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This blog has an enigmatic title "Secrets"--there aren't any. What generally passes for secrets are facts that have created potholes and pitfalls for the "guardian" or "gatekeeper" of those precious bits of fact.



Miscellany--as the label implies, anything and everything that this author or any blogger wishes to discuss.



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For Veteran's Day



Fr. Francis Duffy: Minister and Spiritual Adviser to the "Fighting 69th in WWI



During WWI, 2363 chaplains served in the US military. Eleven of those chaplains were killed in combat. The Distinguished Service Cross was awarded to 27 chaplains; 18 earned the Silver Star; none earned the Congressional Medal of Honor; and 23 died of wounds received in combat.



While ministering to dying soldiers, chaplains might find themselves reading a psalm to a Protestant private, holding a cruxifix to a Catholic noncommissioned officer's hands or leading a Jewish soldier in the Hebrew confession of faith.



The best known WWI chaplain was Canadian-born Fr. Francis Duffy, senior chaplain of the 42nd Rainbow Infantry Division. In 1914, Fr. Duffy was first appointed chaplain of the 69th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard, better known as the "Fighting 69th," predominantly a regiment of Americans of Irish descent.



Duffy's combat experience began with the Spanish-American War, when he was sationed at Montauk Point, Long Island, New York. Fr. Duffy served on the Mexican border in 1916.



When the US entered WWI, the regiment was redesignated the 165th Infantry and assigned to the 42nd Infantry Division. It was on the voyage to France in 1917 that the poet, Joyce Kilmer who was aboard, wrote that every day lines of soldiers "as long as the mess line" would wait for Fr. Duffy to hear their confessions. Every day Fr. Duffy would celebrate Mass.



On arriving in the French theatre of operations, Fr. Duffy frequented the front lines, hearing confessions of the wounded and dying and saying Mass. Fr. Duffy received the Distinguished Service Cross for moving close to intense fighting to be near the wounded and dying.



Lt. Col. William Donovan, commanding officer of the 165th, recognized Fr. Duffy as a "key element in the unit's morale." Fr. Duffy chronicled his time at war in Father Duffy's Story. The book was Kilmer's project, the poet had actually begun writing the account, but he was killed in the war. In one chapter, Fr. Duffy describes the aftermath of one battle: "Death was busy on the hill that morning. Looking back down the hill the sight was discouraging. The ground was littered with the bodies of the brave and the slopes of the Ourcq were dotted with the wounded."



After mustering out of the service at WWI's conclusion, Fr. Duffy returned to New York City and became the pastor of Holy Cross Church at 42nd Street, which was knownas the "actor's church," until he died in 1932. The "warrior priest," became a naturalized citizen in 1902. Fr. Duffy is remembered with a monument in Times Square.



Fr. Duffy is but one example of the selfless devotion of officers and service personnel under fire that deserve our respect as we remember all veteran's this week.