CHAPTER 12
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CHAPTER 12
PREACHING UNDER FIRE
It was late in
g, and the scene was laid in Hengyang in the embattled Province of Hunan.
Helter-skelter, people began running to safety. Grim-faced, civilians and soldiers, old men and little girls, women carrying babies and men with household goods ran to get away from _ the messengers of death fast approaching. It was pathetic to see hundreds of wounded soldiers, unable to crawl or get help, make themselves comfortable on the rough ground, stoically calm.
The evangelists reached the mission-station in time to find the mission folk getting into underground dug-outs. Orr ran to his room and stuffed film magazines into his pockets.
"Where are you going?" called Andrew Gih as Orr started to run again.
"Back to the Red Cross headquarters," said he, adding that Colonel Liu had promised to take him out to succour the wounded in bombed areas.
Andrew Gih shouted back something about people being forbidden by the military to move through the streets during an air-raid, but Orr was soon out of earshot, running rapidly down deserted streets, drawing curious looks from sentries, police and people peeping from places of safety. Colonel Liu gave him a soldier escort.
Down below, streets which had been densely packed fifteen minutes before were pervaded by a silence of death, an omen of the destruction that would soon hurtle from the skies. Above, the heavy hum of aero-engines grew deeper and deeper. Suddenly, the raiders appeared, twenty-seven planes flying in a formation
oft Orr escort "un, to little eats for a e the! ipkines 9 were nearly overhead, "and * were loosing their bombs.
Three or four bombs struck the ground on the west side of nye the river, rocking the buildings. The two men ran on. Antiaircraft guns opened up, and, looking up in fascination, Orr noticed puffs of black smoke near the planes, the curling smoke of shells that had got the range but missed their mark. The — multiple drone went steadily on. The two men were still running © when the ground was shaken again. a "That's getting closer," thought Orr.
His soldier escort and he dodged into a narrow street five feet wide. The soldier shouted some warning to Orr, then flattened himself against a wall, then slipped under an archway.
Orr ran on alone. He could not understand the Chinese words though he guessed their meaning.
Amid the noise of bombs and bditeuy § Orr hammered at the mission gate and was admitted immediately by a frightened woman. Bounding upstairs with his camera, he reached the wide verandah just in time to photograph the bombing of the east side of the city. Carrump!
Thick black clouds spouted up and then wider drifts of thinner smoke. The enemy planes were bombing the airport and railway station. Fires burst out here and there, and the whole water- © front had a backdrop of smoke. Danger past, the people began emerging from the near-by dug-out and stood on the veranda to watch, for it was a fascinating sight in spite of the tragedy involved. Eighty-one bombs had been dropped, each aimed at some cere for the raiders had not come five hundred miles went cle, deserted streets and reached the ical Unit in time. Putting on a Red Cross sleevelet, Orr joined the company on its errand of mercy. Colonel Liu and Edwin Orr marched at the head of a khaki-clad column of first-aid men. Police and sentries saluted.
Chinese cities in the 1930s were a haphazard mixture of east — and west, of ancient and modern, occasional modern avenues displacing a warren of labyrinthine lanes. Through narrow, winding streets they marched in quick-time upon uneven pave-
: ments. aiseaty aad curiosity was drawing cr of peo eople in the same direction. Here and there, the repaid' 'men. dealt with casualties—a man with a badly gashed arm, someone with head-wounds, and others hurt by bomb sarssash or shrapnel from anti-aircraft shells falling down.
Cutting in between buildings, they came across a woman wandering aimlessly and crying loudly like a hurt child. There was nothing left of her home but a pile of wreckage three feet high. Three houses had been blown up, and there was a crater more than ten feet deep where the 300 lb. bomb had left its mark. When Orr climbed into this hole, he found it twice his height and thirty feet in diameter.
Edwin Orr had expected to see freshly torn and splintered wood, but this was old-looking wreckage, for the explosion had covered everything in a layer of grey dust. It was a deadly explosion. One woman was lying under her bed with her husband and three children, and the youngest closest to her. When the bomb burst she turned to protect her baby; the husband was killed outright and so were the two older children; the baby was saved; and the badly-wounded woman gave birth to another baby at the hospital a few hours later—a fatherless, homeless, penniless, bereaved, innocent little one.
Colonel Liu was eager for Orr to photograph medical evidence of civilian injury. He called him over to the other side of the crater. A little girl of ten was crying brokenly outside a stillintact house. Some of her family had been killed. Though the evangelist knew that she could not understand him, he patted her shoulder and spoke in a comforting tone.
Orr went into the house. In the semi-darkness, he saw a woman weeping half-hysterically.
A baby boy was feeding at her breast On the bed, her little three-year-old son was lying white and. still, the top of his head blown off. Her other boy, about six years old, lay dead there too. The picture engraved itself upon Edwin Orr's memory—the sucking babe, the weeping mother, and the two dead children.
"We cannot do anything for them," said Colonel Liu. Orr did not take any photographs there.
This air-raid upon Hengyang was Edwin Orr's baptism of fire and it occurred about two years before the blitz on London?
Why was he there?
China with its vast population and ancient culture had always attracted Edwin Orr. As a young man, Orr had wanted to go out to China as a missionary under the China Inland Mission, which impressed him much, for their faith in God to supply daily needs produced a profound effect upon Edwin Orr's thought and life. The missionaries of that Society were earnest men who identified themselves with China and who toiled hard for the spread of the Christian Gospel in that land. In different countries of the world Orr had met China Inland folk on furlough or on business and had profitted very considerably by his fellowship with them.
Again, in recent months Edwin Orr had become a great friend of Andrew Gih who had assisted him in Australia.* Gih was a lovable personality and his zeal for Christ was closely akin to Orr's.
In 1925, during times of tension in Shanghai, a remarkable awakening began among Chinese Christians and spread throughout the length and breadth of that vast country. One of the converts was Andrew Gih, who with Dr. John Sung, began to evangelize China by means of indigenous bands, soon to be called the Bethel Bands.
In four years, a Bethel Band travelled 50,000 miles and preached in 133 cities in a total of 3,389 meetings attended by 500,000 people, one-tenth of whom professed conversion. Edwin Orr travelled with a Bethel Band across South and West China. He was accepted as one of them.
For several years there had been bloodshed and revolution in China and conditions of life were risky and threatening. The Japanese had invaded China and life became even more difficult.
But Orr was not the man to be afraid of adventures and imminent death in a country torn by war. So he and his young wife Carol had travelled from Australia across the Philippines to Hong
Kong.
In the Colony of Hong Kong, Orr's meetings began on 12th October, 1938.4 He had learned to say a few words in Chinese; the people appreciated this and were eager to listen to his
messages. Orr gave one series of addresses to the Chinese people, eS. poor from an economic point of view but rich in deep spiritual longings. About 700 came every night to Peniel Church to hear messages translated efficiently by a Chinese girl who worked hard during the day as a nurse and interpreted in the evening.
Orr also gave addresses to English-speaking people. Of the European population of over 30,000 in Hong Kong, most were indifferent to religion. The people who attended were mostly missionaries and Christian workers, a few men in the King's uniform came, but business people were conspicuous by their absence. Evangelistic invitations resulted in a number of conversions, among them a young man named Willard Grant, who later became youth evangelist in the Mission Covenant denomination in America.
One interesting visitor to Orr's meetings was Madame H. H.
Kung, wife of Dr. H. H. Kung, the war-time prime minister of China. Madame Kung was a daughter of a praying mother.
There were three Soong sisters and each married a famous man.
One married Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and the youngest married Dr. Sun Yat-sen, afterwards becoming a Communist.
It was difficult to enter Free China, for the Japanese had taken Canton and cut off Hong Kong from the Interior. Orr and his Bethel friends took ship from Victoria to Kwangchowan, a port under French control.' They were driving'a car which had been in China before, but all documents showing 'its entry and payment of duty had been burned in the Canton Post Office.
There seemed to be no way of avoiding the payment of £500 duty, so the evangelists committed the matter to God. At the border, the commissioner of customs asked to whom the car had belonged in Canton. He found that the former owner was one of his intimate friends and that he had ridden in the car times without number. He reversed his decision and waived all duty or deposit The party continued their hazardous journey north, preaching all the way. They were stranded in no-man's land but managed to get to Kweilin unharmed.
When at long last Andrew Gih and Edwin Orr arrived at the embattled capital of Free China, Chungking, they were invited to meet Dr. H. H. Kung, the war-time Prime Minister. Dr.
Kung gave Orr a message for the Christian world, which Orr
passed on through the columns of the Christian Herald, for which he reported his observations:
China, as a nation, is very grateful for all that Christians have done for her. We especially appreciate the self-sacrifice of the missionaries of the Christian gospel.
But just now the people of China are disappointed with the attitude of professedly Christian countries. Cowed by brute force, they have lost their courage in the face of evil aggression.
If a fire breaks out and seizes hold of your neighbour's property, it is all very well to say "'It does not concern me."
Who knows that the wind may change direction, and your own house may be involved in the conflagration?
China will fight on. To the surprise of the world and the consternation of her enemy, we have been stubbornly waging a defensive war, undismayed by the temporary loss of any city, unbroken in spirit, united as a people—as never before.® Orr ventured a reply; and told Dr. Kung that, as one born in the United Kingdom but with family ties in the United States, he was ashamed of the obvious selfishness shown by the professedly Christian countries in the present trouble. But, he added, as a Christian he was not surprised at the lack of nites: principle shown by them in international affairs.
"Our 'so-called..Christian countries,' said Orr "are not really Christian at all. They possess only a minority, numbering less than ten per cent, who profess to be born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The rest of the people are certainly under Christian influence. But if the truth can be told, both the great English-speaking nations have backslidden from God.
And until there is a religious awakening to bring them back, there is little hope of seeing national or international righteous-. ness.
'"'Nevertheless, I would remind Your Excellency that the bulk of the people who are individually and collectively giving disinterested help—caring for war orphans, helping the refugees, giving medical aid—are Christians ... And no matter what. their nation may or may not do, they will go on helping the people of China for the sake of Christ."
"That is so," said Dr. Kung, "and we have nothing but our heartfelt thanks for them."
Dr. Kung then asked about' Edwin Orr's books. The conversation was quite warm and cordial now, so with a knowing glance at Andrew Gih, Orr began to tell his distinguished listener what great things God had done for him. His response showed his Christian background, for he too was a believer.
Then the Prime Minister said:
"You have not learned any Chinese yet?"
"Oh yes," said Orr, "I have learned a little."
Orr paused and then repeated what he told the street urchins in obscure villages:
"'Ngo sih yang kwei-tse."
Dr. Kung laughed heartily for Orr had just explained that he was a foreign devil. Andrew Gih added that he was an Irish devil." Thus came to an end a happy half-hour's interview.
Orr went on with his united campaign for Chungking churches.
With an optimistic note, Edwin Orr closed his book Through Blood and Fire in China. Then the religious situation in China was quite hopeful. After the Boxer trouble. the Church had grown in numbers. Christianity came to be appreciated. Chinese authorities were friendly to Christians because they respected them and not only to make amends for all that had happened during the great Boxer Massacres. Ordinary people were drawn to the Church all over China for no material or social benefit but because in the chaotic conditions of the country their spiritual hunger grew. Life was uncertain. Revolts and repressions were the order of the day. So the Chinese people were eager to hear the gospel.
One night, sleeping under the stars in Kwangsi, Edwin Orr reflected upon the amazing patience and fortitude of the Chinese common people under fire.
"They are wonderful people, Andrew," he said. "But I am glad that they are on the side of right in the present struggle.
What a problem they would be if they were on the side of wrong."
Little did Orr or Andrew Gih think that one day the latter would be a refugee from a Communist government in China.
China's National Government became tired and corrupt. The Chinese Communists took over province after province by
ngs, wh ch they dictatorship 'upon the masses.
* HWA, Oe he The American and Australian forces landed on Morotai : ne on 15th September 1944, much to the enemy's surprise. Morotai
_ is an island off Halmahera, a larger island between Celebes _ and New Guinea. Chaplain Orr went in on a Flying Fortress before the engineers had extended the air-strip to full length.
There he found Advanced Headquarters of the U.S. Thirteenth Air Force, and there reported, spending a month under fire.®
SSN te nal ates :
The allied forces dug in. Japanese planes in nuisance raids interrupted their sleep as many as five times a night. Japanese infantry harassed the outposts day and night from jungle points.
— ne But MacArthur's forces secured the island as a stepping stone _ "i on the way to the Philippines.
On Morotai were a score of evangelistically minded chaplains.
When the Senior Chaplain of the Thirteenth Air Force appointed Orr as the Chaplain-at-Large, the other chaplains made the most of his services and talents.
Orr had an unforgettabie series of meetings with Chaplain Moorehead and the men of his Fighter Group. The chapel was packed, and the spirit of the audience was excellent. Orr talked on that tremendous theme, the Existence of God, to learn at — the conclusion that he had spoken for 121 minutes. He gave an | invitation, and the first man to rise publicly was the major
| commanding the local Fighter Squadron, till then an avowed agnostic, but so thoroughly convinced that he now decided
© to declare his new-found faith in God, accepting Christ as_ Saviour. Others followed.
In later years, Orr often spoke along this line and God blessed it abundantly. He realized so clearly the need for such preevangelistic talks in these days of materialism and unbelief.
* * x It had been a long way from the bombing of Hengyang to the invasion of Morotai. For a year (1939) Edwin Orr had shown his films of the war in China to audiences of church people in I
3 orphatiage in Tuyin in Racichow tl q : At the end of 1942, Orr entered the Chaplain dchivol at raiveta a _ University. His first tour of duty took him to Westover Field in Massachusetts where he became base chaplain.+ From there he went to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri where the candidates for pilots and navigators were given their basic training. After a year, Chaplain Orr shipped his wife and two small children off to the family farm in South Africa, while he sailed on a troopship from San Francisco, making the any landfall at Guadalcanal.
Orr visited Milne Bay, Oro Bay and the base at Finchhafen in eastern (Australian) New Guinea. At the latter place, while waiting for assignment, he busied himself preaching for other
: chaplains. Richard E. Holz (a Salvationist in service) wrote:
. he agreed to conduct evangelistic services for me at "Liberation Chapel". These proved very successful and soon
Orr was preaching to 800 men at the Sunday night services.
There were many conversions. One of the most dramatic was the occasion when Orr gave his classic talk on the third commandment. When an appeal was made, an estimated eighty men stood to their feet solemnly to seek One Who could cleanse hearts from this impurity—a touching scene, for these were the sweating, swearing engineers of airfield construction fame, the pride and Joy of the Army for their ruggedness and ingenuity.
As a result of this evangelistic campaign, it was my privilege to link up many of these men with the church of their choosing.
Some of the men were baptized in the ocean on the site of * the Scarlet Beach where so many Americans and Australians mingled their blood till the waters ran red in the original assault. These new Christian soldiers are still with me and they bear witness to the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Chaplain Orr continued west through Hollandia, Biak and Noemfoor in western (Netherlands) New Guinea. Not only did he serve his own American comrades, but wherever possible he went out of his way to preach for the Australians also. Bill
Clack, later Dean of Melbourne Bible Institute, said:
_... he was not a very impressive figure in tropical uniform,
bey |
: am os ip 1 mee . an.
aR ah En a CA. Ae 'On the nee 'night, 'the: 'hut was. packed ce out and crowds of fellows stood around outside the hut to listen. The service lasted two and a half hours, and not one man moved away in all that time. For about one hour and three-quarters, Chaplain Orr spoke of the fact of God. It was the clearest, most pungent presentation of the subject I have ever listened to, illustrated by apt, witty stories that held the — interest and attention of the men for every moment on that — hot, muggy night; and it was a convincing message. His
— sane, reasonable appeal brought over forty men to their feet to acknowledge their desire to accept Christ as Saviour.
Many of these were officers in the R.A.A.F., many of them pilots and navigators. Several of those men who stood on that night have since gone to be with Christ.1*
For several months, Orr served as chaplain of the 347th Fighter Group on an island off Sansapor in the Vogelkop of New Guinea. Attendance at Sunday services built up. to 6,000 a month though the strength of the groups there was 1,500. : S.
There were many converts. Orr even went on infantry patrol and (in a rescue plane) on a bombing run, and the pilots and crews responded in attendance. It was a happy tour of service.
Some of the converts decided to start taking correspondence ' courses for the ministry and the mission-field.14 One came seeking baptism, and Chaplain Orr had the joy of baptizing him at Middelburg Island. This sergeant insisted upon speaking to the men after his baptism. He made a profound impression as he stood dripping in the shallow water, telling his comrades:
"This is the happiest day of my life, fellows. I want you to pray for me, for I am going to become a missionary after the war, God helping me!"
Later he went to the jungles of Ecuador.
On one occasion, a party of savages in canoes were blown off course on to Middelburg. They were dirty, diseased, thieving cannibals, no menace to well-armed troops but a cause of sudden disgust on the part of the men. Said one to the Chaplain:
"They are no better than animals. What would your mis- -sionaries do for them?"
Chaplain Orr arranged to bring over a party of 100 converted
The 'upsurge soe cian ieieceatntanie — gratifying | feature of Orr's last couple of months in New Guinea. A mis- - sionary programme promoted by Dr. Oswald J. Smith in The Peoples Church, Toronto (where he had been associate pastor) had made a profound impression on him. Though not sure how such a plan would work in the jungle battlefields, Chaplain
Orr decided to emulate Oswald Smith. It worked. In three months, the airmen gave 1,000 dollars for missionary work in China and the Indies, yet not a single appeal or collection or offering was made, simply the preaching of the word of God on the missionary task of the church.
These men had learned that missionary work overseas required real heroism, real sacrifice. And when told of missionaries so poor that they could not afford mosquito nets, they responded.
_ Their giving amounted to ten dollars per head. One at a time, men would come into Orr's office, open up their pocket-books, and quietly give some money for missions, and not a few gave as much as fifty dollars to make up for back time in which they had neglected tithing for God's work.
Chaplain Orr kept a careful account of their gifts, and forwarded the money to six Australian-based missionary societies working in New Guinea.4® Some money was earmarked for China, and this was sent through U.S. Army chaplaincy channels to the Bethel Mission in Chungking.
Time came for the Fighter Group to move to the invasion of the Philippines. Their mighty convoy of ships moved into the Mindanao Sea and there Orr saw a landing ship blow up, torpedoed. The island of Leyte had been seized. Soon Orr was ashore on Mindoro, nearer Manilla. He had already learned the way to combat the tension that builds up during pre-landing bombardment.
EVENTIDE I sit on the deck of a landing ship.
On a metal rack rest my heel and my hip, And I watch the sun splash the Sulu Sea,
As the day is done for nature and me.
ilipp of night fi pi cod light; Butiays een isn' t teases is fat away — Remembering you, dear, at the close og day.
There's a bomber's moon on a target bright, And a raid too soon. may disturb the night:
I give it no thought while my mind is afar For I'm thinking of naught wondering how you are.
God bless you, my dear, while you're all alone:
May you know no fear and no sorrow own, No dread make you fret, nor care make you weep,
When your sun is set and you turn to sleep.
I'm lonely, 'tis true, but I feel no sting What tomorrow may brew or the next day bring;
There's a war to be won and a job to do— But when day is done, my thoughts turn to you.
\ Do I need to say that I love you still?
Yes, come what may and I always will!
If I live or die, I'll be glad you knew That the evening sky made me think of you.
Edwin Orr "took a few chances" during days of combat.
Knowing that American forces were driving down from Lingayen Gulf toward Manila where many of his friends were, Chay lain
Orr asked his C.O. for a verbal order to permit him to fly to Leyte to meet the Theatre Chaplain. As Orr had hoped, the Chaplain was away, so Orr hitched a ride on' the "wrong" plane, one ultimately bound for his station but flying to Manila to pick up desperately wounded men.
When the pilot set the chaplain down at Clark Field, the Japanese held one end of it and the Yanks the other, with all sorts of metal pieces filling the air between them. Chaplain
Orr hitched a ride by jeep into the Battle of Manila, worked as a hospital chaplain that week, and was one of the first chaplains into the Santo Tomas University internment camp, where missionaries were dying slowly of starvation. Orr had brought
juty, he made full confession to his comae LBs - manding officer.1¢ A heavy naval pani bardinent pieccded their landing at Puerto
Princesa, where the enemy took fifty helpless prisoners and soaked them in petrol and burned them alive.
Orr spent six months on the island of Palawan, which lies north of Borneo. He often feasted his eyes on its lovely scenery.
But fatigue and strain were beginning to tell on his health. He _ recalled:
After the first two months on Palawan, I began to feel quite depressed. In the first place, I was run down in health bodily, for I began to suffer from insomnia, loss of appetite, loss of weight, and general tiredness. Likewise, I was run down mentally, for the petty vexations of military life had begun to tell on me after a year in the tropics. Again, I was run down spiritually, for the enforced association with profanity, lewd conversation and drunkenness hurts any decent man's spirit.1"
One night the Group Ambulance picked Chaplain Orr up : unconscious on the highway. It was two in the morning. For his insomnia, the squadron doctor had prescribed the sedative usually given pilots suffering from combat fatigue. One pill had no effect. The third put Orr to sleep in an inconvenient position.
_ Later, Chaplain Orr was hospitalized for ten days with a fever "of unknown origin".
The Group was preparing to participate in the invasion of Japan when the tragic dropping of the atomic bombs upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the War in the Pacific to an end. When Orr reached Tokyo, the whole central city was a shambles. B-29 bombers had destroyed it utterly.
Chaplain Orr met Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa in Tokyo during the first weeks of the American occupation. So nearly blind that he had to hold his Testament within a couple' of inches of his eyes, Dr. Kagawa was nevertheless as busy as the busiest in Japan. There was a long line of hunger-smitten Japanese outside his office. He had not much time to spare, and conscience would not permit Orr to trespass.
struction. He further said that as | soon Has WeHeuanIOa! is ae se commitments as adviser to the Japanese Cabinet on food | problems, he intended to devote all his energies to evangelism.2® |
Chaplain Orr was overdue for repatriation to the United xin '
States, but, because his family awaited him in Durban and — because he wanted to study at Oxford University, he requested inactivation from military service in the Philippines.
He hitch-hiked to Tokyo, thence via Korea and China to es Calcutta, thence via Malaya and Ceylon to Bombay, thence westwards to Cairo. The way was packed with adventures.'?
| He rode south from Cairo with the R.A.F. through the Sudan — and Kenya, arriving at Durban before his cablegram came.
After a happy couple of months recuperating at the Carlson family farm on Oribi, he regained the _ pounds Sen 4 ie that he had lost.
Arrangements made for his wife and children to go by military - troopship to England, Orr went north through the Congo and © is XH
West Africa, from Dakar across the Sahara to England. His | ae long hitch-hike of 24,000 miles had taken six months.