![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/ec\/36\/ec361GqAUTeB2dHlcNiiVw\/Mommsen.jpg\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\nBob Mommsen<\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Stan Luce recalls giving a ride to a young man reporting for duty at Moffett Field in Sunnyvale, California. \u201cI was driving in my 1936 Chrysler to get my (vaccine) shots,\u201d he says. \u201cI noticed this GI walking along the street with his crumpled up uniform and crumpled up hat.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t recognize the man until he hopped in the car\u2014it was the actor Jimmy Stewart.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/Jy\/p6\/Jyp64PEOh7SWEK6nhbsLXA\/Luce.jpg\") <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\nStan Luce<\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nOver time that promise would lead to a growing faith, but it also led to a lingering question. \u201cI made a decision to do the right thing, but what was I going to do with myself?\u201d says Mommsen, who adds that his faith was \u201cvery thin\u201d before he entered the service.<\/p>\n Years later, in the 1970s, Mommsen would help Mercer Island Covenant welcome refugees from Southeast Asia. The decision was initially difficult for him. \u201cI was prejudiced against them,\u201d he admits.<\/p>\n Eventually he and his wife, Olga, sponsored some of the refugees. Mommsen says his change in attitude was due in large part to the example set by his wife, also a veteran of the war.<\/p>\n Luce served in Italy with the Army Air Corps but did not see combat. He says the video project gave him the chance to share good memories. \u201cI appreciated (the church) doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Luce shared another encounter with a famous person in California, although he did not know of her renown at the time. Well-known evangelist and founder of Foursquare Church Aimee Semple McPherson baptized him when he was 10 at a Baptist Church in San Jose.<\/p>\n Jack and Sallie Tuttle, deacons of the Senior Adult Ministry at Mercer Island, suggested the idea for the project. Asimakoupoulos was eager to see it happen. His own father, who recently died, was a WWII veteran. He had never discussed his war experiences until the last several years of his life, after he learned he had cancer.<\/p>\n For more information on this video project contact Mercer Island Covenant Church at (206) 232-1015.<\/p>\n |