“White Robe 6…White Robe 6…This is Yellow One calling White Robe 6.
Come in please.”
A stranger or a newcomer in South Viet Nam hearing this radio
call sign might be greatly puzzled that no answer is ever returned…at least,
not an audible answer.
It is common practice to assign radio code names to military units
and aircraft to enable the caller and the called to identify each other
while hiding their identity from the enemy. One would search in vain
through all known code books for the identity of White Robe 6. But
the men of the First Air Cavalry understand that White Robe 6 is a special
designation for God.
No one knows where the code name originated, or when. But it has
become familiar through frequent use, in letters home, in personal conversation,
and in radio communications. It is not used casually or irreverently,
but in tones of deepest respect, of personal acquaintance, and of devout
worship. The name has special meaning to the helicopter crew who
flew their chopper to 10,000 feet, far above normal operating altitude,
to feel nearer to White Robe 6. And to the wounded Cavalryman whose
clenched teeth muffle cries of pain while his lips move in confident prayer.
And to the grateful men who rest in safety after a courageous flight to
rescue buddies downed behind enemy positions where success depended as
much on the help of White Robe 6 as on their skill and nerve.
This is the same God they have known through boyhood days; of whom they
learned in home and church; to whom they prayed in less trying days than
these. This is the God whose word of promise, gives assurance to
those who trust in Him, whom they have believed. “When He calls to
me, I will answer Him; I will be with Him in trouble.” (Psalm 91:15).
White Robe 6 does answer when men call upon Him. Not as a voice
audible on radio frequencies, but in the inmost recesses of the soul.
“For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name
is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who
is of a contrite and humble spirit.” (Isaiah 57:15). He speaks
through His eternal Word, the Bible, giving a message of salvation, of
hope, of comfort and encouragement. To men engaged in the grim business
of war, facing daily the basic issues of life and death, comes His word
of assurance. “As your days, so shall your strength be.” (Deuteronomy
33:25). And to men who are weary of bloodshed and conflict, physically
tired, mentally, emotionally and spiritually drained by the awful tension
and fear, the almost unbearable horror and destruction, the unresolved
struggle between moral principle and painful duty, comes the ageless word
of the Living Savior,
“Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.” (Mathew 11:28).
The voice of White Robe 6 is heard, too, in the message of the man of
God, your chaplain, who ministers the Word of the Living God to men in
every situation and trying circumstance. By word and deed and by
his very presence with them he speaks of White Robe 6, assuring men who
call upon their God in the hour of trial and need that their cry is heard
as they call in faith and trust: “Thou dost keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on thee,
because he trusts in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3).
You cannot hear it unless you are tuned to the proper wavelength, but
the voice of White Robe 6 is unmistakably heard in answer to the call of
the trusting heart: “Yellow One, this is White Robe 6. I read
you loud and clear. How do you read me? “Have you not known?
Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator
of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, His understanding
is unreachable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no
might he increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted/ but they who wait for the Lord shall
renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they
shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.”
This was inspired by letters home from Bill Peterson, crew chief
with C/227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, First Air Cavalry, whose home
at the time was Carney, Michigan and who presently resides in Piney Flats,
Tennessee.
Author: Reverend Oliver Peterson-Navy Chaplain (Bill’s Uncle)
Property of:
Bill Peterson
Piney Flats, TN 37686
Phone 423-538-5881
Fax 423-538-8014
peterson_bill@netzero.net
Click here to email Bill
