Yesterday, I watched the most remarkable of events. Almost sixty years after parachuting from his plummeting P51 Mustang over Tokyo Harbor, Bill Brown met for the first time the man who may have helped to down his plane. Commander Buck Bunn was one of the pilots engaging the enemy over Japan on May 29, 1945, with then-2nd Lieutenant Bill Brown. Both men remember the day vividly. The sky was bright blue and filled with hundreds of planes. Two American Mustangs would be shot down on that day. Only one of the pilots would parachute and survive. That was Bill Brown. In fact, it was later determined that friendly fire from a B-29 was responsible for the downing of the plane. Buck Bunn flew a B-29 in the vicinity of Brown, and personally observed him jump out of the plane. No one can be sure that Bunn shot down Brown, but the evidence clearly points to that as a realistic possibility.

Now, almost fifty-eight years to the day, the two men meet for the first time and recalled the events of May 29, 1945. They laugh as the one pilot turns to the other and apologizes:

“Sorry if I shot you down,” Bunn says.

“No problem. Don’t worry about it,” Brown replies.

There it is. The ancient score is settled.

Those of us observing the meeting watch with a mixture of pure delight and near disbelief.

Also present for the meeting is Colonel Bill Henderson, Marine Corps veteran of D-Day on Iwo Jima. Larger than life in every respect, Henderson is the most tenacious, intense, yet humorous warrior I have met from that era. Cane in hand, hat on head, and completely Kiplingesque in his attire, one cannot gaze at his visage without thinking that Colonel Henderson looks much like what one would expect from a genetic merging of Douglas Macarthur with Winston Churchill.

Henderson, Brown, and Bunn are a sight to behold. The three of these men reminisce and share their kinship as fellow warriors and brothers in Christ. All three are featured in the new upcoming Vision Forum film The Faith of Our Fathers, currently in production. (Click here to watch the trailer.)

The occasion of the gathering of these and other veterans from the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Afghanistan, was a special Christian Memorial Day extravaganza sponsored by Scott Brown (boardmember for Vision Forum Ministries) and Trinity Baptist Church of Rolesville, North Carolina (where Scott serves as elder). Those present were treated to free southern barbecue, jeep rides (WWII Willies), a live “big band” orchestra playing vintage WWII music, Civil War songs, games, and messages presented by the above mentioned veterans, Dr. Paige Patterson, and myself. From beginning to end, the event was splendiferous.

Especially blessed were the many families who attended, some traveling eight to ten hours to be present. Some of my friends (pictured below), the Michael Thomas family, traveled from Rhode Island.

Dr. Paige Patterson, Scott Brown, and I addressed the veterans on the issue of war as a parable of salvation and rescue — one man lays down his life for others. My two messages were titled respectively “The Heroism of the Fathers is the Legacy of the Sons” and “The Faith of the Fathers is the Foundation of the Future.” After the messages, Dr. Patterson and I spent a happy hour swapping stories about Africa. Patterson’s office is legendary for the numerous trophies displayed there, including lions and leopards he bagged during expeditions through the bush, but I wanted to hear the stories first hand.

After the Memorial Day event, I spent an hour interviewing on camera Commander Buck Bunn, age 78, on the life and times of a B-29 pilot fighting in the Pacific Theater during WWII. By his own admission, Bunn was a bit of a rascal during the war. However, his Christian parents left an indelible mark on his life. Their influence on him, even during his season of rebellion, ultimately culminated in his salvation in Christ after the war.

My two sons and David Brown, age 11, prepared a campfire late that night and made fresh coffee for Scott and me using pond water and MRE rations. We didn’t mind the muddy water. Somewhere around midnight, Scott and I jumped into a few sleeping bags, while the boys set up and slept in a small tent given to David by a Special Forces officer who recently returned from a half year in Afghanistan. It poured rain throughout the night, but we happily endured for the sake of the experience with the boys.

From Doug’s Bookshelf: I am currently reading a moving and dramatic tribute to the men who fought with Bill Henderson entiled Iwo Jima: Legacy of Valor. The book (which was loaned to me by Scott Brown) was authored by Bill D. Ross and first published in 1985 by Vintage Press, a division of Random House.