[0:00] much that I have in my memory. Always nostalgic today. In Joshua, talking about courage, when Joshua took over Moses, God told him to be courageous.
[0:17] And I'm thinking of the courage of soldiers. And when I say soldier, that's a general term that means all of us. In verse 6, it says, Be strong and good courage.
[0:32] For unto this people shall thou divide for the inheritance of the land, which I swear in the Father's gift. Be strong, very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which moves to my servant and commanding thee. Turn not from the right hand to the left, that you may prosper withers wherever you go. This book of the law, this Bible, shall not depart out of thy mouth.
[0:56] Thou shalt meditate therein day and night, and observe to do according to all that's written therein. Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous. Then thou shalt have good success.
[1:08] Have not I commanded thee be strong and of good courage? Be not afraid. Neither be thou that is made, for the Lord thy God with thee. With us will ever.
[1:19] And I can go with several times. He told Joshua, be strong and good courage. And in our battle with the devil and with evil, we have to be courageous.
[1:31] I'm going to tell you a story after this special. And I'll tell you a story you'll never forget. Medal of Honor. Medal of Honor is the highest award that our nation can do.
[1:45] Medal of Honor, our fighting men. It's been here for all these years. It became even more important since World War II. The standard became much stricter for winning yet.
[1:58] Here's what it says. It has to be an act of the most conspicuous gallantry and courage, far beyond the call of duty. In the presence of an armed enemy, it must involve a clear risk of life be a voluntary act with at least two witnesses and shall only be for the bravest of the brave.
[2:22] Medal of Honor. President Truman, a veteran of World War I, once said, I'd rather have this medal than be present. General George Patton, World War II, when pinning the medal on a soldier, said this, I'd give nine more soldiers to have this medal.
[2:49] Upwards of 60 and 70 percent of Medal of Honor winners are awarded posthumously. They died while they were winning their medal.
[3:00] During World War II, over 13 million men and women served by military. Only 433 were awarded the medal of honor.
[3:11] 294 Army, 57 Navy, 81 Marines, and one postcard. Only 190 of those 433 survived to receive it in person.
[3:28] It became traditional for the President of the United States to have them for my house and awarded the medal in person. I want to tell you about one of them this morning. You'll never forget this story.
[3:46] Pearl Harbor happened in December 1941. And we were reeling, all of our battleships were out of mission. We had three aircraft carriers. They happened to be away from her a part of the time so they survived.
[4:03] But we used those to begin to rebuild. We went in to try to go into the offensive. Japan was taking over the area around the beginning to shut off the shipping lanes to Australia and try to divide the Allies.
[4:23] so we sent the Lexington down to that area to try to do some good, keep those lanes open. The Lexington was one of our three aircraft carriers we couldn't afford to lose.
[4:42] They had a contingent of pilots that flew the Wildcat fighter planes, pauses, aircraft carrier decks. and there was a new fellow that just arrived.
[4:56] He was a rookie. Young man, 28 years old from St. Louis, Missouri. His name was Edward H. O'Hara. He'd never been in battle.
[5:08] Never flown in combat. Nobody knew what the young man was laid out. But we found out all the planes were sent off the carrier various places to do some work.
[5:29] Only two were left on the deck. And his was one of those two. Somebody spotted nine Japanese Mitsubishi bombers headed forward to Lexington.
[5:44] It was wide open. It was vulnerable. It would have been destroyed. These two men, the rookie and another man, only two planes on deck, took off to try to intercept the nine bombers.
[6:02] They got up checking their guns and the other man found out he was a champ. He had to turn back. Now, we've got a rookie. Never been in combat.
[6:15] One long flight of fighter plane, he said, I'll go and do what I can. And he attacked those nine bombers by himself. His ship was going to be destroyed with its thousands of people.
[6:31] there was an admiral aboard. And Edward H. O'Hara proved his mettle.
[6:46] Those standing on deck watching as the nine bombers got closer said it was like a wasp flitting in and out among the nine planes.
[6:59] said they watched and all of a sudden the smoke billowed from one of them. And he turned over and headed to the ocean. And they cheered.
[7:12] He drew blood. And all those bombers were training their guns on this one little fire plane that was harassing them and flying through all the bullets.
[7:25] He went from one to another. and they said there's another. And the smoke billowed from another. And then another. And then another.
[7:38] And Edward H. O'Hara shot down five of the nine bombers before they could reach the ship. The fifth one, he hit his trigger and was out of bullets.
[7:54] the other four had had enough. They turned to leave. They wanted more of these. By the time, some of his buddies arrived to help him.
[8:09] And this had continued as the wildcats chased the four bombers away and caught up with them and knocked two of those down, by the way. Japanese lost seven out of the nine bombers and not one bomb was ever dropped near the ship.
[8:28] As one after another, those large planes fell aside, throw the cheers, go up from the deck. One wonders if he could even hear it.
[8:42] Naturally, he couldn't. Flying that little plane, first time to come back, 28-year-old Butch O'Hara from St.
[8:53] Louis, Missouri, knocked down five planes in four minutes, became the first naval aviation ace in World War II.
[9:07] An ace is someone who shoots down at least five planes. Returning to the deck, to an ovation one could not imagine.
[9:20] One rookie pilot saved the ship and all of his crew. That was in February 20, 1942, just a couple months after the war.
[9:36] Two months later, President Franklin Roosevelt around his neck and met Ron. Roosevelt said, son, this is the highest honor that your country can give you.
[9:57] I wish we could do something else to memorialize you. Maybe someday we can. Butch O'Hara went back to the South Pacific, won many more victories, one year and nine months after he received his medal.
[10:18] He's in a dog fight. The Americans won again, but he took a bullet in his fighter plane. His buddies said they saw him, starved down.
[10:31] It looked like he wasn't hit. They turned his lights on. It was a night fight. They thought sure he was going to ditch in the ocean. Couldn't wait until dawn. They would go out and patrol and find him.
[10:44] The next morning they scoured in that part of the ocean. They couldn't find anything. They didn't find the little life raft probably in the oceans like they hoped they would.
[10:57] They couldn't even find a rickage or oil or anything. They don't know to this day exactly what happened. Butch O'Hara disappeared.
[11:11] And to this day nobody has ever 80 feet that young man did if ever 20 in 1942.
[11:25] Five planes in four minutes to save an aircraft carrier. But his country found a way to memorialize it.
[11:37] you'll never forget this story from now on when you hear the word O'Hara field and she cried.
[11:53] You'll never forget it. Those are the heroes that you and I honored today.
[12:05] And many thousands of them who didn't get the medal in his earth. Folks, we have a battle. There's a more foreign enemy in Japan or Germany.
[12:20] He's called the devil. And he is eating the vibles of this great nation. And he's trying to destroy earth. You and I call ourselves Christians and we have to be courageous.
[12:34] We'll have to be willing to give the last bull measure to those people. We're going to have to be soldiers for the Lord. We're going to have to put getting in squads with each other.
[12:48] We don't have time to criticize. We have an enemy out there that's after all of us. I need to line up shoulder to shoulder to you. You and me and us with others.
[13:01] We need to fight a little boy. The greatest generation went off to war and fought a battle and won a war that they shouldn't have won.
[13:17] America was a different place. I've set off and I don't know who went today with the kind of people we have now. We're going to have to turn this thing around.
[13:29] If your grandchildren are going to have the freedom that I enjoy you're going to have to be courageous you're going to have to become a better Christian than you are.
[13:41] We're going to have to give more than we give. And I ask you if God gives out some of honor someday will any of us win?
[13:54] Will any of us win? Can you get your bowed out your quote please.