He Goes Before Them by Meredith Helsby

I am a huge fan of P.O.W. memoirs, so when my sister told me about this book, I knew I had to get my hands on it.

Meredith and Christine Helsby arrived as missionaries to China in 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th brought an abrupt end to their language study classes and marked the beginning of fifteen months of house arrest. Later they were transferred to the “Weihsien Civilian Assembly Center” in Shantung Province with their two-year old daughter, Sandra. Because they were civilians being guarded by civilians, they did not receive the brutal treatment so famously recounted in other P.O.W. memoirs. (Japanese soldiers reportedly had only disdain for Allied soldiers who were “cowardly” enough to surrender and treated them accordingly.) Though the Helsby’s captors were often gruff and unfair, the prisoners’ greatest depravations came from lack of good food and medical care.

At times the story is told from Meredith’s viewpoint and sometimes from Christine’s. They write winsomely of how the Lord brought them through many trials.

He Goes Before Them was fascinating to me on various levels. First, because the Helsbys were able to maintain a vibrant faith in the midst of tremendous adversity. Second, because they were imprisoned with Eric Liddell of “Chariots of Fire” fame. Christine writes of Liddell's godly influence on the young people in the camp and of the tragedy of his death (caused by a brain tumor) in Februrary of 1945:

Funerals in the Weihsien prison camp were common enough during those dreadful days, but there was no funeral like Eric’s. The wave of sorrow which swept over Weihsien was unbelievable. His was by far the biggest funeral held in the two and a half years of our stay in the camp. Impressive was the fact that not only the missionary community attended his funeral, but many others whose lives he so powerfully impacted. Among them were the usually cynical business people, city government administrators, and even prostitutes. His unassuming naturalness had given him rapport with everyone he met. 

The final reason I enjoyed it was because after the war, the Helsbys served in Taiwan and were good friends of my parents. Growing up I always thought of them as a sweet missionary couple, little dreaming of the tremendous suffering they had experienced. 

Blessings,