Father O’Callahan and Sailors Who Fought to Live

 

Father Joseph Timothy O’Callahan was called Padre Joe by the Protestant sailors, and Rabbi Tim by the Jewish sailors aboard the USS Franklin. A Jesuit priest who taught cosmology, mathematics, and physics at Boston College and Holy Cross College felt that he had a calling to serve his country as a Navy Chaplain.

Chaplain O’Callahan was aboard the USS Franklin on her darkest day and earned a Medal of Honor for heroism on that day. On March 19, 1945, St. Joseph’s Day:

Suddenly, at 7:07 am, a Japanese Yokosuka D4Y Judy bomber flashed out of a cloudbank and hurtled down toward the Franklin at 360 miles an hour. The carrier’s 5-inch and 40mm guns opened up on the plane as it released two 500-pound armor-piercing bombs, pulled up, and turned away only 50 feet above the flight deck.

The first bomb slammed into the forward hangar deck, ripping a great hole in the three-inch armor plate and setting fire to fueled and armed planes. The second bomb smashed through two after-decks and exploded on the third deck near the petty officers’ quarters.

The USS Franklin became a raging inferno due to aviation gas and explosions from stored ammunition. Father O’Callahan fought his way through the damage and smoke to get up on the flight deck. In spite of suffering from shrapnel wounds, he ministered to the wounded and dying and organized firefighting crews and the jettisoning of live ammunition from the carrier.

His Medal of Honor Citation tells his story far better than I can:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as chaplain on board the U.S.S. Franklin when that vessel was fiercely attacked by enemy Japanese aircraft during offensive operations near Kobe, Japan, on 19 March 1945.

A valiant and forceful leader, calmly braving the perilous barriers of flame and twisted metal to aid his men and his ship, Lt. Comdr. O’Callahan groped his way through smoke-filled corridors to the open flight deck and into the midst of violently exploding bombs, shells, rockets, and other armament.

With the ship rocked by incessant explosions, with debris and fragments raining down and fires raging in ever-increasing fury, he ministered to the wounded and dying, comforting and encouraging men of all faiths; he organized and led firefighting crews into the blazing inferno on the flight deck; he directed the jettisoning of live ammunition and the flooding of the magazine; he manned a hose to cool hot, armed bombs rolling dangerously on the listing deck, continuing his efforts, despite searing, suffocating smoke which forced men to fall back gasping and imperiled others who replaced them.

Serving with courage, fortitude, and deep spiritual strength, Lt. Cmdr. O’Callahan inspired the gallant officers and men of the Franklin to fight heroically and with profound faith in the face of almost certain death and to return their stricken ship to port.

Here is a link to the story of USS Franklin, and Father O’Callahan. The sailor in the photo with Father O’Callahan was Yoeman Blanchard. He survived and was suffering from smoke inhalation. He described receiving the Last Rites as a wake-up call.

https://youtu.be/alEFAacdbUI

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  1. OldDanRhody Member
    OldDanRhody
    @OldDanRhody

    Later had a ship named in his honor, the USS O’Callahan (DE/FF 1051).

    USS O'Callahan

    • #1
  2. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    Cf the next post, about Manly Men.

    A Man of God can certainLy be Manly.

    • #2
  3. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Wow!

    • #3
  4. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    OldDanRhody (View Comment):

    Later had a ship named in his honor, the USS O’Callahan (DE/FF 1051).

    USS O'Callahan

    Before Father O’Callahan was assigned to the Franklin:

    After two and a half years aboard the Ranger, O’Callahan was reassigned to shore duty—at naval air stations at Alameda, Calif., and Ford Island, Pearl Harbor. He was able to relax after the rigors of combat and spent his free evenings reading poetry.

    But he also had time to worry. His youngest sister, Alice, now Sister Rose Marie, a Maryknoll nun, was imprisoned in a Japanese detention camp. For three years the family had not heard a word about her. Chaplain O’Callahan prayed that he would be assigned to the Philippines so that he could learn the fate of his sister.

    In July 1968, Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston officiated at the commissioning of a destroyer escort named for Father Joe at the Boston Navy Yard, saying he was “an inspiration for all future time.” The ship was christened by the chaplain’s youngest sister, Alice, then Sister Rose Marie. She was the first nun to christen a U.S. warship.

    Father O’Callahan and his sister, Sister Rose Marie O’Callahan

    • #4
  5. Nanda "Chaps" Panjandrum Member
    Nanda "Chaps" Panjandrum
    @

    Doug, thanks for the introduction to another member of my tribe! B-Z, Fr. Joe.

    • #5
  6. Brent Chambers Inactive
    Brent Chambers
    @BrentChambers

    I happen to know a surviving sailor from the USS Franklin who is still alive.  He had input on Joseph Springer’s book, Inferno:  The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the USS Franklin in World War II. 

    On that day he was working on the hanger deck.  His crew chief had sent him and another man to breakfast.  He was at breakfast when the bomb struck.  

    The story on that day and the following has some controversy.  Some sailors were evacuated to other ships and the Captain wanted to charge them with desertion/abandoning ship.  Some of these men were badly burned and some jumped overboard to escape flames.  Some survivors were literally blown off the stern of the fan deck.  It made no matter – in the Captain’s mind, they were less than honorable. 

     

        

    • #6
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