“They report he’s been missing in action over enemy territory since the second of March.”
“Oh Dad!” wailed Nancy. “It can’t be true! It just can’t! God wouldn’t let anything happen to our Tommy.”
“Not if our prayers can keep it from happening, darling,” came the firm voice confidently over the wire. “You just keep on praying like we’ve been doing all along, and he’ll be taken care of.”
“Oh Dad, how I wish I could be there with you and Mom right now! How is she?”
“Just the same brave saint she’s always been. She’s writing you a letter now to hearten you.”
“Kiss her for me,” said Nancy. “And tell her I’ll pray harder than ever.”
Nancy put down the phone and faced Mabel.
“I could hear what he said,” her friend told her gently. “Don’t give up hope, Nancy. Lots of times they turn up after they’re reported missing. Maybe he’s not dead.”
“Oh, no, he’s not!” Nancy asserted firmly. “I’m not going to think of it for a minute. He wrote me in that last letter he could feel our prayers helping protect him, and he’s going to feel it more than ever now.”
From sunrise till mid-afternoon the following day the convoy rolled smoothly west along the paved highway. At noon they stopped in a large city to eat a lunch the canteen girls had prepared. It was good to get out and stretch their legs after sitting on the hard truck seats all morning. No one knew where they were going, or how long they would be on their way, so the nurses made the best of their hour’s rest. They took turns in the canteen dressing room, freshening up to continue their journey.