As the dwindling band of D-Day veterans prepare to make
their way to Normandy to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the
landings, one man making the long trip from Philadelphia.
As a Private 1st Class, Leslie Cruise had already
endured an agonizing 24-hour postponement of his mission but now he carried his
equipment on board the Douglas C-47; rations, canteens, first aid pack,
clothing, rifle and bayonet, ammunition, smoke grenades and an anti-tank
mine. However his most important piece
of equipment was in his left breast pocket – a New Testament given to him by
his mother. He patted it and said a
quiet prayer to himself:-
God help me to commit myself to the task
ahead and help me to be a good soldier, and save me from harm.
Earlier in the evening he had gathered for a service led by
his chaplain, Capt. George Wood. A
prayer was said which Cruise remembers to this day:-
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father who art above us and beneath us,
within us and around us, drive from the minds of our paratroopers any fear of
the space in which Thou art ever present.
Give them the confidence in the strength of Thine everlasting arms. Endue them with clear minds and pure hearts
that they might participate in the victory which this nation much achieve in
Thy Name and through Thy Will. Make them
hardy soldiers of their country as well as Thy Son, our Saviour, Jesus
Christ. Amen
Palmer was parachuted into
Normandy early on D-Day and was part of a Platoon which held the strategically
important town of St. Mere Eglise until the tanks of the 4th
Division relieved them nearly 48 hours later.
His, and the chaplain’s prayers, had been answered.
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