December 18, 2015

Christmas Memories

Husband’s Christmas at sea remembered in book about chaplain

By Marchella Smith

This was taken from the book Our Padre about the chaplain Father Kilian Dreiling, who was with the 92nd Evac Hospital Unit during World War II. My husband Joseph T. Smith was in the same unit.

“On Dec. 24th, they boarded the Liberty Ship ‘Charles Goodnight.’ Christmas 1944 was spent in the Aitape Harbor, awaiting assembly of the convoy, which would take them to the island of Luzon P.I.

“It was probably the gloomiest Christmas any of them had ever experienced.

“Ahead lay a long sea voyage, an unpleasant experience that by now had become all too familiar. Father Killian held Christmas Mass aboard the ship. By now, they were all veterans and had become a close-knit group.

“The members of the 92nd had no idea what was in store for them as they set out once more for the vast Pacific, their exact destination unknown.

“The ‘Charles Goodnight’ would sail with a large convoy consisting of some 46 Liberty Ships, 46 L.S.T.’s and assorted naval escort vessels. What happened next would forever be recorded as a new and terrifying different phase of the Pacific War, and the 92nd and Father Kilian Dreiling would be right in the middle of it.”
 

(Marchella Smith is a member of Holy Spirit Parish in Indianapolis.) †

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