As Veterans Day approaches, it seems appropriate to acknowledge the service of our priests in the Second World War. Some were in combat roles and others in support, but all willingly gave of themselves in a noble cause that would be a portent of things to come in a vocation that also required self-sacrifice.
Such men as Elmer Robnett, Wade Darnall and Joseph Kolb were on the ground and saw extensive combat. Father Robnett was in the Pacific Theater and was a paratrooper in the battle to retake the Philippines. Remarkably, he was afraid of heights! After seeing the agony of hungry and homeless children that he witnessed in this campaign, he was inspired to become a priest. This was also the impetus behind his now legendary assistance to refugees from Vietnam in which he helped 6,000 people while a pastor in Lawton.
Father Wade Darnall was also in the Pacific as an artillery officer in New Guinea and later in the Philippines. A colorful character, he had a special place in his heart for Hispanic migrant workers in western Oklahoma during the late 1960s and 70s. While in the war, Father Darnall prayed the first decade of the rosary before every firing mission for the safety of the troops. The second decade was for the Japanese soldiers hit by the shells. He was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery.
Joe Kolb fought with the 103rd Infantry Division and became embroiled in the fighting after the Battle of the Bulge as radioman. Stringing wires across an active battlefield is a precarious and frightening exercise and casualties were the norm. Father Joe escaped without a scratch. Like Father Darnall, he also was given the Bronze Star.
Father Kolb served the archdiocese well and had a lengthy career of ministering to the poor and taking trucks of supplies to Guatemala. He was known as well for being only the third priest to own and fly an airplane.
Besides the ground pounders, Joseph Burger was a crew member on the USS President Polk, designed for troop transportation. Father Burger’s ship was involved with the Tarawa invasion, a two-mile-long atoll that became a costly and bloody battle. He came to admire the Maryknoll missionaries who served the people on the atoll. Father Burger was an effective priest, and built the current church in Guymon.
From the air, Joseph Mazaika flew 35 missions in a B-17 as a radio operator. Battle damage did occur, but he beat the odds to fulfill his mission quota. He was the recipient of the Air Medal and six oak leaf clusters.
Of those who were in the various branches of the military but were non-combatants, John “Tex” Scheller was in the Army Air Force with the 15th Air Force in Bari, Italy. Father Tex had a deep to devotion to Saint Padre Pio as the holy man heard his confession while he was assigned in Italy.
Louis Lamb was training to be a tail gunner on a B-29 bound for the Pacific when the war ended. He often told the story of being 45 miles from the detonation of the experimental atomic bomb, Trinity, in New Mexico. Father Lamb is best remembered for being the pastor of Saint Joseph Old Cathedral when the Murrah building was bombed and was a pillar of strength during the aftermath.
There were others of course others such as John Steichen who landed on Omaha Beach after the invasion, Joseph Howell became an aircraft carrier qualified pilot, but spent the war training other pilots; and Fathers Paul Mollan and William Ross entered the Navy in 1945 as the war was ending.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather meant to give a glimpse of the courage, patriotism and the willingness to give of self that would be the hallmark of their careers as priests. Forged in the crucible of war, they sought to help create a better world by doing their best to alleviate the pain of those less fortunate than themselves.