From Fire to Faith and Freedom

"One pointed to my torn trousers as though to say 'I'll sew them up for you'. I took them off and he did bring them back to me sewed and repaired. That was a real Christian act when you consider that about 45 minutes beforehand I had been strafing them. Matthew 25 comes to mind. I just hope he survived the war." Matthew 25 reads: Jesus said: Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me.

"I tried to hide my parachute but then heard a voice. 'Englander'. I saw there were two Germans, one with a rif1e and other with a revolver. There was nothing I could do. I was taken to a farmhouse where I realised I was in a bit of a mess. My trousers were torn but I wasn't burned although I was covered in molten metal from where the plane had melted:' occurred during his operational training while he was in Egypt. Jimmy recalled the incident. "I had landed and was walking in to the crew room when I heard my name being called out by a senior officer. It was a FI Lt Harvey. He said 'James, in here'. I thought ok, now what have I done 7 He said 'James, I see that you are f1ying in shorts and short sleeves. Do you realise that if you have a fire you would not have a lot of protection'. Wise words indeed and I added a quiet thank-you to him." In the farmhouse Jimmy was ref1ecting on the words of FI Lt Harvey when he noticed German soldiers curiously peering at him round the corner of the room he was in. The state he was in acted as a stark reminder of a situation which had

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