The History of Catholic America
World War II

The bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought America into the war and her young men were sailing off to foreign shores from which many would not return. Builders of homes were out of work, but jobs were plentiful in other trades. The automotive industry retooled to produce tanks and bombers and weapons, providing employment for hundreds of Rosies-the-Riveter. Market lines grew longer as we waited for rationed butter, sugar, and coffee. Gas rationing proved a boon to horse-traders - figuratively and literally. A preview of today's recycling movement, those years saw parishioners saving basements-full of paper and old clothes for the rag man, coffee cans full of cooking fat to bring to the grocer, and flattened vegetable cans to be recycled for weapons. We had backyard victory gardens, civil defense air raid drills, and Kate Smith singing God Bless America. Many churches published special bulletins and newspapers for their parishioners in the armed services. School children and parish societies wrapped Christmas gifts for hospitalized veterans and knitted socks and afghans to send overseas. Japanese-Americans of our Pacific Coast were held in detention camps - a violation of civil and human rights upheld by the Supreme Court.

The Medal of Honor, highest military decoration of the United States, was first awarded for Civil War service, but it was not until World War II that a chaplain received this honor. Father Joseph O'Callahan, a Jesuit from Boston, survived the holocaust of a Japanese attack on his bomber carrier, Franklin, ministering to the dead and wounded, directing fire-fighting crews, and assuming responsibilities far beyond the call of his duties, in the midst of the siege.

The bloodshed and deprivation, the support and prayers of Americans everywhere finally led to the restoration of peace. Masses of thanksgiving were joyously celebrated throughout the world on V-J Day in 1945, only four months after the death of President Roosevelt who had begun his fourth term in office. With the typical American elasticity and ingenuity, people picked up the pieces, tried their best to recapture a normal mode of life, and turned to the important task of post-war reconstruction.