They were not friends in the traditional sense. They were shipmates. An odd thing, that. John Porter liked nothing more than to get off the ship, the USS Douglas, on those rare occasions when she was in port. It wasn't a successful liberty until John and the other sailors he ran with had busted up a few bars, got in a couple of fights, drank more beer (or what passed for beer in the South Pacific) than a human being should be allowed and got arrested by the shore patrol. Now that was a fun liberty. Eddie Rowland liked to get off the ship, too, but he spent his time wandering the streets of whatever port they were in. He looked at the buildings, listened to the languages and watched the interactions between the people. After a liberty, John felt like he had died but didn't have the good sense to fall down. After his liberty, Eddie felt refreshed and alive.      

    But that didn't really matter at this point of the war. The Americans were pushing ahead and driving the Japanese back, closer and closer to their Home Islands. It had been six months since they had been in port. Refueling and resupplying at sea. Life on a destroyer was never comfortable, but given the pace they were moving now, it was unbearable. Always at battle stations, or so it seemed, the sailors stayed wet and miserable in the rough seas. Air attacks were common and the anti-aircraft guns seemed to always be firing or, when things had calmed down, being maintained. And this was where John and Eddie came together.

     They both served on a 75 caliber anti-aircraft gun. The rounds they fired were explosive shells and could really do a number on an incoming plane. But neither John nor Eddie ever sat in the gunner's seat. They were part of the fifteen man crew each of those guns required. John and Eddie were both loaders and therefore they worked closely together. It was here that they really got to know one another. John, the foul mouthed and vulgar stereotypical sailor and Eddie, the calm and easy going farm boy who never uttered a bad word. When under attack, the two men performed perfectly. When down time came and they were working on their gun, Eddie had a slow sense of humor that would get the entire gun crew laughing. Eddie's peaceful bearing began to rub off on the others. In a time of craziness, their gun was order and calm.

    And then came the Philippines and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. All the typical sailor knew was that they were going to the Philippines to drive the Japanese invaders out. It was looking like just another round against the enemy. The Douglas was part of an aircraft carrier task force and so their primary function was to protect the carrier. That is what the sailor knew. They didn't know they were sailing into the biggest naval battle in history. They didn't know the sprawling battle would actually be made up of four separate battles. They didn't know that this battle would involve over 200,000 men. The men of that gun crew knew only that their gun needed to fire and they needed to protect their carrier.

    Another thing they didn't know before the battle began was that this was the first time that the Japanese made use of suicide planes. Loaded with explosives, the planes would fly directly into American ships. The nasty war was about to get even nastier.

    As the battle progressed, the Douglas was strafed and, once, bombed. Debris was everywhere. Men were dead and dying. Still, the little ship was under power. Half the gun crew was dead or wounded and John and Eddie were working harder than ever. The gunner kept up a steady rate of fire in spite of vicious cut across his chest. Training was all that kept the gun alive.

    And then, John was thrown to the deck of the gun turret. He watched as a solid wall of fire raced just over him without touching. He saw the gunner not moving on the deck beside him and the gun itself twisted and broken. And there was Eddie, a look of surprise on his face, eyes wide open, but seeing nothing. Eddie would never see anything again. 

    The Douglas had been hit by a suicide plane. Damaged but still afloat, she drifted slowly out of the battle. Finally, a corpsman got to John and set about saving his life. It turned out that John was the only survivor of that gun crew. John was terribly injured and burned. The next day he was transferred to a supply ship to be evacuated. Eventually, after a couple of stops, the supply ship steamed into Pearl Harbor, where the injured could be properly cared for. It was at Pearl that John found out that his war was over. They found work for him to do, but he would never see combat again. Through some connections, he got the addresses of each of his gun crew and he wrote letters to the families telling them how brave their beloved ones had been.

    He mailed them all off, but he couldn't shake the thought of Eddie's family. The Rowland family had a farm in Illinois. Eddie talked of them all the time. John was from Pittsburgh and the idea of life on a farm seemed really nice. But now it was more than that. For some reason the thought of Eddie's parents, grieving for their son, tore at his heart. He just couldn't shake it.

    Because of his injuries, he was among the first discharged after the Japanese surrender. Back to Pittsburgh, he had to come to grips with the fact that he couldn't work in the steel mills. So, he decided to go to school. However, the idea of the Rowlands stayed in his mind.

    And so it was, in July 1947, he was driving an old, prewar Chevy across the flat lands of Illinois. Using the map, he located the nearest town to the Rowland farm and from there he got directions. His plan was to just go up to the door, quickly tell the Mom and Dad what a great guy Eddie had been and then get back in the clunker and drive away. He pulled into the drive and got out of the car, cane in hand. He was heading up the walk when the screen door slammed.

    He looked up. In the waning light he saw a tall, thin man coming down the porch steps. In that light he first thought it was Eddie, but no. This man was much older. A smile graced his weather beaten face. Behind him, still on the porch stood a tallish woman, somewhat plump, drying her hands on her apron. She, too, was smiling. The man came up to John, looked him in the eye and then wrapped him up in a hug. Then he turn to the woman, who was hurrying down the steps. "Look here, dear, its John!" She rushed to him and threw her arms about him. Then the two older folks hustled him into the kitchen and sat him down at the table.

    "Just in time for supper! How about that?" She set about getting everything ready. Mr. Rowland sat down and just stared at him, tears in his eyes. John finally found his voice. "Uh, how did you know it was me. I didn't send a picture." Mrs. Rowland came in with food and sat down.

    "Johnny, we have been praying you would come. We knew you would be here soon. Pa even said this morning it would be today." John was confused. Yes, Eddie was a little different. Occasionally, when everything was quiet, he would have that little Gideon New Testament that they had all received, and he would be reading it. But John never figured him for some kind of religious nut.

    Mr. Rowland laughed. "It's true, Johnny. We knew you would come. See, Eddie sent us a letter about three and half years ago. In it he told us that they were going where the fighting was. He said that if he died, it was OK. He knew he was going to heaven. But he asked us to pray for a shipmate named John Porter. He said you didn't know Jesus and if you died, well, you would go from a shooting war to Hell. From that point on, me and Martha added you to our prayer time. Every morning and every evening we prayed for you. When we got word Eddie had died, we felt you were still alive. See, boy, we know we'll see Eddie again in Glory, but we know we needed to see you here in the flesh." John wasn't following well, so he said, "Why did you need to see me in the flesh?" Mrs. Rowland laughed. "Johnny, you kept me from going crazy with grief. We both knew we had a mission to finish, and that was to tell you about Jesus."

    John wound up spending the night, although there wasn't much sleeping. For the first time he heard of the grace of Jesus, he understood how Eddie had been so calm and collected and, about two o'clock in the morning, he learned what it meant to be freed from sin. In the morning, after a massive breakfast and a crushing hug from Mrs. Rowland and a firm handshake from Eddie's Dad (and promises to return to visit), John climbed into his old car and headed back to Pittsburgh. A new man.