Priests in Uniform

PRIESTS IN UNIFORM

DIOCESAN MILITARY CHAPLAINS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR

As the nation commemorates the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Fr Nicholas Hird and Dr James Hagerty remind us that in the conflict over 900 Catholic priests served as chaplains to the armed forces. Some of our diocesan priests were among them.

PRIESTS IN UNIFORM

DIOCESAN MILITARY CHAPLAINS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR

In 1939, the Diocese of Leeds, which then included parts of the Middlesbrough and Hallam Dioceses, had 237 priests excluding those from religious orders. Bishops informally agreed that only priests ordained for at least five years would be allowed to become chaplains but Bishop Poskitt of Leeds did not always adhere to this agreement.

Some priests of regular orders who also served as chaplains were either born in the diocese, had served in the diocese, or were serving in the diocese during the war. After the war, a number of European priests settled in the diocese in order to serve displaced Polish, Lithuanian and German Catholic communities. They had lived out their wartime ministry in dangerous circumstances and desperate conditions. Some had served as chaplains in concentration camps, some as conscripted chaplains, while others were conscripted combatants.

Priests who served as chaplains with British forces from 1939 to 1945 followed in the brave and honourable tradition of those who had ministered in the Crimean War, the Boer War and the First World War. They came from British, Irish and overseas dioceses. Many were from religious orders. Some were parish priests, some were teachers; some were recently ordained while others had been either chaplains or combatants in the Great War of 1914-1918. Padres as they were called, served all branches of the armed forces in all theatres of war. Many were decorated for bravery. Many were wounded; some lost their lives and were buried alongside those they served.

Chaplains to the Royal Navy had the post-nominal ‘RN’; army chaplains - chaplains to the forces - had the post-nominal ‘CF’ and were members of the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department (RAChD); Royal Air Force chaplains had the post-nominal ‘RAF’.

Fr Rudesind Brookes OSB celebrates Requiem Mass after the Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy

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THE CHAPLAINS

Fr Bernard Benson CF was a curate at St. Patrick’s, Sheffield, when he joined the RAChD on 16 October 1941. He served in North Africa, Sicily and Italy and was with 1st British Airborne Division which landed in Holland as part of Operation Market Garden in September 1944. With British and Polish chaplains, Fr Benson ministered among fierce fighting. He died of wounds at Arnhem on 27 September 1944.

Fr Bernard Benson

Fr Richard Catterall CF was born in Wakefield in 1913 and was ordained on 6 June 1937. He was a curate at St. Joseph’s, Handsworth, Sheffield, when he was commissioned into the RAChD in 1941. He served in the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean and was demobilized in 1946. From 1946 until 1950, Fr Catterall was on loan to a German diocese.

Fr Richard Catterall

Fr John Cairns CF was ordained by Bishop Poskitt in 1940. His first appointment was as a curate at St. Bede’s Rotherham. He was commissioned into the RAChD on 12 October 1943. He served in Greece and the Middle East and remained in the regular army after the war. He served in Singapore, Malaya and Gibraltar and was demobilised on 12 October 1954.

Fr John Connelly CF was curate at St. William’s, Bradford, when he was commissioned into the RAChD in May 1940. His army service was spent mainly in the Middle East ministering to multi-national Allied forces. Following a tedious sea voyage to the Middle East and his time in the desert, his two hates were sea and sand. Fr Connelly was demobilized in December 1946.

Fr John Connelly

Fr Owen Evans CF was born in 1913 and studied at Mount Melleray, Leeds Seminary, and Ushaw College. He was ordained in 1940 and appointed as a curate at St. Patrick’s, Bradford. Fr Evans was commissioned into the RAChD on 3 November 1943 and was with the British Liberation Army as it entered Germany in 1945. He was demobilized in December 1946.

Fr Owen Evans

Fr Matthew Malone CF was born in Dublin in 1917 and was ordained on 22 June, 1941. For three years he was curate at the Holy Rosary, Leeds, but on 14 June 1944 he became Chaplain to the Forces and served with the Fourteenth Army in Burma and the Far East. He remained an army chaplain until 1955.

Fr Matthew Malone

Fr Gerard Palframan CF was ordained in 1935 and was a curate at St. Marie’s, Sheffield, when war broke out in September 1939. He was commissioned into the RAChD on 9 October 1939 and was with the British Expeditionary Force when it was evacuated from Dunkirk in May 1940. He served in North Africa and in Italy and was demobilized in November 1945.

Fr Gerard Palframan

Fr Austin Roddy CF was ordained in 1939 and was a curate at St. Patrick’s, Bradford, when he became an army chaplain on 19 July 1944. Fr Roddy served in Italy where, towards the end of hostilities, he was seriously wounded. Fr Roddy remained in the army after the war and was demobilized in 1949.

Fr Austin Roddy

Fr Francis Sole CF was born in 1901and ordained in 1929 and in 1939 was curate at St. Patrick’s, Bradford. He was commissioned into the RAChD on 1 November 1939. After service with commands in the United Kingdom, Fr Sole served in the Middle East from 1943. He returned to Bulford Camp in 1945 and was demobilized in 1946.

Fr Francis Sole

Fr Joseph Telford CF was ordained at St. Anne’s Cathedral, Leeds, on 31 March 1940 and was appointed curate at St. Joseph’s, Pontefract. Commissioned into the RAChD in October 1943, he served until June 1947. Fr Telford was chaplain in Burma and celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving in Bangkok Cathedral for Allied prisoners released from Japanese POW camps.

Fr Joseph Telford

Fr Michael Thorp CF was one of the earliest priests to become a temporary army chaplain when he was commissioned on 3 September 1939. He had been a priest for ten years and was serving as a curate at St. Anne’s Cathedral, Leeds. After ministering in the Middle East and other theatres of war, Fr Thorp was demobilized on 4 December 1945.

Fr Michael Thorp

Fr Philip Wallis CF was ordained in 1934 and was a curate at St. Patrick’s, Leeds, when war was declared in September 1939. He became an army chaplain on 16 May 1940 and served for most of the war in the Middle East. He was demobilized in October 1945.

Fr Philip Wallis

Fr Edward Ward CF was ordained in 1928. He was at the Holy Rosary Church, Leeds, when he was commissioned into the RAChD on 16 May 1940. Fr Ward spent the next 14 years as an army chaplain serving with the Guards Division in Southern Command and with 11th Infantry Division in North Africa and Italy. He remained in the army and served in UK Commands.

Fr Edward Ward

Fr Edward Wilcock, RAF, was ordained in 1935 and was at St. Theresa’s, Woodlands, Doncaster, before joining the RAF on 19 November 1941. He was appointed Principal of the RAF Catholic Leadership School in Rome and other postings included Malta, North Africa and Jerusalem. He became Senior Catholic RAF Chaplain in the Levant and left the RAF in 1947.

Fr Edward Wilcock

Fr John Brannigan OMI CF was born in Belfast and before an appointment at Corpus Christi, Leeds, had served at OMI houses London, Liverpool and Leith. He was commissioned into the RAChD on 9 December 1942 and served until 30 July 1946.

Fr Edward Conran CM CF had served with the Vincentian community at St Vincent’s, Sheffield, before the war. He was commissioned into the RAChD on 11 November 1941 and served on United Kingdom commands before embarking with 34 Tank Brigade to North Western Europe in September 1944. He relinquished his commission on 22 March 1946.

Fr Edward Conran CM

Fr Robert Cormican OMI CF was born in Belfast in 1896. He was ordained in 1925 and in 1937 he was transferred to the Oblate parish of Mount St. Mary’s, Richmond Hill, Leeds, where was he based at the outbreak of war. He was commissioned into the RAChD on 18 February 1941, served with the Royal Norfolk Regiment, and was demobilized on 7 August 1945.

Fr Michael Devlin CM CF was attached to the Vincentian community in Sheffield in September 1939. He was commissioned into the RAChD on and 6 December 1939 and was sent to Northern Ireland, returning to England in October 1942. He served in Palestine from 1944 to1947 and then served on Home Commands until he left the army on 29 January 1951.

Fr Henry Dominic Drumm CP CF attended St Bede’s Grammar School, Bradford. He entered the Passionist Order and was ordained in 1933. He was commissioned into the RAChD on 12 February 1940 and was attached to 34 Casualty Clearing Station with the British Liberation Army as it entered Germany in 1945. Fr Drumm left the army on 4 October 1945.

Fr Joseph Dryzalowski was born in Poland in 1908. He entered the Salesian Order and was ordained in Krakow in 1938. In 1940, when the Germans and Russian invaded Poland he was compelled to leave his homeland. He worked as a chaplain and teacher in military camps in Italy. In 1946 he moved to England and ministered to a Polish military camp near Barnsley.

Fr Guenther Dumont was born in 1916 near Saarbrucken. He was ordained on 28 July 1940 but was conscripted into the Wehrmacht as an infantryman. He became a prisoner-of-war in 1944 and after the war he served as chaplain to a displaced persons camp. In 1950 he came to Bradford as chaplain to German speaking Catholics in the North of England and Scotland.

Fr Robert Ellison MHM CF was born in Bradford and attended St Bede’s Grammar School before joining the St Joseph’s Missionary Society. He was commissioned into the RAChD on 23 December 1940 but was compelled to resign on medical grounds on 14 April 1942.

Fr Robert Ellison MHM

Fr Basil FitzGibbon SJ CF was born in Leeds in 1896, admitted to the Society of Jesus in 1913, and ordained in 1928. He was commissioned into the RAChD on 4 September 1939 and was with a Royal Artillery unit during the Dunkirk evacuation of May 1940. He was deployed in India and Burma. Fr FitzGibbon was demobilized on 26 July 1945

Fr Basil FitzGibbon SJ

Fr Bernard Gaffney WF CF was from Rawdon and was ordained as a White Father in Carthage in 1931. At the outbreak of war, he was serving in England. He became an army chaplain in October 1939 and ministered to troops in Iceland in 1942 and North Africa in 1943. Fr Gaffney left the army in 1943 to take up senior responsibilities for his community in Britain.

Fr Bernard Gaffney WF

Fr Tadeusz Gaik was born in Poland in 1915 and was ordained on the eve of the Second World War. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps. After his release, he ministered to Polish troops in Italy and England and in 1948 was appointed Polish chaplain in the Halifax area.

Fr Vincent Gallagher SJ CF was born in Leeds in 1898, admitted to the Society of Jesus in 1919, and ordained in 1932. He was commissioned into the RAChD in January 1940 and deployed with the British Expeditionary Force in France. He was taken prisoner at Calais and spent the war in a German prisoner of war camp. He was demobilized in June 1945 .

Fr Vincent Gallagher SJ

Fr Leonard Kennedy SJ RAF, of the Irish Jesuit Province, gave his address as Our Lady of Lourdes, Leeds, when he joined the RAF in September 1941. Born in South Africa, he was admitted to the Society of Jesus in 1930 and was ordained in 1935. Fr Kennedy served in the Middle East and was demobilized in October 1946.

Fr Leonard Kennedy SJ

Fr Dermot Mills SJ RAF was born in Leeds in 1905, admitted to the Society of Jesus in 1923, and ordained in September 1939. He joined the RAF in March 1941 and served as a chaplain in North Africa and Italy and was demobilized in October 1947.

Fr Dermot Mills SJ

Fr Edmund O’Neill SJ RAF was born in Huddersfield in 1905, admitted to the Society of Jesus in 1921, and ordained in September 1934. Fr O’Neill joined the RAF in October 1940 and served at RAF Lossiemouth. He was demobilized in December 1946.

Fr Edmund O’Neill SJ

Fr Francis Xavier Singleton, USAF, served at St. Patrick’s, Huddersfield, from 1931 to 1933. Ordained for the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno, he was given permission to work in Europe. He joined the US Air Force in 1942 and served with 9th USAF in Europe and Africa. He became Staff Chaplain to 4th USAF and was awarded the Bronze Star for Meritorious Services.

Fr Francis Xavier Singleton

Fr Geoffrey Sparrowe SJ RAF entered the Society of Jesus in 1926 and was ordained in 1937. He taught at St. Michael’s College, Leeds, before becoming a Royal Air Force chaplain on 27 July 1940. In 1942 he was at RAF Credenhill, Hereford, but by 1943 he was ministering in Algeria and Tunisia. He later served in the Italian campaign and was demobilized in 1956.

Fr Geoffrey Sparrowe SJ

Fr Robert Woods CF, ordained in 1939 for the Archdiocese of Glasgow, became a commando chaplain in August 1944. He remained in the army until 1965 and served with UN forces in the Korean War, with the British Army of Occupation on the Rhine, and with Far East Land Forces in Hong Kong. Fr Woods retired to Keighley in 1974 and assisted at Our Lady of Victories.

******************* Acknowledgements

Images of Frs Basil FitzGibbon, Leonard Kennedy, Dermot Mills, Edmund O’Neill, and Geoffrey Sparrowe are reproduced by courtesy of Archivum Britanicum Societatis Iesu. Dick Moreland for his technical and artistic input.