(A MEMORIAL)
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Romans 8:28 ( NASB)
My oldest brother, a career Air Force instructor pilot, was stationed in South Korea in 1982. At the time, I was a busy mother of two year old twin boys, when I received a phone call one day, which made my world stand still. I was informed that his plane went missing while on a routine instructor flight. In his last radio transmission he said, “I’ve got a problem,” as his F-16 jet completely disappeared from radar.
During the search mission, we were hoping that he ejected from the plane and would be found alive. Some days later, we were notified that his crash site was found on a mountain. Ted was only thirty five when he died, leaving behind his wife and three year old daughter.
We learned a few years later that there was an electrical wire chafing problem, common to that particular F-16 model, which all the airplane mechanics were aware of. As our family coped with his loss, his wife did whatever she could, to bring publicity to the faulty electrical system in the F-16 fighter jets at the time.
She eventually won the legal battle, after an investigation led to the discovery of mechanics’ training videos, which proved there was a wire chafing problem in F-16s. The truth was made public and the cause of accident was officially changed on the report, from pilot error to electrical wire chafing.
My sister in law was invited to tell her story on the Diane Sawyer show and soon afterward, Disney Productions contacted her, and proposed making a movie to recreate the story. The movie was made, based on the legal battle that followed his crash, and it was released in 1989 for HBO, called “Afterburn”. Laura Dern won a golden globe award, in playing my sister in law.
Ted was a recent college graduate, working towards his Master’s degree in Physics, when he was drafted during the Viet Nam war. Ironically, he decided to join the Air Force instead of other branches of the armed forces, to increase his chances of survival. It turned out he loved flying and had a twelve year career in the Air Force, as an instructor pilot.
Since he first joined, I always felt a sense of urgency to pray for him, which I did regularly, long before the accident ever happened. I’ll never know why things ended as they did, but I do know that no one just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, because every human life means more to God than being a mere victim of random tragic accidents.
The days of our life are already set and written in God’s book at the moment of our conception;
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book, before one of them came to be.”
(Psalm 139:16)
I choose to believe that God is good, that He loves us, and works all things together for our “eternal” good. God sees the eternal picture, we only see the present. We will never know in this life, why our family had to lose my brilliant and kindhearted brother, but I know that the One who created all of us, also helps us to get through every tragedy.
Lord, help us to trust and believe in you, through painful circumstances and tragic events in our lives. By faith, we choose to believe that you always work all things together for our eternal good. Amen
In memory of Capt. Ted Harduvel
(Oct. 28, 1947-Nov. 15, 1982)
