A Difficult Lesson from the Burma War: Loving Your Enemy

The arm of Yaza, a Ranger who quickly offered his blood to the Burma Army soldier.

On April 14, 2026, during the Thingyan Water Festival, the Burmese New Year, a Myanmar military jet carried out an airstrike that destroyed a building at Mutraw Junior College. The school has already moved twice because of ongoing attacks.

The strike occurred amid an intensified bombing campaign in and around civilian villages. Junta aircraft, including jets and Y-12 transport planes, began conducting nightly airstrikes, typically during evening hours, with reported bombing windows between 9:00 and 10:30 p.m. In addition to the school being hit, livestock were killed.

Members of a church group not affiliated with the armed forces were killed and injured in one of the airstrikes. A pastor lost his leg, and several church members were wounded, while at least one person remains missing. Similar incidents occur frequently, with attacks targeting civilian areas on a near-daily basis. It is believed that the junta uses its air power against civilian areas in an effort to pressure local populations. However, these tactics have not reduced resistance. Instead, they have reinforced opposition to military rule.

After the American Revolution and the Civil War, there were very limited trials, punishments, and executions of those who supported the losing side. No Confederate leader was executed after the Civil War, and no Loyalists were systematically prosecuted after the Revolution; many simply emigrated. Gandhi, who explicitly rejected armed resistance against the British, understood that violent revolutions almost universally produce cycles of retribution and reprisal that destroy the societies they were meant to liberate.

This is one of the many reasons why the American experiment has worked, while so few bloody revolutions in other countries have resulted in peaceful, orderly societies with the degree of prosperity and opportunity we enjoy in America.

To achieve this miracle of national reconciliation, there must be forgiveness. Christian soldiers in the Burma war regularly pray that God will change the hearts of the enemy. “They have the right to defend themselves and their families,” said David Eubank, the founder of Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a faith-based frontline aid organization. “But in order for victory not to lead to ongoing slaughter, there has to be forgiveness.”

Against this backdrop of a war against the civilian population, including attacks on churches and temples, hundreds of thousands of young people across the nation have joined the resistance to defend their homeland, their families, and their right to exist. Among them are volunteer medics who risk their lives to save others. FBR trains local combat medics and works alongside them in the war, where a motivating Bible verse is John 15:13 (KJV): “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Certainly, it is noble, and a fulfillment of Christ’s teachings, for medics to risk or sacrifice their lives to save the innocent, but the truest test of one’s commitment to faith is the willingness to love one’s enemy and to risk your life to save the very soldiers who burned your village or killed your family members.

In December of last year, just days before Christmas, during one of the worst battles of the year, in which 12 civilians had already been killed, Free Burma Rangers discovered a wounded Burma Army soldier among those captured by resistance forces.

Travis White, a volunteer medic with FBR, asked permission to treat the wounded soldier. David Eubank, FBR’s founder, always makes it clear to wounded Burmese soldiers that he and the Rangers have no control over their fate or how long it will be until they are released. The resistance armies have their own rules and policies, and the only thing FBR has control over is its own actions. In the case of wounded enemy soldiers, they see their mission as treating and helping all people made in the image of God.

The commander gave permission for the medics to work on the prisoner. Eubank told him, “I know the feeling is to let him die for all the things he’s done against your people. We’ve all lost friends here, and we’ve all seen children and families killed. But when I pray, I think that God wants us to show mercy. So we will take responsibility for him if you choose to let him live.”

The commander stated emphatically, “I choose to let him live.”

White, who spent more than a decade as a civilian firefighter-paramedic before joining FBR a year earlier, said, “I asked Dave, ‘How much should I do for this guy?’ And Dave said, ‘Do everything you can. Don’t worry about the outcome.’” According to information given by the patient, he had been wounded 24 to 30 hours earlier. He had an open femur fracture and had taken shrapnel through the shoulder, which was also broken. White said he had lost so much blood that “he wasn’t even bleeding anymore from his wounds.” A blood transfusion would be necessary to save the soldier’s life.

In Burma, even hospitals have little to no electricity and almost no refrigeration; on the battlefield, even less. This means that blood transfusions must come directly from another Ranger or soldier willing to donate their blood.

In a hierarchy of sacrifice, the easiest choice is risking your life to save the innocent. Risking your life to save the enemy is more difficult, but giving your blood to the enemy is a line that many people have trouble crossing. Understandably, especially after witnessing a massacre of the civilian population, a donor may need some convincing, or time to think and pray before agreeing to open their veins for the enemy.

In this instance, however, before White even asked, his translator, an ethnic Ranger named Yaza, said, “If he needs blood, I’ll give him mine.”

White pointed out that one of the issues with donating blood in a combat situation is that it weakens you physically. I have personally witnessed medics stumbling, lightheaded, because they had donated blood earlier in the day. It takes a special type of person to weaken themselves to that degree to save someone who, until hours earlier, was trying to kill you.

The wounded soldier was a Buddhist and had served in the junta’s army, but by treating him with kindness, the Rangers believe they are fulfilling Jesus’ commandment to “love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 13:34, KJV)

Over the next four days, the team returned repeatedly to provide wound care, pain relief, and antibiotics. Travis said they also continued sharing the gospel, explaining that Jesus’ sacrifice was like the blood given to save the soldier’s life. He said they emphasized forgiveness and the command to love one’s enemies.

On the final visit, the soldier expressed a desire to accept Jesus. The Rangers prayed that God would reveal Himself to the wounded man, who remained in critical condition.

In the end, White may never know what happened to the wounded soldier, but he, the Rangers, and the resistance soldiers who witnessed these acts of kindness will be able to say with full honesty that they did everything possible. When Christians take communion, they receive the body and blood of Christ, as taught in Matthew 26:26–28.

On Easter Sunday, the time when most Christians focus on the sacrifice and resurrection, I asked David Eubank to comment on the lessons learned from the incident back in December. He cited Matthew 28:18–20, saying these “are the words and commands that Jesus gave us, and that we try to live out in our work. This is what He said right after He rose from the dead and before He went up to heaven. His Spirit is still with us to help us in our need and to help others in their need. This is the spiritual mission of the Free Burma Rangers, to serve God and serve people, and to encourage them to follow Jesus and accept His gift of salvation on earth and in heaven.”

 

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