Memories and Miracles

By Tom Wright

It was one of the most unpopular wars in history, raging halfway around the world. Yet as the body bags were mounting during the turbulent 1970s, one soldier, a mechanic-turned-helicopter crew chief, found the powerful hand of God even closer than the enemy fire. These stories of courage and faith under fire will strengthen your own faith, and t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vision Run
• Release date: Feb 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781954509023

Tom Wright

Tom Wright is Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews and Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He is the author of more than 80 influential books, including The New Testament for Everyone, Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, The Day the Revolution Began, Paul: A biography, The New Testament in its World, On Earth as in Heaven and Into the Heart of Romans (all published by SPCK).

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Memories and Miracles

Copyright © 2004 and 2021 by Tom Wright.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author or publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review or article, when credit to the book, publisher, and order information are included in the review or article.

First Printing

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wright, Tom;

ISBN 0-0000000-0-X

1. War stories — Vietnam

2. Biography

3. Religion

Dewey System — War: Vietnam

Second Printing

ISBN 978-1-954509-02-3

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (R). Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All Rights reserved.

Other Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version, Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Juanita Smith

Text design by Debbie Patrick, debbiepatrick.com, Knoxville TN

Printed in the United States

Foreword

Memories and Miracles is no ordinary book. It is an honest account of a courageous man’s memories of Vietnam. You must read it. You will be compelled by every page to read the next page. Tommy has recounted events and thoughts of the most misunderstood war in the history of the United States of America. Yet, Tommy did not misunderstand a vital truth in the midst of it all: God’s miracles still happen.

Imagine being a young man on the other side of the world in a hostile territory called Vietnam. Imagine the daily dangers of battle being compared in your mind to the quiet and gentle surrounding of an East Tennessee home that is now far away. The longing for home would be tremendous. You can imagine how much pressure that would place on a yourng man’s mind and spirit, but Tommy didn’t imagine it, he lived it everyday he spent in Vietman.

Our collective appreciation as a nation ought to go to the men andn women who served in Vietnam. Our collective prayers should still be offered for families who through death gave up a precious loved one. As a nation we should re-visit our patriotism and generate a renewed heartfelt thanksgiving to all who selflessly and sacrifically served in Vietnam.

Tommy is a true patiot and a true soldier of the Lord. May the events he shares with you in Memories and Miracles bless you as much as they have me — and may all be to the glory of God.

Roy D. Graves

Pastor

Acknowledgements

I want to express my appreciation to the following individuals: my editor, Debbie Patrick, whom I know the Lord sent; my wife, Karla, her mother, Estelle, and my Pastor, Dr. Roy Graves, who together encouraged me every step of the way.

Dedication

This book was written as a testimony for my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

It is dedicated to my daughters, Cheryl and Jessica, and my grandchildren, Nikita, Brittany, Samantha, Elizabeth, Marley, Lily and Hazel, and my great grandchildren, Kensley, Bentlee, Etazalynn, Maddox, Luxlee, Bryclee, and Cohen, as well as my stepsons, Karl and Shawn.

From lightening bolts to Viet Cong bullets to hot steel, this book is a collection of memories and miracles that God has guided me through so I could share with others my testimony of God’s saving grace.

Tom Wright

Just one look at the lush green paradise we call east Tennessee, here in the Sweetwater valley, and you have to know that God blesses our lives. In fact, most of our lives are full of miracles, if we’ll only take the time to pay attention, and listen. To prove my point, I’d like to share a few of the many miracles with which God has blessed me. In reading my stories, perhaps you will begin to see the miracles in your life, too.

Though others may argue that life begins at forty, and teens may believe it begins at 16 or 18, for me life began at 10. Everything happened when I was ten years old. At least, all the most important things. I met Jesus Christ that year when two women from a Baptist church came to our neighborhood to tell us Bible stories and teach us about God. I really enjoyed going to those meetings; they made the stories interesting by using an easel with stick-on pictures to portray the stories from the Bible. This method really stuck with me, as later in life I used the same technique when I taught the RA’s (Royal Ambassadors) at church. The stories help make the concepts real, and the visual aid of pictures make the stories and truth of God’s word stick in the heart.

When the ladies from the Baptist church stopped coming for classes, we neighborhood kids started our own church services. We held them in our basement at first, and then in an old school bus. We had singing; praying and preaching, one of my friends could really shout and preach. His dad was a preacher so I guess he received his messages from the Lord with some help from his dad. In all the years that have passed since that time, I’ve always enjoyed going to church and have continued to feel the presence of God in my life. My prayer is that as you read these stories you will look back through your own life and thank God for all your miracles. I also pray that if you haven’t accepted Christ Jesus as your Savior, something in these stories of His love and power might prompt you to do that before it is everlastingly too late.

If My people, who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

In 1933, congress formed the Tennessee Valley Authority or TVA, a government agency to manage the energy resources of the 49,000 square mile Tennessee River Basin, touching parts of seven different states. Throughout the 1940s, TVA built dams across the beautiful Tennessee River, flooding the valleys and creating lakes that never existed before. The power plants built with the dams helped the economy of the area, as did the cheap electricity, but I was a member of one of the many families who were bought out and moved by TVA in the process. Some families tried to fight the moves, but there was no stopping TVA. We tried to make the best of it, and bought our next house on a hill called Happy Top.

The lakes formed by the dams were the best of TVA’s influence. I grew up loving the wondrous beauty of Watts Bar Lake and was absolutely in love with