KNIGHTS in ACTION of the Armed Forces

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MILITARY Vol. 4, Issue 7, July 2009 Reports from K of C units providing aid to members KNIGHTS IN ACTION of the armed forces

Faithful Navigator Paul Pinkman (left) of Msgr. Peter B. O’Connor Assembly in North Arlington, N.J., helps Angelo Andriani and Eddie Fernandez of Mary Immaculate Council 12769 in Secaucus unload donated clothing for area shelters and veterans homes. With help from the Secaucus Police Department, Knights collected hundreds of items for veterans and the homeless.

Msgr. P. J. Carey Council 1605 in Pascagoula, Miss., donated rosaries and prayer cards to the USS Makin Island, which is in the final stages of construction at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. Pictured (l to r) are: Religion Program Specialist 3rd Class Jason Cooper, Religion Program Specialist 1st Class Roderick Chase, Deacon Members of Bishop John J. Kaising Council 14223 at Candidate Mike Gilly, Cmdr. David Tubley, command chaplain, and Lt. Cmdr. Rean Enriquez, Catholic chaplain. the U.S. Army Base Camp Humphreys near Osan, South Korea, stand together following a Third Military Confirmation A Brief History of Flag Day Degree Exemplification. A degree team from Guam, Rev. Dan MacDonald Assembly in Knights and Squires in the United States led by Immediate Past State Deputy Joseph J. A. Trenton, Ont., provided an honor guard traditionally host flag retirement cere- Yatar, traveled to South Korea to conduct the for Bishop Donald Thériault of the monies on Flag Day, June 14. Across the degree. Candidates, the degree team and existing Diocese for the Military Services, Canada, country, K of C units ensure that worn, Knights also participated in a retreat before the when he celebrated a confirmation Mass torn or soiled U.S. flags are discarded exemplification. at Canadian Forces Base Trenton. properly, usually in a pyre. Flag Day serves as the anniversary of Military T-Shirt Available! Education in Afghanistan the official adoption of the American flag At the request of Maj. Jeff Camp, a three- by the Continental Congress in 1777. time veteran of the war in the Middle East, The annual celebration of the U.S. flag is Queen of Angels Council 12154 in believed to have been introduced by St. John, Ill., collected school supplies for Bernard Cigrand, a Wisconsin school- children in Afghanistan. Knights engaged teacher, in 1885 as “Flag Birthday.” Over the entire parish community to collect the next several years, Cigrand advocated writing implements, notebooks and other the observance of Flag Day in numerous supplies, as well as $700 in cash donations. speeches and magazine articles. Flag Day celebrations gained in popu- Supporting Veterans Homes larity throughout the late 1800s. President Msgr. Peter B. O’Connor Assembly in Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first Designed with our military members in North Arlington, N.J., and its ladies’ aux- nationwide Flag Day in 1916 and mind, our 100% cotton, sand color t-shirt is iliary purchased six flat-screen televisions President Harry S. Truman signed legisla- printed with the emblem of the Order and for the Veterans Memorial Home in tion inaugurating National Flag Day in “Knights of Columbus” in military stencil Paramus. Meanwhile, members of St. Paul 1947. Although Flag Day is informally lettering on the left chest. Available in: Small Assembly in Portsmouth, Va., collected observed throughout the United States, it (PG-494), Medium (PG-495), Large (PG-496), more than 600 pounds of care items for a is a legal holiday only in Pennsylvania. XL (PG-497), and XXL (PG-498). $8.50. veterans nursing home in Hampton. The items, which included sweatshirts, hats Source: MSN Encarta Encyclopedia To order, fax a completed requisition (form and toiletries, were valued at approxi- #1) to 1-800-266-6340. For more information mately $1,600. See page 3 for Memorial Day coverage. about ordering, e-mail [email protected]. MILITARY KNIGHTS IN ACTION Feature Article For Better or For War Faith, love and technology help couple ease the pain of separation D

Editor’s Note: This article originally ap- O N B peared in the April 30 issue of The Dialog L A K E /

(Diocese of Wilmington, Del.) and has T H E been reprinted here with permission. D I A L O G ach night before by Gary Morton, they go to bed, The Dialog E John and Karen Dill read the same chapter from a devotion- al book about Mary. John, 56, reads it in his room at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq; Karen, 51, reads it in their Millsboro, Del., home, 6,000 miles away and seven hours behind the time zone in Iraq. This nightly ritual is one way the couple is coping with John’s yearlong assignment in Iraq as a chief warrant officer with the 261st Signal Brigade of the Delaware National Guard. They also converse through a webcam connection twice a week (the sessions begin at 4 a.m. for John and 9 p.m. the previous day for Karen), send e-mail messages, speak by telephone and exchange letters by regular mail. Underlying all their efforts, they say, are their faith and their love for one another. “Our Catholic faith, our belief in the Karen Dill speaks to her husband, John, via webcam. John is approximately halfway throughout his tour in Lord, has strengthened our marriage,” John Iraq with the Delaware National Guard, and the couple uses their cameras to communicate each week. said in an interview via webcam. “I believe that if you put God first, your marriage sec- keep your faith. I believe that if you live after they met at Holy Cross Church in ond, it will all work together as one.” your faith, faith will take care of you.” Dover, where the Dills are parishioners. Karen came up with the idea of reading John visits members of his unit to make “He gave me his cross,” John recalled. from the same book each night. “It made me sure they and their loved ones back home “Then he gave me a picture of him to take feel like I was in church with him,” she said, are OK. The visits are “my way of commu- with me. He said, ‘I will see you when you a feeling she realized was important the first nicating my faith,” he said. get back.’” Sunday after John left in October 2008. That faith is a big part of his life at In Delaware, Karen views her separa- Before John deployed, the couple hadn’t Camp Victory. John says he tries to start tion from John in light of other rough times been apart for longer than three weeks each day with some spiritual reading and a the couple has faced. “This whole deploy- since they met through a dating service in prayer. He attends Mass several times a ment is just another chapter in our lives. 1993 and married 15 months later. The week and prays the rosary. He even spon- John and I have grown to learn that we Dills owned and operated a TCBY frozen sored a lieutenant sergeant who joined the can’t get through anything unless we get yogurt franchise in Dover between 2001, Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil Mass. together on how we think.” when John retired as a field supervisor with He is also a member of the Knights of Her breast cancer formed their first VIA, a communications company, and Columbus St. Thomas the Apostle Round challenge. She says the illness strengthened 2005, when he went on active duty. Table, which is sponsored by St. Paul her faith in ways that help her today, when They have worked through other chal- Council 11634 in Colorado Springs, Colo. John is far away. lenges before. Soon after they started dat- Back home, John is a Fourth Degree mem- For a long time, she said, “I felt I was ing, Karen was diagnosed with breast can- ber of Dover Council 4182. being punished and couldn’t understand cer. After they married, they worked to what I had done wrong.... At church one blend themselves and their six now-grown ‘THE GOOD LORD’S IN CHARGE’ day I looked at the statue of Mary and I children from previous marriages into a Next to his Bible and meditation books, finally got it.” Mary, she realized, had new family. John’s nightstand holds an American flag, a done nothing wrong but still had to suffer At Camp Victory, where the 261st helps medal of St. Michael the Archangel, a pic- through the crucifixion of her son. She provide communications for U.S. Army ture of Bishop William F. Malooly of and John came to realize they do not con- operations in Iraq, John is known as “mon- Wilmington and a small crucifix that the trol their lives, she said. “The good Lord’s signor” because of his frequent e-mail mes- bishop gave John before his deployment. in charge.” sages to fellow Catholics. “I try to get the Bishop Malooly surprised John with the word out to them on how important it is to crucifix (a gift from Pope Benedict XVI) Continued on next page LLL D O

PREPARING TO SEPARATE N B L

Before John’s departure, the couple discussed A K E / how they would cope while he was away. T H E

“We went to a marriage counselor and D I A L O

we talked over some ways that we were G going to communicate and how we were going to try to work problems out,” John said. “I made sure that I had everything all lined up as far as our wills and contact numbers….” Such preparation is vital, said Col. Will G. Barnes, joint force headquarters chaplain for the Delaware National Guard. Barnes, a Church of God minister, has known the Dills for most of their married life. The Dills “are a great couple to emu- late” in terms of faith and communication, he said. Even with their preparation, John’s absence proved tougher than anticipated. Karen said she cried a lot the week before John’s deployment. The day the troops left, she was all cried out. “That’s when I had to put God in charge.” The Dills had their first webcam communication about a month after John left. “I bawled my eyes out,” Karen said. “I didn’t expect that. I thought he was going to get on and I was going to get on and say ‘hi.’ He couldn’t hide his vulnerability. That was hard on me. Then I could see him feeling helpless, watching me bawl, but some- how it turned out right.” Now halfway through John’s [Above] Karen and John have been reading the same Marian devotion book each night tour, the couple has settled into a since John has been in Iraq. John also attends Mass, prays the rosary and belongs to routine. The webcams help, John said. the Knights of Columbus Round Table at Camp Victory, Iraq. [Left] John’s headshot “Seeing her personally, making sure she from the Delaware National Guard. looks OK and is not stressed out, and then being able to see the kids once in a while, makes it a bit easier.” ORDER COMMEMORATES MEMORIAL DAY Neither wants to relive the separation they felt last October, so John opted to save his 15 days of leave for when his deploy- ith military Knights ment ends this fall. The couple plans to use Wserving all around the that time to “renew our bonds and our love world, Knights and Squires in for each other,” John said. the United States took time Both they and the military services know the Dills will need that time — and May 25 to remember those more — to readjust to life after military who have died in service to service. “Going to war is hard, but coming their country and who con- back is doubly hard,” said Chaplain tinue to sacrifice every day. Barnes. “They tell us that for every month From coast to coast, K of C in a war [zone] it takes two months to adjust back here.” councils placed flags on vet- John relies on his faith to meet the chal- eran gravesites, hosted lenges ahead. “I believe that being away memorial services at area from my family and putting God first again cemeteries, marched in in my life will only make me stronger in Memorial Day parades and my family and in my faith.” I generally exemplified the

Gary Morton is a reporter with The Dialog, the offi- fourth virtue of the Order: cial newspaper of the Diocese of Wilmington, Del. patriotism. Brian Anderson and Colin Prezzama of St. Dominic Savio He is a member of Holy Angels Council 12104 in Newark, Del. Circle 5078 in Parrish, Fla., place a U.S. flag on a veteran’s grave before Memorial Day.