In the early morning hours of November 9, 1967, as American artillery and aircraft pounded an 875-meter-high hill near Dak To, Vietnam, Fr. Charles Watters offered Mass at its base. Many Protestants joined the Catholics for the well-attended service. Soon, the chaplain would accompany these paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade as … Read more
At 1:15 am, on June 6, 1944, most people in German-occupied Normandy were asleep. Then, from the west, came the increasing drone of aircraft engines and of anti-aircraft fire. The largest air armada ever assembled was passing over — 882 U.S. planes, which now began to disgorge their contents: thirteen thousand paratroopers … Read more
“War is Hell” General William Tecumseh Sherman once noted. Indeed there is nothing to celebrate about warfare; however unfortunately it has been present with mankind in his fallen nature since departing from the Garden of Eden. War was a common affair throughout the Old Testament. Saint Augustine understood the sometimes unfortunate necessity … Read more
Introduction When a society no longer respects and honors the fighting men willing to shed their blood for its principles, the fault lies not with the fighting men but with society itself. Ingratitude is a subtle vice, but a vice nevertheless. Saint Thomas Aquinas says that a debt of gratitude is a … Read more