His time during the war, he said i would lie down on my cot at night and i had a 45 automatic under each side of my pillow in case the japanese called in at night to attack us. And then finally, one marine grunt on one of the islands told this story. He said im a roman catholic, ive been to Holy Communion and all kinds of environments and places in this war but he said i was in the most singular one ive ever seen. He said, i heard that over in the clearing there was going to be a mass said and we could receive communion and he said i went over and he said the priest had his communion set out on top of a flat rock with a piece of wood holding it up at a level place and leaning next his was his flag that showed it was a christian flag showing were having a service. But he said leaning next to that was an m1 car m1 rifle. And he said, i said, whats with this rifle. He said, oh, well im not a combatant, but we are allowed to have weapons to kill snakes. The marine said, i wonder how he def
Because most protestants in germany were lutherans and one who was roman catholic. So he called upon two highly decorated, highlyrespected men who were fluent in german. Henry garriky was a missouri lutheran who grew up in southern missouri and had been in a germanspeaking family. There was a chaplain priest. He agreed to stay behind and so did henry. They decided to stay behind and minister to these guys that were on trial. Four of them would be acquitted. 11 ultimately were lynched. The others were given long prison terms. It never occurred to me what the two chaplains had to go through. Many of the american soldiers, including highranking officers said, we shouldnt give these nazis any comfort. They shouldnt have our chaplains. We dont want them to stay there. There was great pressure on these two men not to say. Oconnor was a priest. Catholic priest, he didnt have a family back home waiting for him, a wife and children. But henry had a wife and three sons that he hadnt seen for oth
Said to him, i died for all men and women, i want you to tell them what ive done for them and give them an opportunity to come unto me. Chaplain oconnor said very little about what the men that he worked with said or went through. He had a very high view of the stole and the fact that confession and discussion shouldnt be told. Garriky didnt say a whole lot. He said enough to say this. He said three or four of the men gave their lives to jesus christ and went and went and prayed for days on end seeking forgiveness for their sins. And he said i assured them he is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrye chestness. They went back to the states, lived out their careers and their lives with peace in their hearts that they had done the right thing given biblical guidelines. I tell you, a lot of people in the United States never for gave them. They got hate mail over the years for what theyd done. With that, ill wrap up and say nothing is simple, things are difficult,
Chaplain to speak to men in dire straights. In fact, i had a piece that one of the chaplains wrote and it was very interesting and its this is, again, maybe hard for us to believe today living in the time that we live. Chaplain john ocallahan, who was the medal of honor winner on the uss franklin said this. Listen to these words. The power of the cross to inspire surpassed its power of recognition. Boys of all faiths would go anywhere if the chaplain would go with them. The chaplains had a cross on their helmet. They might have one on the back. He was talking he wasnt bragging about his role. What he was saying is this is not about me. He said i show up with a helmet with a cross on the front of it and the boys will follow me. Because theyre desperate for some guidance in the most stressful times. His goal was to not bring attention to himself and say, look great work i did, he said i work for someone else, im representing him, and im coming in this environment to do that. Well, the ca