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AUGUST UZ. '^45
THE l-’H ‘ ‘ TIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
TWENTY NINE
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Augusta, Georgia
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1204-06 Broad Street
Telephone 2-4142
Augusta, Georgia
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SOUTHERN COMMISSION
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MANUFACTURERS WORK CLOTHING
Augusta, Georgia
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Millinery
964 Broad Street
Augusta, Georgia
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WOODWARD
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AUGUSTA, GEORGIA
LOST. ON JAPANESE PRISON SWPS
McManus
McDonnell Vanderheiden
tivSi...
Stober
Cummings Zerfos Carberry
Nine Catholic priests, chaplains in the U. S.
Armed forces have b£en officially reported as lost
in the sinking of Japanese prison ships, in recent
announcements from the War and Navy Depart
ments. Seven were lost December 15, 19*4, in the
sinking of one ship bound for Japan—Navy
Chaplain Francis J. McManus, of Cleveland; Army
Chaplains John J. McDonnell, Brooklyn; Joseph
G. Vanderheiden, O. S. B., San Francisco, Henry
B. Stober, Covington; William T. Cummings, M.
M., San Francisco; Matthias E. Zerfas, Milwau
kee; Richard E. Carberry, Portland, Oreg. Lost,
October 24, 1944, in the sinking of another prison
ship off the China coast were; Army Chaplains
James Walter O’Brien, of San Francisco and
Thomas Scecina, Indianapolis.. (NC Photos).
O'Brien
Father Braun Acquitted
of “Frame-up” Charges
by Moscow Appelate Court
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK. — The Rev. Leo
pold Braun, A. A., American
priest who for more than ten
years has served as chaplain for
American Catholics in Moscow,
has won an appeal against the de
cision of a Moscow municipal
court and has been acquitted of
the charge of striking a Russian
workman.
The Rev. Crescent Armanet,
A. A., Vicar Provincial of the As-
sumptionist Fathers, received the
following cablegram from Father
Brown:
“At my request made on July
27 the Moscow Municipal Court
of Appeal -revised the decision of
the iirst trial. The verdict of July
2 was annulled. Acquittal and to-
Irl exoneration of frame-up was
obtained. Soviet authorities were
extremely courteous in allowing
<: traordinary time for appeal. I
look my own defense. I am await
ing court decision in writing.”
Tire U. S. Department of State,
a liich had been officially repre-
enled at the first trial of Father
Braun, said it had not been in
formed of his acquittal, news of
which had also been received by
the priest's father, Leon Braun, in
New Bedford, Mass.
The charges, termed by Father
Braun in his cable to Failier Ar
manet a “frame-up,” arose from
an incident at the French Embas
sy at Moscow on October 31, 1944,
when Father Braun had a verbal
altercation with a Nikolai Knya
zev, a janitor at the embassy. ICy-
nazev accused Fattier Braun of
striking him. No further aetion
was taken until May 16, 1945,
when Father Braun wwas brought
into court on a’ charge of assault
and battery.
The trial was postponed due to
the illness of the presiding judge,
but on July 2 Father Braun was
found guilty of the charge and
fined 100 rubles, about 20 dollars.
The State Department, through
its Chief of-Eastern European Af-
lairs, Elbridge Durbrow, had kept
in close touch with the develop
ments of the case and had engag
ed the services of a Russian at
torney to obtain legal advice on
points of law and procedure.
Mr. Durbrow, a personal friend
of Father Braun, confirmed other
reports that the American priest
during his long stay in the Rus-
■ ian capital had won a host of
! friends.
1 When first news of the charges
. against Father Braun leaked out
: in this country, persons familiar
.with condi*ions in Moscow ex-
l-essed (ho opinion that Hie
I American priest’s presence in the
Russian capital had become irk
some” to certain Soviet authori-
I lies, and said that the charge
1 brought against the American
I . dost was considered by most
oiphiiimls “as an excuse on ihe
part of the Russian Politburo to
‘hang’ something on him."
Father Braun, who is 42 years
old. went to Russia in 1934 to
Chaplain, Formerly at
Ft. Benning, Met Death
on Japanese Prison Ship
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Captain
Mathias Zerfas, assistant pastor of
St. Mary’s Church, Fon du Lac,
when he became an Army chap
lain, was one of eight chaplains
who lost their lives in the sinking
of a Japanese prison ship while
being transported as prisoners of
war.
News of the death of Chaplain
Zerfas, a priest of the Archdio
cese of Milwaukee, and the live
other priests among the chaplains
who were aboard the ship, has
been announced by the War De
partment. All of them had pre-
-vicusly been reported as “detain
ed by the enemy” since the fall of
j Bataan and Corregidor.
Father Zerfas was born in Twin
Lakes, Wis., in 1908, ar.d was or
dained in 1934. He was commis
sioned a first lieutenant in the
Army Chaplains Corps in May,
1940, and for a time was stationed
at Fort Benning, Ga.
Later, promoted to the rank of
captain, he shared in the 26th
Cavalry’s citation for valor in the
fierce fighting which preceded the
fall of Bataan. He remained ex-
' no cd during a battle to comfort
and help a badly wounded so.ldier.
At that time.Father Zerfas was
described by a war correspondent
as the bearded priest from Wis
consin who wears a pith helmet
1 and who looks like llaille Selassie,
Emperor of Abyssinia,
j No word came directly from
‘ Chaplain Zerfas after the fall ol
' Bataan. Last Christmas, his fath
er received word through the
' Aposolic Delegation in Washing
ton, that the chaplain was still a
prisoner, but safe. Father Zer
oes was seen in Cabanatuap Pris
on Camp in the Philippines by
two Wisconsin men, who were
among the prisoners freed when
Ameiican forces returned to the
i lands. By that time, Father
Zerfas had been taken from the
prison camp and was en route
to either Japan or China. The
enemy ship upon hich he is re
ported to have lost his life, left
Manila on December 13, 1944. and
| was torpedoed in ' ibic Bay.
j The American government has
leceivcd from the government of
| Japan the names of some 1,600
men aboard the vessel Of these,
942 were killed outright, 59 died
later.
;erve as assistant to the Most
1 Rev. Eugene Neytu, at that time
] Apostolic Administrator at Mos
cow His assignment to Moscow
i came shortly after the Unite;)
j States had officially recognized
the Soviet Union and the signing
of Ihe Roosevelt-Litvinev pact
guaranteeing religious freedom to
American nationals residing in
Russia.