98-yr-old WW2 Veteran Recalls “Divine Intervention” Moment – The Epoch Times
Guy Whidden, Jr. is a 98-year-old veteran of World War II from Frederick County, Maryland. He is believed to be the county’s last living person who invaded Normandy on D-Day. He said he was able to survive the war because of “divine intervention.”
He was interviewed by The Epoch Times during a local commemoration of that critical day on June 6, 2021, the 77th anniversary of D-Day.
Whidden served as a member of the 502nd Infantry Parachute Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He was just 300 feet off the ground when he jumped onto Normandy soil. The scene, he recalled, was dramatic: paratroopers hit the ground before their chutes opened, planes were crashing into the ocean, and bullets were being levied at and from the aircraft overhead.
Before touching the ground, he felt a hit in his chest and thought he had been shot. He reached toward his chest and pulled out his prayer book. A fragment of metal from a mortar shell was stuck to the back cover of the book. “That was divine intervention,” he remembers thinking. “Somebody’s looking after me.”
Once on land, the enemy fire resulted in Whidden falling into a ditch for safety. A German officer approached him and pinned him to the ground, pointing a pistol at him. Whidden tried to grab his trench knife but could not retrieve it.
The officer stared at Whidden for a while and then, inexplicably, surrendered the pistol to him, Whidden stated in past interviews with The Frederick News-Post. He thought perhaps he reminded the officer of one of his own children, so the officer could not pull the trigger.
No comments:
Post a Comment