A Catholic military chaplain
Chaplain Pierson
Pierson has spent the day among amputees and dying soldiers when he sits beside the Captain. The wounded officer wants to know where God has been. The chaplain stays to hear him out.
Faith & presence
In the novel
Pierson enters the ward in a worn greatcoat, carrying his hat. He has attended amputations, administered last rites, and performed a baptism in a washbasin. The Captain tries to dismiss him. Pierson asks permission to sit, admitting that he has had a long day among men who insist they need no help.
The Captain accuses the Church of failing to oppose Hitler and speaks bitterly about the men he has lost. Pierson listens. He has memories of his own, including civilians killed when a village was shelled using incorrect maps. He keeps an account of that incident close to him and questions the comfort a man might take in his uniform.
In Operation Mercy Torch, he works beside Sabina and the Captain, ministering to people whose needs are immediate. He objects when Lindley wants ammunition stored in a church occupied by the wounded. He prays, serves food, and speaks to officers who would prefer that he confine himself to his congregation.
World War II and the Holocaust
The historical context
The four chaplains aboard the Dorchester
Four U.S. Army chaplains served aboard the Dorchester when it was torpedoed in February 1943: Rabbi Alexander Goode, Father John Washington, and Protestant ministers George Fox and Clark Poling. They helped the wounded, guided frightened men toward safety, and distributed life jackets. When the supply ran out, they gave away their own. Their service required them to attend to anyone they could reach during the evacuation.
Chaplains helping survivors find their families
Jewish Army chaplains carried survivors’ messages and requests during the early months after liberation. Abraham Klausner later described a tracing effort in Munich, where survivors searched published lists for relatives’ names. Those who found no name left messages on a wall, saying where they had been and where they could be found. Klausner and his colleagues also helped search for children who had been entrusted to others during the persecution.
USHMM: Displaced Persons—Administration ↗ · USHMM oral history: Abraham Klausner on reuniting survivors ↗
Sources
Read the novel
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