Bob's Testimony
In the fall of 1961, as a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I had poor grades and no money. My father had just gone bankrupt, and my parents had just divorced. I worked at the Carolina Inn for three meals a day. The army became my only viable alternative. I went through basic training and cryptographer school. The last day of class my name appeared as number 30 of the 31 graduates. I was assigned to Fort Richardson, Alaska, while the first 29 were assigned to Viet Nam. My roommate at Carolina was killed in combat within sixty days of his arrival to Viet Nam.
After a two week vacation, I boarded a plane to Seattle. Upon arriving in Seattle, I and three Air Force guys took a bus to downtown Tacoma. We all got into a cab and loaded our duffle bags. Then suddenly I stepped out of the cab with my duffle bag and told the guys, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning at McCord Air Force Base to catch the flight to Alaska”. I stood on the corner watching the cab take off wondering, “Why did I do that?” I turned and walked up the street to a dumpy hotel and checked in. The TV was beside the window. Not being used to the high latitude and late setting sun, I stayed awake much later than usual watching TV. I awoke around 8:00 A.M., for the desk clerk had forgotten to give me my wake-up call. I grabbed a cab and arrived at the air force base just in time to see my plane leaving the runway. As a Private, I was in big trouble. The Sergeant chewed me out and told me I was AWOL and would not be able to leave until Thursday, two days later. I went to the PX and within a couple of hours an announcement came over the loud-speaker, “The plane that left this morning is missing.” The headlines in the Greensboro newspaper on June 4th, 1963 read “Airliner with 101 Aboard Vanished”. There were 65 military men, 29 dependents, and 6 crew members. Click here for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Orient_Airlines_Flight_293. Thank God, I was not only spared from Viet Nam, but also the fatal plane crash, and later the 9.2 Alaskan earthquake, the second largest earthquake in recorded history. Click here for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake.
After a two week vacation, I boarded a plane to Seattle. Upon arriving in Seattle, I and three Air Force guys took a bus to downtown Tacoma. We all got into a cab and loaded our duffle bags. Then suddenly I stepped out of the cab with my duffle bag and told the guys, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning at McCord Air Force Base to catch the flight to Alaska”. I stood on the corner watching the cab take off wondering, “Why did I do that?” I turned and walked up the street to a dumpy hotel and checked in. The TV was beside the window. Not being used to the high latitude and late setting sun, I stayed awake much later than usual watching TV. I awoke around 8:00 A.M., for the desk clerk had forgotten to give me my wake-up call. I grabbed a cab and arrived at the air force base just in time to see my plane leaving the runway. As a Private, I was in big trouble. The Sergeant chewed me out and told me I was AWOL and would not be able to leave until Thursday, two days later. I went to the PX and within a couple of hours an announcement came over the loud-speaker, “The plane that left this morning is missing.” The headlines in the Greensboro newspaper on June 4th, 1963 read “Airliner with 101 Aboard Vanished”. There were 65 military men, 29 dependents, and 6 crew members. Click here for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Orient_Airlines_Flight_293. Thank God, I was not only spared from Viet Nam, but also the fatal plane crash, and later the 9.2 Alaskan earthquake, the second largest earthquake in recorded history. Click here for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake.
I did go on to complete my education at UNC – Chapel Hill and received my Master’s in Business Administration from UNC-Greensboro. I married my wife Sally, had two beautiful daughters, Elizabeth and Katherine, and formed and ran my own business. Much to the amazement of myself and my friends, I am now in the ministry. With my whole heart, I praise God for the opportunity to have distributed our Christian literature in Alaska, exactly 49 years to the day after my life was spared from the plane crash. I have truly quite literally been “saved by grace”, the name of our ministry. To God be all the glory!