约翰P. 福利,年代.J., had already taken one momentous journey very early in his life: At just six weeks old, he had traveled with his Irish-born parents from Scotland to the United States, 定居在萨默维尔市, 质量.
在1942年春天，Fr. 福利—by then the 37-year-old dean of admissions and assistant dean of freshmen and sophomores at amjs澳金沙门—set out on another fateful journey, one that would last three years and take him through the conflagration and chaos of World War II as a U.S. 海军牧师. 一路走来，Fr. 福利 diligently recorded his observations and experiences in a notebook, documenting horrors and heroism alike while chronicling the life and times of the many young men he served, 安慰, and buried—many of them half his age.
Fr. 福利’s journal has now been developed into a public document, “为了上帝和国家: The War Diary of Lieutenant 约翰·P指挥官. 福利,年代.J.,” edited by retired BC senior administrator 约瑟夫·P. 达菲,年代.J.，和前者 amjs澳金沙门杂志 Editor Ben Birnbaum, who held several leadership positions at the University.
这些条目通常包括Fr. 福利’s notes on his schedule for the day (“0600-质量”; “1000-Protestant Church Service”; “1500-Rosary and Benediction”) as well as accounts of the day’s events, 有些很平凡, even given the circumstances (“I stay aboard this afternoon cleaning up a lot of odds and ends that were clamoring for attention”)—but many others marked by fierce combat with enemy ships and aircraft, 或受恶劣天气影响.
Fr. 福利 also relates encounters and conversations—from the casual to the in-depth—with various officers and enlisted men and gives often vivid descriptions of the places he and his comrades visited, such as the beautiful yet battle-ravaged Solomon Islands and the ruins of Tokyo, 还有他们在那里找到的人. Other entries are of a more personal nature, in which he reflects on larger questions 信仰的 and muses on the joys and sorrows of his job: helping an enlisted man sort out his complicated emotions about being in combat; giving last rites to soldiers for whom he had said 质量 earlier that same day; writing letters to families informing them of a loved one’s death.
“A rooster far away crows his tune with no echoing reply,” he writes during a stopover in New Zealand. “The summer wind is sighing in the pines. The whole scene breathes of peace and happiness. I can’t help thinking of the boys up north, pouring out the red sweet wine of their youth on Bougainville and those others who died in Tarawa recently.”
“通过Fr. 福利, you get a sense of the sacrifice these young men made, what they felt and experienced...You also see the important role of religion, 信仰的, 在士兵的生活中, what it meant to these young people who were facing death. And there with them is a amjs澳金沙门 Jesuit providing spiritual care at this critical time in their lives.”
这也是为什么Fr. 福利’s journal such a unique window onto World War II is its very existence: American officers and enlisted men were forbidden to keep diaries, for fear these might fall into enemy hands and provide useful intelligence. 但Fr. 福利 carried his notebook throughout his training at Chaplain’s School in Virginia and subsequent service in the North Africa and Pacific theaters of war, and brought it back with him when he returned to his post at BC. His secretaries transcribed and typed the entries, and the diary was preserved in the Society of Jesus New England Provincial Archive at the College of the Holy Cross, 在法文. 达菲—a devotee of 20th-century Jesuit history—came upon it.
“What struck me about the diary is that it realistically captures the on-the-ground reality of war,”他说。. 达菲. “通过Fr. 福利, you get a sense of the sacrifice these young men made, what they felt and experienced. That is something worth remembering, especially during this month of Veterans Day, and as we approach the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
“You also see the important role of religion, 信仰的, 在士兵的生活中, what it meant to these young people who were facing death. And there with them is a amjs澳金沙门 Jesuit providing spiritual care at this critical time of their lives. Fr. 福利’s great respect for all of them, whatever their religion, is very apparent.”
伯恩鲍姆曾与弗朗索瓦共事. 达菲 on his three previous digital publications of Jesuit history—housed in the 约瑟夫·P. 达菲数字作品集 at the Jesuit Archives and amjs澳金沙门 Center—said the insights into Fr. 福利 through his journal make for another compelling thread.
“He was trying to figure out what kind of a man he was, and how he could endure the terrible things that come with war. What becomes clear is that the soldiers didn’t look at him as somebody privileged by the fact of his being a Jesuit chaplain; they judged him as a peer, 作为他们中的一员. 这对他来说非常重要. 福利. He comes across as an astonishingly thoughtful, 有弹性的, 慷慨的人, someone who recognized the common humanity of others, 包括日本人.”
“为了上帝和国家,” which includes photographs and explanatory footnotes, 可以看作是下面的翻页书吗.
Sean Smith | University Communications | November 2021