Chaplain Schmitt Memorial_ Correspondence from W. Pregler
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Walter A. Pregler
2966 Shiras Ave.
Dubuque, la. 52001-8355
563-583-5855
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June 3, 2005
Hon. Mayor & City Council
City Hall
Dubuque, la.
Dear Friends:
Enclosed please find a letter from a year ago, and, a small biographical
outline of the heroism of Chaplain Schmitt.
It makes sense to continue to develop the Yacht Basin as a
recreational business area. However, it leaves little room for the
dignity of a memorial to a man who willingly made the "supreme
sacrifice" in our nation's most dire moment.
I still suggest that the memorial and designation of Adm. Sheehy Drive
be relocated to a more dignified setting. A place where it will get the
proper maintenance, and respect.
Marshall Park & Arboretum would be the logical place, near the Viet
Ham Vets memorial.
Please give this your serious consideration.
L-
"
Walter A. Pregler
2966 Shiras Ave.
Dubuque, la. 52001-8355
563.583.5855
.June 11, 2004
Hon. Mayor & City Council
City Hall
Dubuque, Iowa
Dear Sirs & Mesdames:
While riding through our wonderful community, I decided to drive past the DRA and
the Yacht Basin.
To my great surprise, I found one of our precious edifices in great disorder, and
closed from public visitation. The Chaplin Schmitt Memorial.
I can stili recall the ceremony of dedication of the memorial. It was a nice sunny
aftemoon, Gordon Kilgore doing the master of ceremonies chores, members of the
City Council, myself Included, as well as several Pearl Harbor survivors. All of us
were swelled with pride to honor the memory of such a distinguished cleric.
In my mind, memories of Father A. A. HoHman, the most decorated Chaplin of World
War II, and Fr, Bill Menster, the South Pole Padre danced In my head. What a
contribution these clergymen made to the war effort. It gave the power of courage
to many of us.
Now that beautiful memorial lies, unapproachable, because of the expansion of the
Yacht Basin.
With the ease of developing the Grand Harbor with funds from various origins,
perhaps, Just perhaps you could plan to relocate the memorial to a more suitable
place In Dubuque. The arboretum would be a suggestion. It would dignify the legacy
of these fine men, as well as the legacy of Adm. Sheehy, an area priest who attained
the highest rank of any clergyman to date.
I am sure many of the local veterans organizations would be in agreement.
Many area residents are being denied access not only to the site Itself, but to the
knowledge that many from Dubuque, from all walks of life, rose to the occasion,
when duty called.
Sincerely;
21~a.~L~
Walter A. Pregler
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From: Frannie <reader@pcpartner.net>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2001 14:45:49 +0800
Subject: Heroism
Heroism Recalled: Iowa Chaplain Was First to Die at Pearl
Harbor
In the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fr. Aloysius H. Schmitt was among the first to die. He gave
his life to save others.
June 06, 2001 / Father Aloysius H. Schmitt, a 32-year-old Navy chaplain from Dubuque,
Iowa, had just finished celebrating the 6:15 a.m. Sunday Mass on Dec. 7,1941, on board
the USS Oklahoma, a battleship in port at Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese struck.
The first torpedo hit the massive ship forward on the port side. A second hit the center.
Torrents of water poured into the gaping holes caused by the explosions.
As the attack raged, Father Schmitt went to the ship's sick bay to minister to the wounded
and dying. But within minutes it became clear that the Oklahoma itself was mortally
stricken and the call was given to abandon ship.
The book "Trapped at Pearl Harbor, Escape from the Battleship Oklahoma," by Stephen
Bower Young, describes what happened next to the young chaplain.
"Trapped at his battle station on the second deck below when the ship went over, Father
Schmitt helped several sailors escape through a porthole to safety," it says. "When he in
turn tried to squeeze through, he was unable to do so, quite possibly because of the
breviary in his pocket.
"Then seeing that other sailors had entered the rapidly flooding compartment for a means
of escape, Chaplain Schmitt insisted that he be pushed back inside to assist them. True to
his commitments as a priest and a naval officer, he urged them on, helping them to safety
out of the porthole before water engulfed him there."
Jack Henkels, a Catholic park ranger at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor,
researched Father Schmitt's story during the 1990s. He wrote an article for the fall 1997
issue of the Arizona Memorial newsletter.
Henkels cited the account of two eyewitnesses in his story. "He told the men trying to pull
him out (to) let him back in," Henkels wrote. "They protested, saying that he would never
get out alive, but he insisted, 'Please let go of me, and may God bless you all. '"
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Another account by Pearl Harbor chaplain Jesuit Father Francis X. O'Connor, published in
the Oct. 5, 1944, issue of The Witness, newspaper of the Diocese of Dubuque, related the
story as told to him by the shipman who had tried to save Father Schmitt.
It said, "The sailor did not want to let him go but finally yielded to his demands. The
sailor hoped he was going in to clear his pocket but reports that Father seemed to think
that there were others in the compartment by now."
There were. After the priest helped them escape, the 35,000-ton ship gave a lurch, and less
than 20 minutes after the first torpedo hit, it rolled over and settled into the mud in the
harbor.
Two-thirds of the crew survived the attack; 448 men died.
Father Schmitt was the first U.S. Catholic chaplain to be killed in World War II. The next
day, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, would have been the sixth anniversary of his
ordination.
On Oct. 23, 1942, the Navy posthumously honored the chaplain with a Navy and Marine
Corps Medal for" distinguished heroism and sublime devotion to his fellow man. "
"His magnanimous courage and self sacrifice were in keeping with the highest traditions
of the United States Naval Service," the citation said. "He gallantly gave up his life for
his country."
In his book, Young questioned the appropriateness of the relatively minor honor: "One
can only wonder why the Navy did not see fit to grant Lt. Schmitt a much higher award,
for he gave his life so that others might live, the highest sacrifice an individual can make."
Father Schmitt is most likely buried at Punchbowl Cemetery in Hawaii, 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 also is memorialized on a plaque at the USS Arizona Memorial Visitors Center at Pearl
Harbor along with the only other chaplain who died in the Japanese attack, Presbyterian
Rev. Thomas L. Kirkpatrick of the USS Arizona.
A chapel was named after him at his alma mater, Loras College in Dubuque. Three years
after his death, the Navy presented the chapel with a crucifix made from wood from the
Oklahoma's teak deck, with the body of Christ cast from metal from the ship.
His chalice, bent in the attack, also was recovered from the ship and presented to the
college.
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