Fr. Aloysius H. Schmitt - Iowa Boy, American Hero

The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep - John 10:11

At 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time on 7 December 1941 Japan launched an attack on Pearl Harbor. What many people don't know is that the 1st chaplain to be killed in World War II died in that attack. Nor do they know the story of Father Aloysius H. Schmitt, from St. Lucas, IA who was that chaplain. I will admit that I don't remember hearing anything about him growing up in Oelwein, even though St. Lucas is in the same county. I really didn't learn about Fr. Schmitt until I came to Loras & saw the display of his effects in the entry way of Christ the King Chapel.

Fr Schmitt has basicly been forgotten except for Chaplain Schmitt Island here & DBQ as well as Christ the King Chapel which has the display because the chapel was built in WW II & dedicated to his memory since he was a Loras alumni. The only other thing is a 30 minute video made by some Loras students a few years ago for the archdiocese of DBQ (For God and Country) that occasionally gets some air play on EWTN. So it was with great joy that I saw a post on Cavey's blog about him (Story Of A Hero). What inspired him to put up the story was a bit about the history of St Francis Xavier Chapel @ Camp Lejeune that he came across. Camp Lejeune's Roman Catholic Chapel was first dedicated as St. Aloysius on 6 December 1942 in memory of Father Aloysius Schmitt.. It was rededicated as St. Francis Xavier Chapel on 27 January 1943.

I would like to take off from there & do my part to add my efforts to make his story made more aware of it. But before I do, I have to add 1 thing. As I have been thinking about Fr. Schmitt & what I know, I still do not understand why no one has made an effort to even begin looking into openning his cause for sainthood. After you read his story, hopefully you will understand better why I feel that way. (This story is taken from the post I told you about, the Wikipedia entry & what is on the DVD, as well as my own knowledge.)

Fr. Schmitt was born on 4 December 1909 in St. Lucas, IA, a small farm community near the Northern border of Fayette County. He came to Loras for his undergraduate studies. After graduation he was sent by the Archdiocese of DBQ to study for the priesthood in Rome. He was ordained on 8 December 1935. In 1939 he was given permission by Archbishop Francis J.L. Beckman* to enlist in the Navy as a chaplain. He was appointed Acting Chaplain with rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade (LTJG) on 28 June 1939. He was serving his first tour of duty at sea onboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He had just finished saying Mass when the call went out for "general quarters". As the assault on the Navy’s fleet raged, Chaplain Schmitt went to the ship’s sick bay to minister to the injured and dying.

When the Oklahoma was struck and water poured into her hold, the ship began to list and roll over. Many men were trapped. Schmitt found his way - with other crew members - to a compartment where only a small porthole provided enough space to escape . Chaplain Schmitt helped other men, one by one, to crawl to safety. When it became his turn, the chaplain tried to get through the small opening. As he struggled to exit through the porthole, he became aware that others had come into the compartment from which he was trying to escape. As he realized that the water was rising rapidly and that escape would soon be impossible, he insisted on being pushed back through the hole so that he could help others who could get through the opening more easily. Accounts from eyewitnesses that have been published in the Arizona Memorial newsletter relate that the men protested, saying that he would never get out alive, but he insisted, “Please let go of me, and may God bless you all.” In all he helped 12 men to escape before he died.

Within 20 minutes after the first torpedo hit, the USS Oklahoma rolled over and settled into the mud in the harbor. Fr. Schmitt was 1 of the 448 crew members who died with the ship. He was the first chaplain of any faith to have died in WW II. He is believed to be buried at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) in Hawai’i, in a grave with about 400 other unidentified bodies recovered from the Oklahoma. His name is engraved there in the Courts of the Missing. He was honored posthumously by the U.S. government when it awarded him the Navy and Marine Corps Medal on 23 October 1942 for “distinguished heroism and sublime devotion to his fellow man.” He also received the Purple Heart. You can see those medals in the picture below.

As I mentioned earlier, Christ the King Chapel which was built shortly after WW II (1946-47) was dedicated in his honor. On 26 October 1947, His Eminence Samuel Cardinal Stritch, then Archbishop of Chicago, dedicated the chapel to Christ The King as a lasting memorial to the Rev. Aloysius Schmitt & to other priests of the archdiocese who acted as chaplains in two wars & to all the men and women of the archdiocese who served their country. In the entryway there is a display of many of his personal items. It includes his breviary as well as the chalice he had used that morning in celebrating Mass. The chalice was damaged in the attack.

He is memorialized on a plaque at the USS Arizona Memorial Visitors Center. The inscription on it reads, “Dedicated to the glory of God and the memory of Capt. Thomas L. Kirkpatrick, CHC, USN, Chaplain, USS Arizona; Lt. Aloysius H. Schmidt, CHC, USN, Chaplain, USS Oklahoma; who gave their lives in the service of their country, 7 December 1941.”

The USS Schmitt (DE-676/APD-76), a Buckley-class destroyer escort was built in 1943. It was laid down on 22 February 1943 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company of Quincy, Massachusetts; It was launched on 29 May 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Buchheit. It was commissioned on 24 July 1943, under the command of Lieutenant Commander T. D. Cunningham. It served as a convoy & training ship in the Atlantic. The ship was converted to a Charles Lawrence-class high speed transport in 1945. It spent the rest of the war in the Pacific including a stop at Pearl Harbor on 16 May. After the was the Schmitt mostly conducted peacetime training & upkeep along the Atlantic Coast. On 16 April 1949 she was decommissioned & placed in reserve at Charlotte, SC. The Schmitt was struck from the Navy List on 1 May 1967 & transferred in February to Taiwan as ROCS Lung Shan (PF-44). Sadly, she was scrapped in 1976.

As I also mentioned, Chaplain Schmitt Island on the Mississippi River here in DBQ was also named after him.

But perhaps the greatest honor is the fact that his willingness to lay down his life inspired many other priests to enlist as chaplains. The video I mentioned is also used as an aide to inspire young men to consider the priesthood.

The Loras College motto is "Pro Deo et Patria" (For God & Country). If there was ever a Loras graduate who truly exemplifies how to live it out, it is Fr. Schmitt. As I pointed out, the attack occured right after he finished celebrating Mass that morning. For Fr. Schmitt, everything he did during that attack was simply living out what his Lord & Savior Jesus called him to do. A priest is an alter Christus as a result of his ordination. & just like Jesus, he was willing to lay down his live out of love for his fellow man. His actions during the attack were a natural extention of his actions during Mass. I pray that someday his cause will be openned up & that, God willing, he will 1 day be raised up to the honor of the altar.

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Catholic Tradition has a webpage (For God and Country) in his honor. Loras will have a Mass in his honor today at 5:30 pm in Christ the King Chapel.

* As an aside, I find this interesting since before WW II Archbishop Beckman adopted a pacifist stance. I suspect that he understood that those men serving in the Navy still needed the services of a Catholic priest & it was only right to allow Fr. Schmitt to meet their spiritual needs. Another connection between Fr. Schmitt & me is the fact that the residence hall I lived in as a student was named after Bishop Beckman.