If you want to be impressed, read the story of Dieter Dengler, one of the only thirty-three prisoners of war who escaped during the Vietnam War. I guarantee you’ll say, “I could never do what he did.” His story is the stuff of legend, especially among those who have served in the military.
Dengler grew up in Germany during WWII and had a very difficult childhood. He later credited those hardships with enabling him to do what he did in Vietnam.
When he was eighteen, he immigrated to the United States. Less than a year later, he enlisted in the Navy, eventually becoming a Naval aviator.
In 1966, Dengler was shot down over Laos. Chained to a small group of fellow prisoners in a cage in the jungle, he endured six months of intense torture. The men were given very little food. He was racked with disease and became emaciated. But in that condition, and facing certain death, he led an escape. The weakened band of prisoners overpowered the guards, split into groups of two, and fled into the jungle.
Dengler and his partner walked through thick underbrush without shoes. Using what he learned from his experiences during WWII, he scrounged for things to eat. His friend became near-incapacitated, but Dengler kept them both alive. After almost three weeks, some natives in the jungle saw them and decapitated the partner. Dengler ran deeper into the jungle because the natives were going to kill him in the same way.
Though near the point of death, Dengler was able to scrounge material to signal an American plane flying overhead. A helicopter was sent to extract him from the jungle. When they pulled him into the aircraft, he was disease-ridden and emaciated–a mere shell of his old self.
He became a hero to all who fought in the war. His story was retold in the media, and thousands looked up to him.
I never met Dengler. But when I heard his story, I was saddened when the narrator ended it with these words: “In 2001, Dieter Dengler died.”
I wondered what finally ended the life of such a seemingly indestructible man. I had to look it up. I was surprised by what I read. Dengler had been diagnosed with a terminal disease. He rolled his wheelchair to a local fire station and committed suicide there.
That ending did not match his story of heroism. I realized why people were reluctant to say how he died. Some would say that his manner of death tarnishes his reputation as hero. There is a natural tendency to guard that reputation.
One of the things I like about the Bible is that it doesn’t treat its heroes that way. It gives us their stories of heroism. But it also speaks of their warts.
We might think, for example, of Solomon and David. Their foibles are well-known.
In the NT, Peter, the leader of the apostles and the early church, is an example of bravery and dedication to the Lord.
But we also know of his failures. When the Lord was on trial for His life, Peter was a coward. He stood a few yards away from Jesus, repeatedly telling a large group of people that he did not even know Him (Mark 14:71). To many believers, Peter is a hero. But the Bible says he was also a man. He was like the rest of us. The Bible tells the whole story.
Dengler was an impressive man. I do not doubt that I would have died in that prison in Laos. When I heard his story, however, I was a little irritated when the narrator didn’t tell the whole truth about him. Like us, Dengler had his limits. Though the narrator probably thought he was protecting the hero’s reputation, I think he actually dishonored Dengler by trying to present him as a person with no weaknesses. It was a little dishonest. He wanted us to think that Dengler was not like the rest of us.
The Bible doesn’t hide the truth in any way. It tells me I can be like Peter, even with my warts and mistakes. Like Peter, I can be a hero of the faith After all, Peter had his weaknesses too.
