War hero's helmet of salvation

A miraculous wartime escape from death prompted a soldier to give the rest of his life to serving Jesus.

Major Joe Mullins MC (pictured above) died last year aged 103, but not before decades of work for the church in Britain and abroad, including preaching until he was 99.

It was fitting that Joe followed the Bible’s advice to “Put on salvation as your helmet” after his World War II helmet saved his life, with its two gaping holes a remarkable reminder of how his life was spared.

Joe was commanding B Company of the First Battalion, The Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey) in Burma. Rangoon (now Yangon) had been captured on 6 May 1945, cutting off the Japanese 28th Army, which then tried to escape to Thailand.

The ‘Queen’s’ had orders to cut off the retreating Japanese forces despite being at half strength due to malaria and dysentery.

Joe’s men took heavy casualties from intense enemy fire but they had cleared most of the Japanese positions when they were held up by two machine guns firing from the cover of a large water tank.

Having reached a temple under cover of darkness, the company used grenades and bursts of Sten gun fire as they leap-frogged from tree to tree. They then had to crawl toward the enemy under intense machine gun fire.

For the courage he showed in leading the attack, Joe won the Military Cross.

THIS ISN'T THE END OF THE STORY!

Read the whole story in the May 2024 issue of New Life Newspaper.

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