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AUGUST UZ. '^45 THE l-’H ‘ ‘ TIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA TWENTY NINE Best Wishes STANDARD BAG COMPANY Augusta, Georgia GREAR’S FURNITURE, Inc. 1204-06 Broad Street Telephone 2-4142 Augusta, Georgia Best Wishes SOUTHERN COMMISSION COMPANY MANUFACTURERS WORK CLOTHING Augusta, Georgia Best Wishes Millinery 964 Broad Street Augusta, Georgia Best Wishes WOODWARD LUMBER COMPANY Mill Work Lumber Curtis Kitchen Cabinets Roofing and All Building Materials PHONE 2-4611 Roberts and Dugas Streets 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.