Military Chaplains and their Bravery

I have always been in awe of the military chaplains and all the good work they do. In peacetime they deal with every issue that comes up in a service person's life and in wartime they have shown great bravery. I am thinking of the four chaplains who went down with their ship the Dorchester in WW2. They selfishly helped fellow sailors get into lifeboats and even gave up their own lifejackets to other men. They were 2 Protestant ministers, a Catholic priest, and a Jewish Rabbi.

I recently read a story about a Medal of Honor winner, a Catholic priest named Father Joseph O' Callahan, who served in the Navy during WW2. He was aboard the carrier USS Franklin off the coast of Japan in 1945. After a lone Japanese plane dropped 2 - 500 lb. bombs igniting flames amongst armed aircraft, he selfishly rushed into the inferno giving last rites, comfort, first aid, and encouragement to his fellow sailors. He was wounded by shrapnel but refused medical attention and continued to aid the wounded and dying.

He organized teams of men to collect and jettison bombs and other ordnance into the sea, and despite his claustrophobia went into a gun turret to remove the ordnance from it and throw it into the sea. "Father O' Callahan's actions undoubtedly saved the ship" said the Franklins commanding officer, Capt. Leslie Gehres in an interview for a military magazine.

Many years later in a book about his experiences Father O' Callahan said: "God knows as a man I am not more courageous than others, nor did I in fact perform more deeds of courage than many others, but I did what had to be done. I was conscious of my office as a priest and conscious of the tremendous graces that sustained me in fulfilling that office. Whatever I did was given me to do."