The Captain and the Padre
by Don Rholl
March 26th, 1943

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I was hit by a piece of shrapnel which hit the starboard plane in the Komandorskis. Taken to the first aid station in the wardroom, I was placed on a cot with other wounded. One of the medical personnel took a look at me and said the heat of the shrapnel had produced cauterization and thus there was no bleeding. So I could wait. ball-red-02 Deceased Chaplain Richard W. Hodge came in a number of times during the battle. My cot was next to Deceased Jim David's and, while the Chaplain was there to comfort us all, he spent a good deal of his time near Jim who was dying.

Quite some time later on one of his visits, the Chaplain was called to the bridge. A short time later he began to pray over the speaker. I have found two other shipmates who also remember him praying. And then, just as suddenly as it started, the prayer stopped. It did not end but just stopped!! And my story stops also but does not end.

Now the story picks up again 54 years later. It was in the memorabilia room at the 1997 reunion in Las Vegas that I found the rest of the story. The Captain ball-red-02 Deceased [B. J. Rodgers] had called the Chaplain to the bridge during the time when we were stopped dead in the water. Things were quite bleak and the Chaplain was asked to offer a prayer. He prayed...there was a sudden lurch in the ship's motion. The engine room problem had been solved and the ship was underway and the Chaplain stopped praying. The Captain immediately turned and said "nice work, Padre."

Reference for the event and the quote can be found on pages 136 and 137 of the book "The Battle Of The Komandorskis" by John Lorelli.

The very next day, again in the memorabilia room, a man in his fifties came up to me and asked if I knew or remembered Chaplain Hodge and I said yes. He explained he was on business at the hotel and noticed the SLC reunion sign. He said he was a nephew of Hodge and wondered if there were any pictures of him. I assured him there were and then showed him pages 136 and 137 from "The Battle Of The Komandorskis" and in particular the quote from Captain Rodgers. After reading it he told me his uncle told that story many times. Pat Monteleone also met him that day.

Don Rholl
Oct. 19th, 2001



Return to Battle of the Komandorski Island Index

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Death Watch over Burning Wasp
Sept. 15th, 1942

At their gun stations aboard an accompanying warship, US Sailors and Marines watch the last moments of the US Aircraft Carrier "Wasp" as she burned fiercely after being hit by three supmarine torpedoes near the Solomons. The Navy said, "Ninety per cent of the Wasp's personnel were rescued."

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