiers to fight for the Confederacy. They were doing the farm work and building fortifications and performing other labor for the Confederate Army. If the slave ran off to the protection of the nearest Union Army the Confederate Army was deprived of this labor and men in the ranks would have to perform that labor in their absence. It also encouraged desertion because when the slaves left the farms and plantations many soldiers were compelled to desert in order to keep their families from starving. After the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on New Years Day 1863, Black soldiers would be allowed to enlist. Because of racism they also did manual labor in the Union Army that freed up White Union soldiers to fight. Soon, however; Black soldiers would be fighting and dying alongside White Union soldiers by the summer of 1863.

  Besides depriving the South of it's labor resources the Emancipation Proclamation, from a political standpoint, made it nearly impossible for the aristocratic governments of England and France to form an alliance with the South. The aristocracy favored the Southern cause but the Proclamation changed the very nature of the war. In the beginning the war was all about preserving the Union. Now it appeared that the war had shifted from not just preserving the Union, which was essential, to a war for human freedom. This prospect turned public opinion among the common man in Europe from indifference to a pro-union stance. The common man of Europe was also striving for more freedom in the class conscious societies of Britain and France. In America the abolitionists, slaves and free Blacks were also excited by the the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. The majority of Northerners, however; did not sign on to emancipation. To them it was still about saving the Union. This is why Lincoln, the political genius, wrote the famous lines to Horace Greeley that have been misused by people over the years to prove Lincoln did not really believe in the anti-slavery cause. "If I could save the union without freeing any slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that." Lincoln said this in August 1862 to one of the most famous journalists in American history. He already knew that he was going to issue the Emancipation Proclamation but he was shrewdly covering his political bases with those people who were only about saving the Union. When Lincoln revealed the news of the proclamation to his full cabinet for the first time on July 22, 1862 Secretary of State Seward advised him not to announce it until the North had won a victory. Otherwise it would appear to be a cry of desperation. Lincoln agreed and waited for a victory.

Lincoln's cabinet

  The victory he was looking for came on September 17, 1862. The battle of Antietam became the bloodiest one day battle of the Civil War and more Americans died on that day than died on D Day. Tactically the battle was a draw but strategically it was a loss for the Confederacy. Lee would be forced to retreat back into Virginia. As Lee led his raid into Northern territory he split his army into five parts and they were scattered over a thirty mile area. Each part of Lee's army was about eight miles apart. Splitting his forces in the face of the enemy illustrates Lee's audacity and his disrespect for McClellan. Until September 13th McClellan had no clue where Lee was. Robert E. Lee was always looking for the decisive battle. Most American generals trained at West Point were taught to think and fight like Napoleon. Win the decisive battle like Austerlitz or Waterloo and force your enemy to accept terms of surrender. In Lee's case he was hoping to win a decisive battle on Northern soil like the Continental Army won at Saratoga, in the American Revolution. Saratoga eventually led to an alliance with France. Lee was hoping for an alliance with France, England, or both. If anyone was capable of winning that battle it was Lee, working in conjunction with the brilliant Stonewall Jackson. Jackson would be dead by the time Gettysburg was fought less than a year later.

  Call it pure chance or divine intervention but Lee's plans were spoiled on the morning of September 13, 1862. Four days before the battle of Antietam. The 27th Indiana Infantry made camp in a field where the Confederates had camped just a few days before. Sergeant John Bloss and Corporal Barton Mitchell found a sheet of paper wrapped around three cigars. After dividing the cigars they suddenly realized that the paper was titled Special Order 191 addressed to Confederate General D.H. Hill, Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia. They passed Lee's order up through the chain of command. The Union Adjutant General Samuel Pittman recognized the writing of the Confederate Adjutant General Robert Chilton confirming that the order was legitimate. This was Lee's orders for the coming campaign. Upon receiving these orders McClellan was heard to boast,  “Here is a paper with which if I cannot whip Bobbie Lee, I will be willing to go home.” Luckily for Lee he was facing McClellan and not someone like U.S. Grant. McClellan as usual thought that he was outnumbered by Lee and wasted valuable time. A more aggressive commander could have destroyed Lee piecemeal. Lee concentrated his army near Sharpsburg Maryland with his army backed up to the Potomac River and nowhere to escape in the event of disaster. McClellan vastly outnumbered Lee. He had around 100,000 troops to Lee's 40,000 but Lee fought him to a bloody draw. By the end of the day the combined casualties of both armies was 23,000 men. McClellan allowed Lee to escape across the Potomac into Virginia. After the midterm elections in November Lincoln fired McClellan and replaced him with the incompetent Ambrose Burnside. It didn't matter, however. Because of the lost orders and Lee's subsequent defeat all chance of foreign intervention on the side of the South was lost forever and the war became a fight for human freedom.

Dead Confederate artillerymen near Dunker church @ Antietam

  The battle of Midway is considered the turning point of WW2 in the Pacific. America sank four of the six aircraft carriers Japan used to attack Pearl Harbor. After Midway Japan was forced to go on the defensive until the end of the war. One of the unforeseen consequences of Doolittle's raid on Tokyo was the battle of Midway. The Japanese were infuriated and embarrassed by the bomber raid on Tokyo, although in the scheme of things it did little damage to the Japanese. The fact that they didn't sink our carriers at Pearl Harbor was coming back to haunt them Isoroko Yamamoto knew that the planes used to bomb Tokyo had to have come from a carrier. He set out to destroy them once and for all. Yamamoto believed in the decisive battle and his intention was to draw out the American carriers by attacking a U.S. possession. A possession that he knew that America would fight to the death for. Before Pearl Harbor we had broken the Japanese diplomatic code but not their military code. We knew Japan was going to attack us but we didn't know where. By the time of Midway we had also broken their military code and Admiral Nimitz set an ambush for the Japanese. He knew what they were planning thanks to an eccentric but brilliant naval intelligence officer named Joseph Rochefort. Yamamoto and his carrier force commander Nagumo thought the American carriers were at Pearl Harbor. They were thinking that they were about to ambush the Americans totally oblivious to the fact that the American fleet was close by. We knew that Midway Island was their target.

  The Japanese carriers were Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu. All four had been at Pearl Harbor. The American carriers were Yorktown, Hornet, and Enterprise. Yorktown had been heavily damaged at the battle of the Coral Sea and had been hastily repaired over three days so she could be in the coming fight. If the United States had not known about Japanese intentions beforehand it is possible that Yamamoto might have gotten his decisive victory. He had a good plan which consisted of a three pronged attack. Yamamoto sent a Japanese task force to the Aleutians as a diversion. He then planned to launch an aerial attack from his carriers on Midway Island which was defended by American troops and a variety of American bombers and fighters. After destroying our Air Forces and softening up the defenses of Midway Japanese troops would invade the Island. Then Yamamoto's carriers would be standing by waiting for the American carriers to steam from Pearl Harbor and engage them in a climatic showdown battle which he felt confident that he could win. Japanese Navy pilots flying the Zero fighter were some of the best pilots in the world. At that point in the war they far surpassed American fighter pilots in their flying skills and our fighters weren't a good match for the Zero. As the war progressed and after heavy Japanese losses America would develop some of the best pilots and airplanes in the world.

  Early in the morning of June 4, 1942 Admiral Nagumo launched his air attack on Midway. Since the Americans had been alerted they were able to scramble wave after wave of fighters and bombers to bomb the Japanese fleet. Nagumo sent half of his aircraft to bomb Midway and kept the other half to perform (CAP) or combat air patrols protecting the carriers and their support ships. These CAP patrols shot down almost all of the American planes causing a heavy loss of life. When we think of pilots purposely crashing their planes into ships we think of the Japanese Kamikaze. One American pilot unsuccessfully attempted to crash his bomber into a Japanese carrier. This attempt at suicide in battle brought tears to the eyes of some of the Japanese sailors who witnessed it The Japanese fleet managed to avoid all of the American bombs by skillfully zigzagging. While under attack, however; the Japanese were unable to launch any planes besides the ones already in the air. After bombing Midway Island the Japanese air commander requested a second wave to be launched against the Island. Midway anti-aircraft batteries had inflicted fairly heavy losses on the Japanese and another attack would be needed to silence these batteries. Nagumo was facing a dilemma. During the battle a Japanese search plane had discovered one of the American carriers. Nagumo was alarmed because this meant that the American fleet was not at Pearl Harbor, like they had hoped, but were in striking distance of the Japanese fleet.

  American fighters from the carriers were already well on their way looking for the Japanese carriers but were having trouble finding them. At 0920 a squadron of American torpedo bombers found the Japanese carriers and began their attack. Their fighter escorts from the Enterprise ran low on fuel and were forced to turn back leaving the torpedo bombers without protection. The whole squadron was destroyed and only one American crew member survived the attack whose name was Ensign George Gay. This would turn out to be a crucial factor in the America victory. In a moment of confusion and being distracted by the torpedo bombers the Japanese fighters left all four Japanese carriers unprotected from air attack. After finding out that the Americans were closer than he thought Nagumo gave the order to change his planes over from ordinance designed to be dropped on Midway Island defences to ordinance designed to sink ships. The carrier decks and hangers were lined with bombs and aviation fuel. Our pilots couldn't have asked for a greater opportunity to destroy the Japanese carriers. Just at the moment that the Japanese were the most vulnerable three squadrons of Dauntless dive bombers from the Enterprise and Yorktown were nearby looking for the enemy. They were running very low on fuel. Air Commander Clarence McClusky Jr. on a hunch decided to make one more try at finding the Japanese before returning to their carriers to refuel. Flying in a different direction the Japanese fleet suddenly appeared below them. Within minutes three of the four carriers were burning out of control. Hiryu, the fourth carrier, was attacked but was able to avoid being hit.

The battle of Midway

  The Hiryu was able to launch planes that would severely damage the USS Yorktown. The Yorktown's crew , however; believed that it was salvageable. The next day a Japanese sub did what the Japanese fighters couldn't do and sent the Yorktown to the bottom. I have toured the Yorktown in Charleston Harbor that was built to replace the Yorktown lost at Midway and it is a formidable ship. In the meantime American pilots were finally able to deliver a death blow to the Hiryu and it would be scuttled by the Japanese on June 5, 1942. Japanese losses were 4 fleet carriers, 1 heavy cruiser,1 damaged heavy cruiser, 248 aircraft destroyed, 3,057 killed, 37 captured. Compare this with American losses of 1 fleet carrier, 1 destroyer, 150 aircraft destroyed, 307 killed, and 3 prisoners that were killed. The brutality of the Japanese was on full display here. They took our prisoners and after interrogating them tied kerosene cans filled with water to the Americans. They then drowned them by throwing them overboard. More Japanese sailors died in the battle of Midway than Americans died at Pearl Harbor. In addition this battle hurt the Japanese much worse than Pearl Harbor hurt us. We could replace our losses but they couldn't. The Japanese still had a formidable and dangerous navy, which would be proven at Guadalcanal just two months later. Some argue that Guadalcanal was the real turning point of the war but losing four carriers and 248 aircraft was an irretrievable loss to the Japanese.

The sinking USS Yorktown

  In 2016 I felt that America had reached a critical point in it's history. I believe that no matter what people do on this earth God is in control and he will prevail in the end. America, however; was standing at a crossroads in the 2016 presidential election. Obama and the left was ruining our economy. He was dividing the country by race, sex, and class. Obama and the left made great strides in fundamentally transforming the greatest country on earth into a third rate power which was causing chaos in the world because America was not fulfilling it's proper role as a world power and leader. ISIS was running rampant in the Middle East because Obama failed to sign a forces agreement with Iraq. Obama was enabling Iran, the largest terrorist regime in the world, by signing a treaty that would help them eventually become a nuclear power. He was also lifting the freeze on 150 billion dollars in financial assets that would empower a regime that otherwise was on the verge of collapse.  If Hillary had won I have no doubt that we would have continued down this same path that Obama was on. Our government has always had it's share of corruption but Obama took it to new heights as the Community Organizer In Chief. His illegal executive orders weakened the Constitution and he politicized, and weaponized our bureaucracies such as the FBI, CIA, and the IRS to go after his political enemies. For three years now we have seen his loyalists in the leadership positions of these bureaucracies trying to pull off a coup against a legitimately elected president of the United States. Because Hillary is so corrupt I think that she would have taken corruption to levels even greater than Obama did. She would have used the government to run roughshod over her political enemies and most likely we would have experienced the most autocratic regime in American history.

  I am not saying for a moment that Trump is a man of God but I do believe that God is using him. Trump has restored our economy, lifted people of all races out of welfare dependency, and is restoring our military. He is trying very hard to turn around our disastrous policy on illegal immigration and is restoring our faith in America. Trump is doing this in the face of the most relentless political opposition since Abraham Lincoln and he has done more to uphold Christianity and Israel since Ronald Reagan. Where we end up is anybodies guess but it always seems that when America is faced with crisis the right leaders come along. I love these lines from Lincoln's Lyceum speech and cannot repeat them enough. God has blessed and protected us but one day he might lift that protection. Like Lincoln, I believe that we can be are our own worst enemies. "At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.