Dennis Gerald Pugh

Photo taken March 18th,1970 in front of his Phantom F4

 

The year before I was born my father's cousin was 26 years old and a Navigator in a F4-D Phantom II in Vietnam. On his very first mission with the WolFac on March 19, 1970, 1st Lt. Dennis Pugh was shot down along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the Plain of Jars, an area heavily concentrated with North Vietnamese regulars and Pathet Lao troops in northeast Laos.  After successfully ejecting from his aircraft, Dennis landed in a river and climbed up into a tree to assist the rescue attempt for himself and his pilot, Maj. Richard Rash.  Maj. Rash sustained serious injuries during his ejection and landing and found himself immobilized several hundred yards across a dense jungle from Dennis' position.  (Read more at Faces On The Wall)  From www.findagrave.com Richard A. ‘Rick' Rash, the Aircraft Commander, left the following message at The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - I remember everything, Dennis - the explosion, the ejection, the AAA everywhere as they tried to get us in the chutes, running on the ground trying to find a place to hide. Then hours later when I came to, I remember your voice and the other voices all around you. You told them you surrendered in Vietnamese over and over - but it didn't matter, they killed you anyway. So many years ago - and just yesterday at the same time. I am so sorry Dennis. I don't know if I screwed up or if it was just fate - but it was me flying the plane so can't pass the buck. I have wished many times that we had traded places - but don't have that power. I pray I will see you again. Ric (Click to read more)

F-4D Phantom II's from the Assam Draggins 25th Tactical Fighter Squadron that LT. Pugh flew with. 
Click for the history of the Assam Draggins.

Pictures from The Punch Bowl, Hawaii. Courtesy of my niece. (April 2014)

 

The Righteous Discontent

You may not be able to change their opinion nor their behavior... but you can still do right.

Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. (Luke 23:50-53)

A Worthy Cause: Samaritan's Purse

 "Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God." Bob Pierce wrote these now-famous words in his Bible after visiting suffering children on the Korean island of Kojedo. This impassioned prayer is what guided him as he founded and led the ministry of Samaritan's Purse in 1970. His mission for this organization was "to meet emergency needs in crisis areas through existing evangelical mission agencies and national churches." (From the Samaritan's Purse Website)

Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’  Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:30, 33-37)

The Walk

"I have taught all men repentance and remission of sins,

according to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For that Gospel I am here,

with a cheerful mind and courage,
ready to suffer death.
What I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood."

John Huss at the stake to be burned -- 1415

Nature Like Ours part 2: Coward

 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.  But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” (1 Kings 19:3 - 4)

The man who prayed for fire and rain now flees from Jezebel who has pledged to kill him.  Where is that faith in God?  Yet, God uses him.  God comes to him, provides for his needs, ministers to him and reveals Himself to Elijah.

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. (1 Kings 18: 11 - 12)

Barnabas was a Good Man, Full of the Holy Spirit

Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. (Acts 11:24)

1. He was set apart by God to preach the Gospel. Acts 13:2-3
2. He sold property and laid the money at the disciple's feet. Ats 4:36-37
3. He sought Saul out and brought Saul to the believers. Acts 11:25-26
4. He took on Mark when Saul/Paul refused. Acts 15:37-39

Nature Like Ours

Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.  Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”  Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (1 Kings 18: 36 - 38)

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.  (James 5:17 - 18)

Grace of God and Tombstones

 

Bradford (1510  - 1555)

"'There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford."  said John witnessing a fellow prisoner being lead to execution.  After his two year imprisionment he and John Leaf(Lease) were themselves taken to Newcastle Prison where they were chained to a stake in preperation for their own execution.  Turning to Leaf, Bradford said,

 "Be of good comfort brother; for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night!"

Packed with Reality

"If we do not preach about sin and God's judgment on it, we cannot present Christ as Savior from sin and the wrath of God. And if we are silent about these things, and preach a Christ who saves only from self and the sorrows of this world, we are not preaching the Christ of the Bible. Such preaching may soothe some, but it will help nobody; for a Christ who is not seen and sought as a Savior from sin will not be found to save from self or from anything else."
J. I. Packer

Confess

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God...” (John 3:1-6)

Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too?... (John 7:48-52)

...the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. (John 9:22b)

Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. (John 19:39)

Helping in the burial of Christ was a pretty public confession that Nicodemus was a follower of Jesus. Here we see a leader, a Pharisee, a teacher of Israel giving it all away to follow Christ. Here was a man who lived out Mark 8:36 "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" Nothing else matters, only Jesus.

So, as another ex-Pharisee said,

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Cor 2:2)

The Hero Never Gives Up

Newton's Third Law of Motion

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Desire:

They desire the swings, the feeling of flight, the feeling of freedom, released from the chains of the classroom. They long for the independence that Icarus, Chanute, Bleriot, and the Wright brothers searched for.

Need:

But what do you do when your legs are not quite long enough to reach the ground? What if you lack the upper body strength to pull yourself up into the swing after jumping backwards in that futile attempt to jump start your flight into the heavens?

Hero:

A hero steps forward and says those words not unlike the countdown given for an Apollo or Mercury rocket launch, "I'll push you." He is forty-two inches tall, no taller. Out of one-hundred and thirty first graders he is the smallest, but he is a hero. He grabs hold of the chains, braces himself and charges forward into battle against inertia and gravity. He propels the fortunate mortal seated in the swing to freedom and beyond. Surveying his grand accomplishment he watches and waits. One, Two, Three seconds, an eternity, a moment frozen in time and then Newton's Third Law returns the swing to its starting point and beyond, right into our astonished hero. Lying on the ground, the hero shakes himself free from the earth's gravity wondering what has happened.

Not to be defeated, he again takes his position at the swing's chains and using all of his thirty-eight pounds he again attempts the impossible and launches another child into flight. Again the countdown, and again the swing returns, dashing our young, brave soul to the ground.

What does he do? Does he quit, does he give up in his quest to help the poor helpless beings trapped by their wingless bodies? No! A third time the scene is replayed exactly as it has been twice already, and a third time he gets up ready to fight the brave fight again. If not for the bell returning us to class I have no doubt he would still be at it.

So many would see such and respond, "Stupid kid," but we need heroes like that.

May his boldness, his daring, and his determination never be stifled.

In 1937 my grandparents, David and Helen, were married. This is their "wedding" picture outside the cafe that they both worked in at the time.

The couple shown above were from broken homes and

lived apart from their siblings for part of their childhood.

David was actually "farmed" out during his high school years

for room and board.

Determined not to let the same thing happen to their own children,

they pledged to hold fast to their vows before God and man,

and they did.

This is the legacy passed down to me.

Now it is my turn to pass the legacy to my own children.

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother

and hold fast to his wife,

and they shall become one flesh.(Genesis 2:23-24)

Faith and Cool Hair

I just finished reading a biography of the Prussian George Muller(1805-1898), father to 10,000 orphans in Bristol, England. Here are a few quotes from the man.

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" means, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

My wife and I had the grace to take the Lord's commandment in Luke
12:33 literally: 'Sell that ye have and give alms.' We never regretted
taking that step. God blessed us abundantly as He taught us to trust in Him
alone. He never failed us."

"A servant of God has but one Master."

Wait no longer!

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,according to your word;30 for my eyes have seen your salvation31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Luke 2:25

Simeon, a man who was willing to wait on God. A man who was willing to put God First. May I also be that man.