The God of the Captive and the Free (standard:drama, 4700 words)
Author: Maureen Stirsman	Added: Jul 01 2008	Views/Reads: 3266/2541	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
George Cowan was a prisoner of war. Esther waited with her infant son and prayed for his safe return. This is their true story. It is a chapter in "The Road to Reconcilaion" due out in August. You and buy the book by contacting me at this web si

The George and Esther Cowan Story 

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy...”
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 

It was the first Sunday in December 1941. The Cowan family had returned
from church and just finished eating a chicken dinner. Mr. Cowan read 
the Macon newspaper while his wife finished up in the kitchen. The rest 
of the family, the two girls, and the boys, George and Thomas, were 
milling around the room. George watched Thomas fiddle with the radio he 
had made. When over the radio, the announcement came that changed the 
Cowan family, and the entire world, forever: “News flash; at 7:55 this 
morning the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Empire of 
Japan.” 

Mr. Cowan dropped his paper. Mrs. Cowan came into the sitting room, wet
dishcloth in her hand. Thomas moved closer to the homemade radio, and 
young George just listened. 

What they heard on that winter Sunday was that over 300 Japanese carrier
based dive-bombers and torpedo planes had attacked the island of Oahu. 
The family stood in front of the radio motionless, straining to hear 
every detail. On the following day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
delivered his fateful speech to the Congress of the United States: 
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the 
United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by 
naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan...” 

Young men in the southern neighborhood immediately signed with the
National Guard. Thomas was twenty-three and one of the first in line. 
George was eighteen, still in school, although he itched to go, too. 
Immediately the country went into war mode. Sugar, butter, meat and 
shoes were rationed. Factories changed their production lines to making 
airplanes and war goods. 

News of the war was broadcast each day on the radio and printed in big
black headlines on front pages of every newspaper. But life went on, 
even though much was changed, in Macon, Georgia. George attended church 
every Sunday and sat in the same pew the family had always sat in. It 
was just that Thomas was missing. Life went on. One day as George rode 
a bus to school he noticed an attractive red head. “Do you mind if I 
sit here?” 

That was the way it began. Esther was nineteen years old, lived with her
parents, was a devoted Christian, like George. 

After high school George joined the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet.
He always loved airplanes and his dream was to fly. 

On December 14, 1942 he was sworn in at Macon, Georgia. Esther was at
the depot the day he left for Florida. He was so handsome it made her 
heart ache. To see him walk away left a hole in her heart that would 
not be mended until he returned. Esther never thought about the 
possibility that he wouldn't come back. She knew he would return. She 
just knew he would come back. 

George and Esther wrote letters every day. Then one day he called her on
the telephone from Florida. Long distance calls were only made in 
emergencies. Someone was hospitalized or dead when you heard the voice 
of the long distance operator. But this call would be life changing in 
a good way. “Honey I have a three day leave. Can you come?” 

October 30, 1943—Esther and George were married on the last day of his
three-day pass. 

After two years of training George's crew was prepared to go overseas.
This was the day they had been waiting for. They were ten men, united 
for war, in one airplane, who would have to depend on each other for 
their very lives. Eventually they were on their way to Bedford, 
England, their overseas base. Esther had been living near the base. Now 
it was time for her to leave. She drove home in the car George had 
bought for her. He had taught her to drive and in reality was worried 
about her driving. But she was not worried; she had every confidence in 
herself. She drove home with a prayer on her lips. She had no idea when 
she would see her husband again, but she knew God was in control and 


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