WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
Because of the conflict in Korea many young men dropped out of college to enlist in one of the services. My roommate, another student and boyhood friend, and I dropped out of Stetson University to join the United States Air Force.
Following an abbreviated basic training and a battery of tests; I was assigned to radio school. Upon graduation as a Ground Radio Repairman I was assigned to Okinawa for two years. Three months of that time was spent at advanced radio school located at a former Japanese Kamikaze training facility outside Tokyo, Japan. The last year of service was spent in the states with a squadron responsible for installation of aircraft control tower communication, radar and navigation systems. This challenging technical experience inspired me to earn a degree in Electrical Engineering (BEE). This led to a thirty year career the Aerospace and Defense industry.
As important as it was to obtain career guidance at a critical time in my young life, my time in service was most rewarding spiritually. While in Okinawa I was privileged to read the Bible and pray with my barracks mates, teach a Sunday morning Bible class at the base chapel and to take part in a mission church which the servicemen built for the local islanders.
In Japan I participated with the service personnel in a true "Gospel Hour" service at the base chapel each Sunday night. Besides being blessed with preaching from dedicated Chaplains, missionaries from around the area came to preach. One was Dub Jackson, our Southern Baptist missionary for many years in Japan. Another was Bob Boardman of the Navigators who instilled in me the importance of directed Bible study and memory work.
The services were attended by Japanese who worked on the base and others from off base. A great mark on my spiritual understanding of 'wars and rumors of wars' was the testimony of a sixteen year old Japanese girl who said ... "I am so glad that my country lost the war (World War II) because I was able to learn of Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior".
Another reality of doors being opened in Japan after WWII had already occurred. In 1942, Jacob DeShazer, a captured member of the Doolittle Raiders (who bombed Tokyo) came to know the Lord while reading the Bible given to him by a guard in a Japanese prison. Later he returned to Japan as a missionary, wrote and distributed a tract of his experience which was read by Mitsuo Fuchida who came to know the Lord in 1950. It was Captain Fuchida who flew the lead aircraft in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941
Stories like these have happened all over the globe, and are still being written today wherever the conflicts of war open doors and make possible the telling of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jewell A. Davis, Jr., Korean War Veteran
Airman First Class, United States Air Force
January 8, 1951 – January 7, 1955
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