Sergeant Ray Lambert served as a medic in WWII. On Memorial Day, 2019, American actor Sam Elliot eloquently shared his heroic tale.
Lambert and his brother both went off into war, expecting not to see each other again. Lambert's men and he approached the beaches in a Higgins boat. Elliot explains the horrific side of war: 31 men were on the boat, but only 7 survived to the beach, which Lambert testifies in his speech.
Lambert focused on his job. He tended to the wounded, and carried them to safety. Then he was shot in his arm. He did not let that affect him and tried to save a man whose arm was nearly off. But sadly, the man died. Lambert was again wounded—in the leg from shrapnel. Elliot says that he “put a tourniquet on it, gave himself[Lambert] a shot of morphine, and went back to work.”[1]
Nevertheless, his leg injury was not the worst thing that happened to him. As he was helping a man in the water, a boat dropped its landing ramp, and as Elliot portrays, “The ramp hit me right in the back, crushed two vertebrae, and pushed us both [another soldier] to the bottom.”[2] Lambert recounts:
But that’s when I “started talking to the one Guy I knew could help me. I said, “God, I’ve asked you many times. But just give me another chance. Let me save one more person.”[3]
This plea to God is similar to the prayer from Desmond Doss who served in WWII also as a medic, and who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service and bravery in the Battle of Okinawa, where he prayed to the Lord for him to just get “one more” man.
The Lord listened and gave Lambert another chance, and the boat departed. Somehow, Lambert got to safety with the hurt soldier, and he told another Corporal to replace him, but then, as he got up, the Corporal was shot instantly, falling on Lambert. Lambert caught sight of the injury, and that was the last thing he saw before going unconscious.
Yet through all this pain, he got reacquainted with his brother when they were put side to side, both hurt.
Ray Lambert got to go home. And he was present in the audience in 2019 when Elliot delivered his tribute.
What do you do in times of distress? Courageous examples can be found when the world seems overwhelming and your life seems to be fading away. But prayer is a commonality for Christians. You pray to the One you know and hope can hear you. That is what Lambert did. He prayed to the one Guy he knew could help him. And God did help him. Because the Lord Himself says, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. (Jeremiah 29:12)”
[1] Ray Lambert, Sam Elliott pays tribute to SGT Ray Lambert on the 30th National Memorial Day Concert [Video], (2019, May 26), YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdzWRdZgan0
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
