James L. Erwin, Ensign

JAMES L. ERWIN, ENSIGN
USS SAVE ISLAND
JULY 1943 – JULY 1945


As I think back on my three years in the service, first in the Marine Corps and then in the Navy, I thank the Lord for His presence and protection of me.

After transferring from the Marines to the Navy for flight training, we were often told that more pilots were killed in training than in actual combat. It turned out that I spent all of the war years in training at eight different bases, all over the US.

There were several occasions that made me aware of God’s protection, but not all of those involved flying. During one phase of my training at the Naval Air Station near Chicago, I and several of my squadron would catch a train in the Chicago Loop. On one such occasion, we entered a second level station to catch the “El” back to our base. It happened that we had taken the stairs to the wrong side of the tracks. A friendly bystander advised us of this, which meant that we would have to go back downstairs to cross over to the other side. At that moment we saw our train approaching. Not wanting to miss our train and possibly being late getting back, I jumped down on the track and leaped to the other side. I heard screaming as I jumped. I asked “what’s wrong”? They told me that the 3rd rail carried thousands of volts of electricity which could fry me to a crisp. Apparently I did not ‘ground’ myself by touching one of the other rails at the same time. All of which proves that the Lord protects even the foolish, both on the ground as well as in the air.

Although I enlisted in the Marine Corps a few weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, I was not called up for active duty until many months later. While I regret not seeing action on the battle front, I greatly appreciate and envy the ones who did. I admire and am thankful for all of those serving in the military today, for without them our nation and our freedoms would be gone. I thank God for them.