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DEAFENED?
SIXTEEN
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA’
JULY 31, 1943
LAUDS PRIEST'S AID
JUNEAU, Alaska, — A citation
for services rendered by the Rev.
Thomas Cunningham, S. J., who
has been stationed on Diomede
Island for* the last ten years, has
been forwarded to the Military
Ordinariate by Brig. Gen. Edwin
W. Jones, issued from the Post
Headquarters, Office of the Com
manding General.
The citation states that for a
year Father Cunningham placed
at the disposal of the Afmy forces
"his time and expert knowledge of
the Seward Peninsula'' and that
on numerous occasions, through
his knowledge of ice conditions
and by his advice, he safeguarded
the lives of troops and equipment.
The citation also added that his
close personal contact benefitted
the morale of the troops and “in
true Christian spirit he has never v
accepted material compensation
for his efforts beyond an occasion
al meal and a night's lodging.”
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WACS CROWD CHURCH FOR MORNING MASS
Attendance is large ai religious services in uie two uost unapels at the Third WAAC Training Center,
Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., where more than 25 per cent of the women stationed there are Catholics. Three
Masses on Sunday, Mass every morning and three evenings a week are a few of the services provided
by Army Chaplain George E. Labonte (inset), Catholic chaplain assigned to the WAACS. Father La--
bonte, a priest of the Diocese of Providence, is pictured reading the Gospel at Mass there recently.
Army Signal Corps photo. (N.C.W.C.)
One o/ Every Four in WAC at
Fort Oglethorpe Is a Catholic
The following story was writ
ten by a staff member of the N.
C. W. C. News Service, who was
one of a small group of women
newspaper and magazine writ
ers invited by the War Depart
ment to serve for five days at a
WAC training center to gain
first-hand knowledge of the
training and life of members of
this branch of the Army.
FT. OGLETHORPE, Ga.—The
Rev. Alonzo J. McHugh of the
Catholic University of America,
is here to serve as an assistant to
Chaplain George E. Labonte, Post
Chaplain, who is urgently in need
of a Catholis assistant chaplain
since well over 25 per cent of the
WACs stationed here are Catho
lics. The Catholic population of
the entire personnel at Fort Ogle
thorpe is estimated at one-third.
Three Masses are celebrated on
Sunday, and weekly Masses are at
6 a. m.. and on Monday, Wednes
day and Friday evenings. Sunday
mornings are free for all WACs
except those on special detail, and
all services. non-Catholic as well
as Catholic, are well attended, the
chaplains report.
The Acting Director of the
WAC Training Center, Second
Officer Mary Danforth, of New
York City, is one of a number of
Catholics among the officer per
sonal. She entered the Corps
when her husband, a Naval offi
cer, was lost at sea. After receiv
ing her commission at Ft. Das
Moines, Iowa, she attended the
Adjutant General’s School at Ft.
Washington, Md. Third Officer
Sarah N. McClendon of the Dio
cese of Galveston is attached to
the Public Relations Office of the
WAAC Center here and was one
of the officers who shepherded a
group of 15 women news and mag
azine writers who became “WACs
for five days” to learn first-hand
ihe who, why and wherefore of
WACs and the routine of be
coming one. The group attended
a current events class conducted
by another of the Catholic offi
cers, Third Officer Mary Cole, of
Ilion, N. Y., whom the writer
next saw at the Communion rail
on Sunday.
TRIBUTE TO WAACS
Father Labonte, who has been
at Ft. Oglethorpe since the WAC
Training Center opened and.
therefore, feels fully qualified to
comment upon the morals and
general character of his group.
Normally the gentle, kindly type
of abbe which his French name
suggests, Father Labonte reveals
indignation when he discusses re
cent attacks and slurs questioning
the morality of this rapidly in
creasing organization. He says
that such attacks indirectly pay
the highest possible tribute’to the
WACs and may be regarded as
“a gigantic nation-wide plot insti
gated by Axis agents to sabotage
this really efficient outfit.”
“Who would have thought,” he
asks, “that the supermen of the
new’ disorder would stoop to di
recting their nefarious activities
against our American woman
hood? There can be only one an
swer. Our WACs must be real
ly accomplishing a man-size job.
In other words, every man releas
ed from behind a typewriter
means another man available to
be put behind a deadly machine
gun. Or, to state it bluntly, any
increase in womanpower means a
corresponding increase in man
power. It is a new phase of the
old. familiar and insidious tactics
and weapon of our enemies: in
sidious propaganda, lies, lies and
more lies.”
To countract this underground
war, Father Labonte 'recommends
“the one great and invincible
weapon—the only one real Ameri
cans have ever known—and that is
TRUTH: but some gullible Am
ericans, whether inadvertently or
maliciously, have played right in
to Axis’ hands.” The Chaplain
believes, however, that one lesson
we are learning is “to recognize
our real enemies from within as
well as from without,” and he
would have the public on the alert
for “traitors to our great cause”
whom he classifies as “the unin
formed, the misinformed, the pre
judiced. the envious, the selfish,
the appeasers, the spineless, the
pessimists, the scandal mongers,
the modern streamlined Pharisees,
the camouflaged saboteurs, the
fifth and sixth columnists, and the
partisans of all ‘isms’ opposed to
real Americanism; in other words,
any and all subversive agents from
Berlin, Rome, Tokyo or Hell.”
WELL-REGULATED LIFE
Father Labonte emphasizes the
fact that the men and" women in
service are the same boys and
girls they were back home, with
the same virtue and faults. “The
Army is not a reform school,” he
said; “therefore one cannot expect
the Army to reform bad charac
ters any more than it deforms
good ones. Rather, the Army,
through its well-regulated life, its
discipline and its Chaplains’
Corps, is conductive to a higher
degree of morality, morale and
religous aspiration, as expe
rience will attest. Nor should the
Army be blamed for any lowering
of standards resulting from the
over-anxiety of certain induction
centers to fill their quotas. If, on
the other hand, the atmosphere
surrounding Army camps and
posts is not always on a par with
Army ideals, as a rule the respon
sibility rests upon unscrupulous
civilians who depreciate the char
acter of soldiers by catering to
them with undignified services in
the form of cheap cafes, dives and
dens.”
This type of civilians, he added,
has the same attitude towards wo
men in the service. Tlie Army,
he pointed out, by imposing bans
and restrictions affecting certain
areas and groups, tries to elimi
nate the hazards of undesirable
surroundings. He also spoke of
the hazard of “hasty and regret
table ‘overnight’ marriages” in
communities where the law does
not impose a three-day waiting pe
riod or other delays.
SAFEGUARDING DIGNITY
Returning to the subject of his
special interest, the spiritual and
moral welfare of the WAACs,
Father Labonte said: “Even in this
great world crisis when our very
safety and freedom are at stake,
our government will not falter in
its mission of safeguarding the
dignity of American womanhood.
Woman suffrage and the competi
tion of women versus men in all
walks of life have never lowered
our American women from the
high pedestal on which they have
been placed by God and Country.
Therefore, only the low and de
spicable mind could circulate ru
mors concerning the possibility of
our government issuing allegedly
specific G. I. articles on occasions
of leave of absence from camp,
regardless of whether one wishes
to draw a line between compulsion
and availability. Thank God our
country will never so insult the
womanhood of a free nation un
less we are on the downgrade to
slavery.”
A* to WACs becoming a part
of the Reserve Army, rather than
remaining Auxiliaries, Father La
bonte is in favor of thi^ provided
three stitpulations are made: (1)
that they never be drafted but be
allowed to enlist; (2) that they
never be sent to combat duty, al
though allowed to volunteer for
service in combat zones; and (3)
that the penalty for infringements
be either company punishment or
dishonorable discharge, but never
the guard house.
. “So far,” Father Labonte con
cluded, “our WACs have evinced
the truth of the saying that wom
en w’ithout religion are like flow
ers without perfume. And all
chaplains agree that religion is
being served to a greater extent
generally in the Army than it
ever was back home, and their
opinion is based on individual ob
servations.”
27 U. S.-BORN JAPANESE
LEAVE RELOCATION CAMP
TO JOIN ARMED FORCES
NEW YORK, — Twenty-seven
Catholic boys of Japanese-Ameri-
can ancestry have left the reloca
tion camp at Twin Falls, Idaho, to
become members of the U. S.
Army, according to a report from
Rev. Leopold Tibesar. Maryknoll
priest assigned to the Camp.
Father Tibesar formerly was
stationed in the Maryknoll Jap
anese parish in Seatle. When his
parishioners were removed to re
location camps. Father Tibesar
went along with them. He reported
that he has under instruction 30
adults who are preparing to enter
tiie Church. Two ministers, who
gave up preaching because of un
settled religious views are among
the prospective converts. Mary-
knol' missioners now working in
Japanese relocation camps under
the local American bishops now
number 12. *
Merchants Bureau
Sponsors Party at
Spartanburg USO
(Special to The Bulletin)
SPARTANBURG, S. C. — Some
300 men of the 71st battalion and
some 50 men of the 31st battalion
of Camp Croft, joined the citizens
of Spartanburg at a party and a
dance at the USO Club operated
here by the National Catholic
Community Service, as guest of
the Merchants' Bureau of Spartan
burg.
The event was the second in a
series of battalion parties planned
in cooperation with the special
service. office of Camp Croft, of
which Lieut. Col. R. W. Copeland
is chief.
Fred Williams, manager of
Belk-Hudson Company, served as
master of ceremonies for the Mer
chants’ Bureau, with Pvt. Don
Byrnes of the special service of
fice as master of ceremonies for
the camp.
Those present included Maj.
Gen. and Mrs. Durward S. Wilson,
Lieut. Col. and Mrs. R. W. Cope
land. Major S. J: Siren and Lieut.
R. M. Woolridge.
General Wilson and Mrs. Wil
son led the grand march. A floor
show featuring talent from Camp
Croft was presented by Pvt. Bill
Wilderman, vocalist, with Pvt.
Craig Thomas at the piano, and a
comedy team. Pvt. Ray Meunier
and Pvt. Myron Jevelskein.
Winners in the dance contest
were Miss Bennie Holt and Pvt.
O. D Benedetto, and Miss Betty
Atkinson and Pvt. Domonick Bovo.
Post Band Number 1 provided the
music.
Mrs. Carroll Cave Johnson,
chairman of the USO program
committee, worked out the details
for the entertainment with H. G.
Atherton and M. G. Browning of
the Merchants’ Bureau. A corps
of volunteers and personnel mem
bers of the department stores of
Spartanburg assisted. Mrs. Brown
ing headed the refreshment com
mittee.