General
Memorial Day Redux: The Bravest Boehme
The Bravest Boehme
Shirley and I are our two mothers just returned from a trip to the local cemetery. We do it every Memorial Day to thank God both for those who’ve gone before us, and especially for those who laid their lives down for our country.
Most of our relatives’ remains are interred at Sunset Lane in Port Orchard. The cemetery contains a beautiful view of Sinclair Inlet and each Memorial Day is festooned with large flags scattered throughout the property and small flags placed at the headstone of all those who’ve served in war.
Today, thousands of flowers graced the resting place of our forefathers–many containing vases of rhododendrons–Washington’s state flower. We brought the same from my mother’s yard to place at the graves of our loved ones.
I cherish Memorial Day because I’m deeply thankful for those who both gave me life and who laid their lives down that we might live free.
May we always be grateful for life and liberty.
It’s becoming a tradition I re-print the story of my uncle–Richard Boehme–the only member of the Herman & Lucille Boehme family I never met. As it says on my mom and dad’s tombstone “We’ll Meet in Heaven.”
I shared his story the past two Memorial Days. It’s worth re-printing this year.
Richard gave his life for his country in World War II. He is the bravest Boehme.
This is his heroic story.
My father was the oldest of six children, born and raised in Akron, Ohio. The second child born to Herman and Lucille Boehme was Richard. I am told that he was smart, athletic, and religious (in their traditional Lutheran home). While in his early twenties, “Uncle Dick” joined the US military and headed out to fight the Germans in the western theatre of World War II.
One day in the spring of 1945, a somber member of the US Army knocked on my grandparents’ door and informed them that Dick was missing in action in Europe. For over a year, my grandmother dried her tears with the hope that Dick would be found and come home. Then came the heart-breaking news. He had been shot down and killed on February 16, 1945–just seven months before the war ended.
For decades, our family was given little information on Dick’s death. Then, in the early 2000s, a man named Jerry Whiting tracked down my father to let him know that he was writing a book in memory of his own dad and all those that served in his squadron–including my uncle. (The book is called “I’m Off to War, Mother But I’ll Be Back.”)
Jerry Whiting would answer many questions about Dick’s last months on earth.
Whiting spent decades combing through military files and collecting information. He traveled to Europe to interview folks who had met his dad and “band of brothers” and knew something about their story. They included soldiers, villagers, and even a Catholic priest.
When the book arrived, our family was ecstatic. Finally we would learn what had happened to “Uncle Dick”– a brave member of the 485 Bomb Squadron stationed in Italy. The biggest revelation? He had been shot down three times in the space of five months.
It takes great bravery to keep going under those circumstances. Here’s what happened.
October 16, 1944
Dick was captain of a B-28 Liberator that bombed some German military factories in Austria. After failing to fire on the first target due to clouds, the squadron went on to their second priority, the Neudorf Aircraft Factory at Graz. Upon finishing the assignment, they were running low on fuel and would not make it back to Italy. They’d also been hit by incoming “flak” from German guns.
Uncle Dick put out the Mayday signal and all of them parachuted out of the plane as it crashed into the waters off Yugoslavia. One of Uncle Dick’s mates hit the water, swam to shore and was found by a village girl named Narija Glavan who gave him clothes to wear and hid him in a hole in the ground from the occupying Germans.
Uncle Dick landed in the water a few miles from his buddies. The Germans saw his parachute descending and fired at him in the air–but missed. He started swimming but was caught up in the parachute. Two local Yugoslav cousins, Niko and Nikica Peros, jumped into action from shore. Here’s how Whiting tells the story:
“The Peros cousins saw Boehme struggling in the water…They swam out to Boehme and Nikica cut Boehme free from the parachute lines and both helped him to shore. As they swam, the Germans started shooting at them with machine guns. The Germans were less than a mile away, so the three men got out of the immediate area as quickly as possible.”
“They took Boehme to the village of Zaton. The villagers gave him civilian clothes and hid him from the Germans who were searching the entire area for missing flyers…The villagers refused to betray Boehme, so the Germans shelled the village, ultimately killing a young girl in the barrage.”
Helped on by the locals, Uncle Dick walked, hid, and traveled north for a week staying near the coastline. He was finally smuggled onto some islands and evacuated to Vis. From there he returned to Italy where he was awarded a Silver Star.
November 17, 1944
Three weeks later, Uncle Dick volunteered for another combat mission. His plane was again shot down while returning from Blechhammer, Yugoslavia. Details are scarce are this mission, but he eventually found himself in a battle between Chetniks and Partisans. On the run for a month, he finally made a safe return to Italy one month after his second crash.
The Final Mission: February 16, 1945
Uncle Dick was once again captaining the squadron when, after bombing their target, they came under heavy anti-aircraft fire near the Italian/Austrian border. Whiting describes the scene as two aircraft were fatally hit:
“Both planes broke apart after the mid-air collision. The tail was sliced off Tomhave’s plane (piloted by Uncle Dick) and part of the nose broke off. Major Olen Cooper Bryant (the navigator) was thrown through a hole in the nose of the plane, unconscious from the concussion of the direct hit. He fell from an altitude of about 10,000 feet without a parachute, landing in heavy snow.”
Miraculously, Bryant survived! Others parachuted from the two doomed planes–but not my uncle. The planes crashed near each other below the crest of Mount Belepeit, near the Slovenian border in northern Italy–west of the village of Chiusaforte. Those who lost their lives were John Carmody (navigator), James Cahen III (navigator), Marvin Woodcock (bombadier), James Dixon (flight engineer), Bruce Graves (radio operator), and Captain Richard Boehme (pilot).
Uncle Dick was 23 years old.
On February 27, 1945, after ten days of severe weather, Father Giovanni B. Lenarduzzi led twenty-five local villagers up the mountain to locate the remains of the American airmen and give them a proper burial–near the summit of Mount Belepeit. We, their relatives, are deeply grateful.
In the past forty years, some villagers have made an annual trip up the mountain to honor the American flyers were fought for their freedom. My dad’s letters contain e-mails from those folks–one as recent as 2005–which shows the tree-lined hillside of the mountain (in summertime) and numerous remains of the crash that are buried beneath the leaves and vegetation.
My uncle was a hero. He loved his God, family, and nation and gave his life that we might enjoy ours.
I think now of what Uncle Dick might have done if he lived past 23. Would he have become a doctor, pharmacist, office manager, or logger like his older brothers? Would he have moved to the west coast with the rest of his family? Had children, grandchildren? Lived into his nineties like his older brother, my dad?
How would he have continued to serve the God of his fathers? He never had that chance. He laid down his life for others–just like his Lord did for the sins of the world.
Let’s never forget the heroes. Let’s emulate their faith and commitment. In my latter years, I want to be brave like my Uncle Dick.
I’ll always consider him the bravest Boehme.
Israel and the USA
For most of my life, I really didn’t think much about the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, or their place in current history.
I immensely enjoyed visiting the Holy Land, but only for its past–not its future.
To be honest, though I knew the Jews were once “God’s chosen people,” I subtly believed they lost that calling when they rejected the Messiah of the world–Jesus Christ.
But in the past few years I’ve been re-evaluating Israel.
Here are a few of my thoughts.
Israel has been in the news for a number of momentous reasons.
First, this month Israel celebrated the 70th anniversary of their “new birth” as a sovereign nation. Thanks to the courage of President Harry Truman, many praying Christians, and some extremely sacrificial Zionist leaders, Israel was reborn as a nation on May 14, 1948.
Here’s a quick history, from, or all places, the The New York Times:
“The declaration of the new state by David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the National Council and the first Premier of reborn Israel, was delivered during a simple and solemn ceremony at 4 p.m., and new life was instilled into his people, but from without there was the rumbling of guns, a flashback to other declarations of independence that had not been easily achieved.”
“After World War II and the Holocaust, in which six million European Jews were killed, the United Nations moved to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish sections. The United Nations adopted the partition plan in November 1947. This plan outraged Arabs, and sparked a civil war in Palestine.”
“The violence caused the United States to withdraw its support for partition. However, when Israel declared its independence, the United States immediately recognized the new state. The Times wrote, ‘In one of the most hopeful periods of their troubled history the Jewish people here gave a sigh of relief and took a new hold on life when they learned that the greatest national power had accepted them into the international fraternity.’”
So the United States was critical to Israel’s modern rebirth.
With our support, Israel became the first nation in the history of mankind to have a 3000 history revival.
Sounds like a miracle to me.
The Times continues its historical brief:
“The armies of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria invaded almost immediately after the May 14, 1948 declaration of nationhood and the withdrawal of British troops, sparking the Arab-Israeli War. Israeli forces defeated the coalition by the end of the year and, via 1949 armistice agreements, Israel expanded its borders beyond those established by the original United Nations partition plan.”
“In 1967, after the Six-Day War, the country took effective control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Today, the country borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, the Gaza Strip and Egypt in the southwest.”
Happy Birthday, Israel.
A second reason for an Israel focus came into being when President Trump defied the odds (and political correctness) to recognize Jerusalem as its true capital–moving our embassy there last week.
Most presidents over the past fifty years gave lip-service to the concept: all nations have a right to choose their capital and Jerusalem was Israel’s capital city for thousands of years.
But only Trump followed through.
That led to reaction and bloodshed–but all in self defense. (Contrary to popular myth, at Israel’s rebirth in 1948 there were 200,000 Jews in the land and only 40,000 Palestinians. So even by principles of majority rule, Israel has a right to both self governance and their ancient capital.)
Star Parker, president of Urban Renewal and Education, recently wrote a great comparative article on Israel and the United States.
It’s worth reading in its entirety.
Moving the Embassy to Jeruslaem Shows the U.S. is Unique. Just Like Israel
By Star Parker
“I was privileged to attend the dedication of the new American Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14—an event of enormous import that will remain with me forever.”
“I am deeply grateful to Ambassador David Friedman and his wife, Tammy, for inviting me to this historic event. The United States recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is important not just for the United States and Israel but also for the entire world.”
“We might start thinking about this by considering the unique relationship between these two countries.”
“Regardless of how some choose to think about the United States today, the country’s founding generation was largely Christian men and women.”
“Alexis de Tocqueville, author of ‘Democracy in America,’” widely deemed to be the most insightful book ever written about the United States, wrote in 1835, ‘There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.’”
“Perhaps there is no better example demonstrating this truth, and the deep roots of Christian Americans in the Hebrew Bible, than the inscription on the Liberty Bell from the Book of Leviticus: ‘Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all inhabitants thereof.’”
“The United States and Israel are different from other nations in that both are defined by a creed and by principles. I would go so far to say that the extraordinary success of both countries springs from these principles.”
“What are the great principles that can be extracted from the Ten Commandments in the Hebrew Bible?”
“Reverence for the Lord, reverence for family, reverence for the sanctity of life, reverence for private property and personal responsibility, and a prohibition of envy.”
“Some surely will say that the United States has strayed so far from these principles that they no longer define the country. But I travel constantly. I have been in every state of the union. And I have met enough of the many millions of Americans that still subscribe to these truths to know they are still very much alive in America.”
“And I also believe that the problems that plagued America in the past, and that plague America today, trace to abandonment of these great truths—these great truths rooted in the Hebrew Bible.”
“I see President Donald Trump’s courageous step forward to lead the United States to be the first nation in the world to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel, and to move the United States Embassy to Jerusalem, as implicit recognition that the common ground on which both nations stand is our shared belief in these great and holy truths.”
“The achievements of the young state of Israel, which celebrates its 70th birthday this year, have been truly awesome.”
“Writer, social philosopher, and investor George Gilder wrote a book called ‘The Israel Test.’ What is the Israel Test according to Gilder?”
“He asks the question: How do you react to those who excel you in innovation, in creativity, in wealth? Do you envy them and feel diminished by them? Or do you admire what they have achieved and try to emulate them?”
“Those who say the latter pass the Israel Test. According to Gilder, it is the Israel Test that drives today’s tensions in the Middle East. I would take it a step further and say that it is the Israel Test that drives the tensions in America.”
“Gilder says that those who pass the Israel Test tend to become wealthy and peaceful. Those who fail it tend to become poor and violent.”
“The great principles that join America and Israel are equally true and crucial for all of mankind.”
“Congratulations to Trump for helping America pass the Israel Test. Now we wait for the other nations of the world.”
Well said.
Then, how should we view Israel in the present day?
- The nation is a sign that God and His promises are alive and well.
- “Creeds and principles” (truth) matter in our daily and national lives.
- We should not the envy the fruitful; We should imitate their success.
- We must pray that many Israelis receive Jesus as Savior (Romans 11:26).
- We must pray for the Muslim world to accept the Messiah and His chosen nation.
- As people of “grafted in faith” (Romans 11:17), the Church should be inspired by Israel’s rebirth to complete the time of the Gentiles (evangelize the world).
So, let’s rejoice, share our precious faith, and pray.
Dream Releasers
This week an amazing “dream” came true when Jerusalem became officially recognized as the Jewish capital via the moving of the U.S. embassy. Other nations “sit on the fence” regarding this bold change, but a few others are following suit.
Yes, there was defiant reaction from the Arab world and over 50 deaths as a result of violence at the border. But the re-location was a right, for many reasons.
President Trump gets the lion’s share of credit by honoring a campaign promise no other U.S. president had the guts to achieve. Credit should also be given to Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security adviser John Bolton, and others behind the scenes who had the courage to work on this epic change.
On the other side of the world, plans are now in place for a summit meeting between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to decide the fate of nuclearization of the hermit kingdom, possibly leading to the eventual unification of the Korean Peninsula.
Heady stuff. Momentous global happenings.
It appears to me that dream releasers are at work.
Are you a dream releaser?
One of the books I use frequently in my classes at Faith International University is Wayne Cordeiro’s Doing Church as a Team. Wayne is the founding pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship, with multiple church extensions throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
New Hope is a great partner to YWAM and I’ve spoken in some of their churches. My students strongly identify with Wayne’s book because it is honest, down-to-earth, practical, easy to read, and loaded with revelation on many subjects.
Cordeiro believes in empowering people–being a dream releaser–to see and realize their potential in God. He wants every believer to use those gifts in the Church and fulfill their purpose in extending God’s Kingdom. Here’s the clarion call:
“There’s nothing more spectacular than seeing people’s dreams released and being used for the glory of God. There’s no greater joy.”
Wayne is a dream releaser.
So is President Trump, regardless of what you don’t like about him. He should win a Nobel Prize for what he’s doing on the world scene.
Israel Dream
The nation of Israel miraculously celebrated its 70th birthday this month and the “present” that President gave to them is what every sovereign nation deserves–the right to choose its capital.
Gary Randall described the joyous occasion this way:
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US delegation last night in Jerusalem—on the eve of the day America, the most powerful nation in the history of the world, officially moves its embassy to Jerusalem—affirming that Jerusalem is indeed the capital of Israel.”
“Other nations will follow America’s leadership, but not all. Before our eyes, significant history is happening. Promises are being kept.”
“Netanyahu said last night at a reception, ‘Our people will be eternally grateful for [President Trump’s] decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move the American Embassy here tomorrow.’”
“Among those in the audience were Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog; Christians United for Israel founder John Hagee, American lawyer Alan Dershowitz; new Republican National Committee finance chairman Todd Ricketts; Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Ted Cruz (R-SC), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Mike Lee (R-UT); Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), American Jewish Committee chair David Harris; Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Sandra Jovel Polanco, and many others.”
“Netanyahu praised President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem and transfer the embassy there, ‘It’s been the capital of the Jewish people for the last 3000 years,’ he said. ‘It’s been the capital of our state for 70 years. It will be our capital for all time.'”
“He said, ‘It took a President Trump to enunciate a simple basic truth.'”
Yes. Nations can choose their own capitals.
In this case, it looks like God Himself had a multi-millennium plan in selecting the capital city of His chosen people. The U.S. Administration, in 2018, helped to release that dream once again.
“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed” (Psalm 126:1).
Some followers of Christ don’t believe that the resurrection of the Jewish nation means much to history. They think God has “replaced” the Jews with the Church due to their disobedience over the centuries. This is called replacement theology.
They might be right. It’s the Church that is currently extending God’s Kingdom to the ends of the earth.
But I personally think they’re wrong. Israel’s nationhood and now capital city in Jerusalem is too big a “sign” of God’s reality to overlook or explain away. A dream is being released.
But there’s another.
Korean Dream
On the other side of the world another dream appears to be emerging.
On June 12, 2018, President Donald Trump and his team will sit down with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Singapore to begin the process of ending the eighty year Korean War, division of the Korean Peninsula, and denuclearizing of the north.
The first news of this stunning breakthrough came when three political prisoners of North Korean gulags saw their dreams answered–thanks to American leadership.
Who are the Americans freed by North Korea?
Kim Dong Chul is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Korea, who was seized in North Korea on October 2, 2015 and accused of spying. Though a resident of Virginia – he became an American citizen in 1987 – Kim had lived with his wife in Yanji, China since 2001. He worked just across the North Korean border in Rason-Sonbong where he ran a hotel services company. He was also a pastor. After a one-day trial in April, he was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for his supposed espionage.
Kim Hak-song, in his mid 50s, was born in Jilin, China, and educated at a university in California. He had been working for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), founded by evangelical Christians overseas in 2010, undertaking agricultural work with the school’s farm. He was arrested at a Pyongyang railway station in May 2017 on suspicion of committing “hostile acts” against the government as he was boarding a train headed for Dandong, China.
Kim Sang-duk is a former professor at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in China, close to the Korean border. He was arrested in April 2017 at Pyongyang’s main airport as he tried to leave the country after teaching for several weeks as a guest lecturer. He graduated from the University of California Riverside in 1990 with a master’s degree in business administration and had been involved in relief activities for children in rural parts of North Korea. A source described Kim as a ‘religiously devoted man.’
These three men saw their dreams of freedom realized when they landed at Andrews Air Force base early in the morning of May 10, 2018 and were welcomed home by the Trumps. Tears flowed freely. So did hope for a strategic part of the world.
In you’re an American, ponder this: Imagine that eighty years ago militant thugs took over everything west of the Continental Divide. They killed millions, imprisoned thousands, and cut off all communication with the eastern half of the nation–including families. Over eight decades, everyone in the western U.S. began to starve, while the eastern United States became prosperous.
How would you feel, pray, or dream of change?
That’s what happened to the Korean Peninsula since World War II. A totalitarian “wall” divided a once proud and godly people into slaves and free.
I’m been to South Korea many times, preached in their churches, and prayed for the re-unification of this passionate and vigorous people. As Germany was re-united after the fall of the Iron Curtain, let’s pray that some vestiges of the Bamboo Curtain will be swept away from Korean soil. This remains the dream of the Korean people–and certainly one that comes from the heart of God.
Yes, Jesus is the true Dream Releaser. He died for our sins, longs for our good, and has plans for individual lives and nations (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
As a teacher, during this last third of my life, I find myself being drawn more and more to cheer leading, encouraging, and being a dream releaser of all those who will listen. I want them to know their gifts, find their place in Jesus’ army of love, and help release the dreams of the Trinity upon everyone on Planet Earth.
Are you tracking with that–with Him–to be a dream releaser of others?
Inspire someone today in the cause of world evangelism and the consummation of Christ’s Coming Kingdom.
The New Jerusalem.