Christian Living

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Soldiers Three
© 2011

by

Stephen A. Peterson


Three United States Army Privates—Jack Carney, Angel Gabrielle and Manuel Hernando completed Basic Training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. Upon release, each received order to Fort Lewis in Washington state for Advanced Individual Training (AIT). With no particular place to go, the friends decided to travel the country by automobile as no one of the young soldiers had ever been outside of the state of Florida until their entry into military service.

Of the three, only Private Hernando owned a car. Before they departed Fort Jackson, all agreed to share cost to travel to Fort Lewis. With their belongings loaded into the vehicle, the soldiers were on their way. As they traveled, they marveled at the beauty of the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and Virginia; were amazed by the vastness of the Indiana cornfields; and the length of the Mississippi River.

The excursion was going well when the car sputtered, coughed then came to a complete stop along Interstate highway 70 in Missouri. Each checked the car’s condition then determined that a mechanic would be needed to get the car running again. They took a backpack of personal items then began walking in hopes of finding a nearby town where they might locate a hotel to stay a night.

After walking for nearly an hour and half and passing what looked to be four residential structures, they decided to stop in at the next hours they saw. “Maybe we’ll get help from a farmer. They’re usually kind and friendly,” said Private Hernando.

The three soldiers came upon an old red brick house then knocked on the door. A young man and his wife opened the door. Presented the soldiers was a poorly dressed man with a shotgun and an equally poorly dressed young woman.

“What do you guys want? Go away! We ain’t got nothin’! We are a poor family! So if you wanna rob us, we ain’t got nothin’ you can take,” said the man.

“Oh, no sir,” said Private Hernando. “We are soldiers in Army. We’re trying to get to our next duty station, sir! Here are out military ID cards. Our car broke and we’ve been walking nearly two hours and night is about to come. We need someplace to stay overnight. We won’t hurt you or your family. I see that you have a barn. Would it be okay if we stay in your barn overnight?

“No! I don’t trust you guys. How do I know you’re not gonna hurt us? As I told you, we ain’t got nothin’ and I don’t know how long we’re gonna be here. Our tractor’s broke. My dad died five months ago. The crops we put in year have failed because of this extremely hot weather. We’ve always have just gotten by but now it’s worse I’ve ever seen it. I have three kids and a wife and do little money. So I can’t help you guys even if I wanted to. Just go away and leave us alone in our misery.”

“Sir,” Private Gabrielle said. “We’re sorry for the death of your father, your losses and your hard times. We’re not asking for anything much. We’ll pay your for a stay in your barn and a little something to eat. We haven’t eaten in hours. Please, sir!”

“Oh, let me talk with my wife,” replied the farmer, shut the door then left.

In roughly twenty minutes, the farmer returned still holding his shotgun with his wife beside him. “We agreed to let you stay in the barn for twenty-five bucks each. You can take it or leave it.”

“Very well,” responded Private Carney. A collection was taken. Then Private Carney came forward within a matter of minutes with a total of one hundred sixty dollars, gave it to the farmer, and then stepped back. “Sir, how about a little food with that?”

“I told you, we don’t have really any food,” the farmer said angrily. “If I give you what I have, we don’t have anything for tomorrow. We’re poor. I told you.”

“Honey,” said his wife. “Maybe we can let them have the bread and left over beef stew. They gave us money. We can buy something tomorrow for us and the kids.”

“Okay! Go ahead! Give them the bread and the stew. Now quit bothering us. Now, good night!” the farmer said angrily.

The soldiers went to the old dilapidated barn. As the soldiers arranged the hay to bed down then eat the bread and stew, Private Gabrielle saw why the farmer’s tractor did not work. So he repaired it. Private Carney found an old bag of seed potatoes and corn. He hung the bags of seed potatoes and corn on a pole next to each other on a pole in the barn. Private Hernando found what he determined was an egg incubator. It need repair. He fixed it then placed it next to the tractor. At 0500 hours, the three Privates arose, went to the house, and thanked the farmer and his wife then left.

The farmer’s wife went to get some of money the soldiers gave them from the flour tin canister to purchase food. When she opened the canister, she took a large roll of money from it. “They didn’t give us this much money.” Dropping the tin canister, she ran out to the barn to find her husband.

“Honey, how much money did the soldiers give you?” she asked.

“You know. It was one hundred sixty dollars in twenty dollar bills,” he replied.

“Look.” She said presenting a large roll of twenty dollar bills.

“Where did you get that?”

“From the tin canister.”

“How much money is that?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t count it,” she replied.

“Honey, besides this money, I found the tractor is working again. There is a huge bag of seed potatoes over here and an equally huge bag of seed corn too! The egg incubator is fixed and it is full of chicken eggs. They eggs look like they’re pretty close to hatching.”

The farmer and his wife went back to their house to count the money. It took them nearly three hours to count the money. When they completed their count, it was 3500 twenty dollar bills.

“Oh, my!” said the wife. “I believe we were visited and blessed by those soldiers, honey. What’s so bad is that you treated them so poorly. Do you think the soldiers were..?”

“I don’t know, honey. But I do know this though I’ve made a terrible mistake. I should never have been evil towards them. I was worried about our situation and scared that they were going to hurt and rob us. You know that sort of stuff goes on a lot. They were strangers though who needed help. I’d like to find them and apologize to them. Did they say where they were headed to?”

“I can’t remember. All I know is that we were so concerned with ourselves that we showed no kindness and mercy towards them. I’ve learned my lesson. I thank God for their presence and will think twice before turning away strangers in the future.”

It is often said that God works in strange and mysterious ways. Who were these soldiers? Who do you think they were?

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