I was curious about whether church was in session aboard any of the ships during the Pearl Harbor attack - I found this story. Father Aloysius Schmitt, after completing a Sunday Mass Celebration was conducting church call when battle stations sounded and the men were told this is no drill. His assigned position was below decks at a dressing station where he could tend the wounded sailors. He would die while trying to help an injured sailor get through an open hatch. Father Schmitt would become the first military Chaplin killed in WWII. He could have made it out but Navy protocol dictates, the senior man is the last to leave and he was assisting junior sailors scrambling to safety when the ship rolled over. Father Al was 32 years old when he died after helping 11 men get of the ship that day. He posthumously received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for distinguished heroism and sublime devotion to his fellow man.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 06:31:49 +0000
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