Syl was on a destroyer when the main Japanese force came through the Leyte Gulf, catching the US forces by surprise. When this small token fleet radioed Halsey for help, the response was that they were on their own. These ships knew that they were hopelessly outclassed and that they had to stand and fight. Syl was in the destroyer’s ready room when this information was related. They were all talking about what they could possibly do when the messenger from the radio room said, “I don’t know about you but I’m gonna get down on my knees and pray.”

So a number of men on one side of the room did get down on their knees and start praying. A Japanese shell came through the side of the ship, into the ready room, just over the heads of those on their knees and praying. It did not explode. If it had exploded, everyone in that part of the ship would have been killed. If those sailors on that side of the room had not gotten down on their knees, the impact of the shell would have killed them.