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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.
Chaplain Richard W. Hodge came
in a number of times during the battle. My cot was next to
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
[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
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