It was Friday, May 8, 1964. Mrs. Lilian Myers baked a birthday cake for a family gathering Friday at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.
The celebration was held early because Air Foce Chaplain Thomas Eugene Myers was making a trip to Hong Kong and wouldn't be there for his 48th birthday on Saturday. That pleasant family gathering is now only a memory. Lieutenant Colonel Myers was one of 77 people killed in the crash of a military jet transport plane at Clark Air Base in the Philippines on Monday, May 11, 1964.
At the funeral service held at the Rehobeth Pentecostal Holiness Church, near Hemingway, SC, Bishop J. A. Synan eulogized Chaplain Myers with these words:
"They shall rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."
"Labors" implies the laboriousness of toil and service, the pain, the strife, the agonizing effort involved in the conflict with sin and in the promotion of God's kingdom and righteousness.
But their "works" go on--follow them."
Let me describe the works of Chaplain Thomas Eugene Myers.
He was a graduate of Emmanuel Academy, Emmanuel Junior College and Piedmont College. He spent some time as a teacher at Emmanuel College.
Before entering the chaplaincy, Brother Myers served in the pastorate of the Pentecostal Holiness Church at Royston, Georgia, and Miami, Florida. He was commissioned as a Chaplain in the United States Army on December 30, 1943. It was my privilege at the time to serve as Chairman of the Servicemen's Commission of the Pentecostal Holiness Church and I interviewed him and helped process his papers, signing the ecclesiastical endorsement for his entry into the military service.
I shall never forget the eagerness, the earnestness, the enthusiasm and devotion which characterized his commitment to this form of service to which he gave the best years of his life.
He was in Chaplains' School until February 10, 1944. Then, he was assigned to the 261st Infantry Regiment of the Third Army.
On January 10, 1945, he left for the European Theatre of War. Remember that World War II was then still going in full fury. He spent some time in England and in various assignments for the Army for the next three years. Among those assignments were the 9th Infantry Division, 8th Tank Battalion and a reconnaissance squadron.
He returned to the United States in June 1946, and was assigned to the Mather Air Force Base in California. We assume that it was then that he was transferred to the Air Force. He served there until February, 1951, when he was transferred to Greenville Air Force Base in Mississippi. He was there for four years and in May 1955, he went to Korea where he was assigned to the 502nd Tactical Control Company with the 8th Army. After two months in Korea he went to Taipei, Formosa, where he stayed until July, 1957, where he was transferred to Ent Air Force Base in Colorado.
In August 1961, He was transferred to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii at the time of his death. He headed a group of eight Air Force chaplains, six at Hickam Field, and two at Wheeler Air Force Base. The group included two Roman Catholic chaplains.
During the course of his career, Chaplain Myers received various promotions. He was promoted to Captain in 1946, to Major in 1950, and to Lieutenant Colonel in 1959.
He held the permanent rank of Colonel in the Air Force Reserve and was buried as a full colonel.
He was twice awarded medals of commendation for courage and service beyond the call of duty.
In the course of his career, He serve in 17 different countries.
I have recited the dates and places of his assignments and services, but it impossible for me to recite his "works." Eternity alone will reveal the good that he did as he preached to thousands and thousands of our fine young men and women in military service, counseled, instructed and prayed with them, meeting great spiritual needs in their lives, and ministering comfort and encouragement to them away from home. Only God knows the healing benefits of his ministry as he visited and ministered to the ill and the injured in hospitals and on various fields of military activity.
He was, indeed, a true and faithful soldier of the Cross. He was the second chaplain commissioned from our Church and was the ranking chaplain of our denomination at the time of his home going.
Eugene Myers was a credit to his denomination, to his country, and to his fine family. He was a man of character, courage, and consecration, diligence and devotion. His influence in the Armed Forces and in the country which he served was of the highest and best in our Christian and patriotic traditions.
[Editor's Note: This article was printed in The Advocate, April 22, 1972. John Vinson Ellenberg was the first IPHC chaplain to be commissioned. He served in the Army Chaplain Corps for a brief time.
It was in 1964 that I was informed of the tragic death of Chaplain Eugene Myers. He, by the way, is the only IPHC who has died while on active duty. Shortly after his death, Bishop J. A. Synan called me and asked that I fill the vacancy he had left. At the time I was a pastor in Brownville, AL (near Evergreen in Conecuh County) and a Chaplain in the Army Reserve. After prayer and fasting, I agreed to accept the assignment since there was no one who could meet the qualifications to become an Air Force chaplain. The Scripture that God gave me was:
Ezekiel 22:30
30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
KJV
I believed that I was the man who could make up the hedge and stand in the gap. This Word from the Bible confirmed my calling. I had to resign my commission as a First Lieutenant in the Army Chaplain Corps to be sworn in with the same rank in the Air Force Chaplaincy. I never planned it that way. That is the calling and appointment the God of heaven gave me.
When Melvine and I were recently at Pearl Harbor visiting Navy Chaplain Timothy R. Moore, his wife, Pam, and two children at home, Emily and Joseph, we were near Hickam Air Force Base, I remembered that Chaplain Eugene Myers was stationed there at the time of his death in Manila, Philippines. So, when I got home, I looked up the story I have composed from the article that was in The Advocate dated April 22, 1972. On the front page is a photo of Chaplain (Colonel) Freeman Mashburn, his family and Major General E. I. Donley, Commander General, U. S. Army, Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama.
Melvine and I knew Lilian Myers and she has stayed in our home on various occasions in San Antonio, TX, and Oklahoma City, OK. Shortly after I graduated from high school (Hewitt High School in Trussville, AL) in May 1950, my family moved back to Birmingham where I became a member of the First Pentecostal Holiness Church. Pastor O. N. Todd, Jr. would invite Chaplain Eugene Myers to come over for a weekend to preach for us at our church in Norwood. I was always eager to hear him preach.
If any of my readers know anything about the Myers two sons who may live in Hemingway, SC, or near there, I would like to get in touch with them and let them know we love them and honor them as we do their parents, Eugene and Lilian Myers.]
Posted on
Thu, April 29, 2010
by Hugh Morgan