Proof The Bible Is True

Christmas Eve, 1944. My uncle Leonard was fast asleep aboard the troop ship SS Leopoldville. He was one of the more than 2,000 American soldiers aboard, all members of the Sixty-Sixth Infantry Division headed for France from England.

 

Suddenly, a massive explosion woke him. A German submarine had torpedoed the ship.

 

“You could see water coming up through the hold like a geyser,” he told us.

 

Uncle Leonard ran above deck in his long johns. Another ship in the convoy had already pulled up alongside the Leopoldville and was attempting to take on troops, but rough seas made it impossible.

 

“Some of the boys tried to jump, but it was too far. They fell between the two ships,” he said. The only option was to stay put. He found a life jacket and waited.

 

The SS Leopoldville sank in some three hours. Uncle Leonard and everyone else still aboard was plunged into the icy water of the English Channel. By the time help arrived, more than 700 had died.

 

But Uncle Leonard survived, thanks to the thick pair of woolen long johns he’d put on before bed that night. He swore he’d never worn the long johns to sleep—it was always too hot in the ship’s windowless berths—but that night, he felt compelled to.

 

They saved him from hypothermia as he awaited rescue. And while some might think it was luck, our family believes it was something more.

 

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