KOREAN WAR

The Simple Things

IN THE VALLEY, the thermometer read thirty degrees below zero. On the windswept ridgeline above it was even colder. Water in canteens had long since frozen, forcing men to eat snow to slake the thirst caused by their exertions. After a brief but savage fight, the men of A Company clung to a newly won position on top of a knifelike ridge commanding the road below. The exhausted Marines dropped down into fighting positions recently occupied by the enemy. Suddenly, they faced a new danger—their own sweaty feet and the penetrating cold made frostbite imminent.

Before the attack, Captain Robert Barrow (a future Marine Corps Commandant) had made sure his men carried two extra pairs of socks. Under these conditions, however, changing socks was not a routine task. Barrow explained:

I learned that night that only leadership will save men under winter conditions. It’s easy to say that men should change socks; getting it done is another matter. Boot laces become iced over during prolonged engagements in snowdrifts. It’s a fight to get a boot off the foot. When a man removes his gloves to struggle with the laces, it seems to him that his hands are freezing. His impulse is all against it. So I found it necessary to do this by order, staying with the individuals until they had changed, then making them get up and move about to restore the circulation.

A wise sergeant once told me, “The things you have to do to succeed in combat are usually simple. Unfortunately, the simple things are always hard to do.” The apostle Paul seemed to have a similar difficulty doing the right thing as a Christian. Each of us has to struggle with our own human weaknesses. Only in Christ can we do the simple, but sometimes hard, things necessary to be a good husband, parent, or friend.