If there are no atheists in foxholes – as the old adage goes – North Dakota’s 164th Infantry Regiment would’ve been well served by having its own “Foxhole Padre.” While fighting against a series of ruthless Japanese assaults during World War II, the Soldiers were tended to by Chaplain (Maj.) Thomas Tracy, a Catholic priest, of Bismarck.He was revered by the men he faithfully shepherded while the Soldiers reinforced the 1st Marine Division in the jungles of Guadalcanal, turning the tide of the Pacific campaign against the Japanese empire more than 75 years ago.
Tracy and the 164th Infantry provide a clear-cut depiction of brothers-in-arms and courage under fire inside the maelstrom of the most pivotal conflict of the 20th century. Known for his devotion to the Soldiers he served with, Tracy earned the nickname “Foxhole Padre” by tending to his flock face to face in the chaos of battle.
While on leave from the South Pacific in March 1943, fellow Soldier Maj. Harry Tenborg told the Fargo Forum, “Regardless of the obstacles, Father Tracy was ever on the go. He was active in the field, he went into the front lines, he was back at the hospitals, bolstering morale, hearing the men’s troubles, going from battalion to battalion to conduct services.
“In several instances that I know of, he had scheduled masses interrupted by enemy bombers, but that didn’t deter Father Tracy. He and his congregation would dive into the closest foxholes and when the raid (from Japanese air bombers) was over he would resume mass.”
It was this kind of fearless dedication that earned Tracy the Bronze Star with “V” device for valor. The chaplain would continuously prove his mettle on Guadalcanal, etching his place in North Dakota military history. Tracy’s story, as well as the chronicles of the courageous 164th Infantry Regiment, inspire an ethos of selfless service and exhibit the endurance of faith, even in the darkest times.
Green Hell
Fate — and a nation’s retribution for the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor — summoned 164th Infantry Guardsmen from homesteads and cities across North Dakota. After a year of training, the Soldiers would spend the beginning of 1942 guarding critical infrastructure stateside — dams, bridges, electrical installations —in the northwest region of the U.S. Later, they would sail for New Caledonia to serve as a defense force there.
The Empire of the Rising Sun had cast its shadow across the South Pacific, occupying an array of strategic locations throughout the Solomon Islands. With a configuration of supply bases and airfields, the Japanese were poised to disrupt supply routes and communication lines between the U.S. and Australia, and threatened a potential invasion.
To impede the Japanese conquest, Allied forces set their sights on securing the jungle island of Guadalcanal. On Aug. 7, 1942, Marines from the 1st Division had gained a foothold there, wresting away control of an unfinished Japanese airstrip. Dubbed Henderson Field, the landmark was a vital acquisition for mounting Allied counterattacks. Months later, however, the Marines’ grasp on Guadalcanal was tenuous and the fighting was at a standstill. The exhausted Marine contingent, thinned by casualties and illness, was in desperate need of resupply and reinforcements. On Oct. 13, 1942, North Dakota’s 164th Infantry would arrive on Guadalcanal, nicknamed “Green Hell,” where they were attached to the 1st Marine Division. They would become the first U.S. Army unit to offensively engage the enemy in World War II.
Seventy-five years and one day later, on Oct. 14, 2017, several Soldiers from the 164th Infantry Regiment looked back at their first day on Guadalcanal during a reunion celebration at Bismarck State College. They recounted how their welcoming to the island came via Japanese air raids with incessant bombing greeting them throughout the day.
“That night, Japanese battleships came in (the Kongo and Huruna) and threw in about 1,000 rounds of 14-inch naval shells, which is a big shell. You could pour a basement in the crater (of where one landed),” said Doug Burtell, who served with the 164th Infantry’s Headquarters Intelligence and Reconnaissance section.
For Richard Stevens, of Company M, a retired colonel, his first day on Guadalcanal would comprise the most terrifying moments of his life. He remembered how the initial air raids that greeted the Soldiers had given them their first casualty. Cpl. Kenneth Foubert, of Grand Forks, was a member of Stevens’s M Company. The later Japanese naval bombing, which had been targeting Allied aircraft on Henderson Field, but ultimately landed on top of the 164th Infantry’s position, only added to the pandemonium.
“They (the battleships) caused a lot of damage, and they scared us to death as those shells went over. Swish, swish, swish! Salvos of four from one battleship and then the other, and that kept on. Those of us who could be shaking like leaves — like me — were doing so,” Stevens said.
Ten days later, on the night of Oct. 23-24, the 164th Infantry would catch the full brunt of a Japanese offensive during what was later dubbed “The Second Battle of Henderson Field.” A force of about 20,000 Japanese amassed on Guadalcanal to engage the American service members and retake the airstrip.
New to the battle, the 164th Infantry was sent to guard the southeastern sector of a perimeter established around Henderson Field. Commanders believed that an impending Japanese assault would occur from the northwest, while in fact the enemy had been marching through the dense jungles to be in place for an attack from the south. When the Japanese arrived, they were exhausted but still ready for a fight and stormed the Marine sector of the perimeter. Marine Commander Gen. Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller requested assistance for his men, which he received when the 3rd Battalion, 164th Infantry brought its firepower to bear. Throughout the night, the North Dakota Guardsmen and Marines fought together, shoulder-to-shoulder from their foxholes.
“It was (the Japanese) or us,” Douglas Ferk, of Company A, said. “We fired as much as we could. Sometimes our barrels would get so hot, you couldn’t touch them.”
During the first night of the battle, North Dakota Soldiers earned the respect of their Marine brothers-in-arms and proved themselves as a fighting unit. Armed with the newer M1 Garands, the Guardsmen’s semi-automatic firing capability was a boon to the Marines who were using bolt-action Model 1903 Springfields. Seeing how well the Guardsmen handled themselves in battle, the Marines shifted their forces to shore up other areas of the perimeter. Commanders figured the Japanese would not strike the same area twice. The North Dakota Soldiers, however, would again need to repel the enemy, this time from their own positions in an area called “Coffin Corner.”
“The next morning, in front of our lines, were 1,800 Japanese bodies, killed on both the first and second nights (of the battle) by both the Marines and ourselves,” Stevens said.
To hold the airfield would come at a cost, and the men of the 164th Infantry would experience profound horrors, including the loss of their own. The unit suffered 147 casualties during its 5 months on Guadalcanal, while 309 were wounded and 133 fell ill. The Soldiers’ grit and sacrifice, however, was critical for the Allied forces’ eventual victory in the Southern Pacific.
“The truth is the Japanese were prepared on the first day (of the battle) to take our surrender of the whole island. They had the forces to do it, but they misused them,” Stevens said. “That was the battle where Japanese generals, after the war, when they were asked, ‘When did you know that you were going to lose in the Pacific?’ One of them said, ‘After Guadalcanal.’”
‘Everybody Was Praying’
In addition to a determined, relentless enemy, the men of the 164th Infantry contended with the volatile environs of Guadalcanal. Some would suffer from dysentery, jungle rot, heatstroke or tropical disease dispensed by the island’s mosquito hordes. Father Tracy’s time there ultimately would be altered by those conditions.
The unit had also brought with it two protestant chaplains to Guadalcanal. One ended up becoming injured and the other contracted malaria. This left Father Tracy as the sole chaplain at one point, responsible for his Soldiers’ pastoral care. Conveniently, many of them knew the chaplain from their previous lives back in the states.
“It was very unique for a parish priest to go with Soldiers in the unit. In the National Guard setting, I suppose it wasn’t unusual. But I always say, when we went into the service, we took everyone with us, including the parish priest,” said Harry Vadnie, a first lieutenant with the 164th Infantry, of Bismarck, during a 2004 interview with the Bismarck Historical Society.
The men not only knew Tracy, but they liked the chaplain, as well. He was lauded for his personal demeanor and ability to connect with his Soldiers.
“Father Tracy was well thought of by the 164th. He would bury the dead of all religions — say their prayer in their faith. It meant a lot,” Jim Fenelton, a staff sergeant from Marshalltown, Iowa, said in an interview with the Devils Lake Journal. “He never pressured you about going to church or anything. After we got up into combat they didn’t have to force too much religion — everybody was praying.”
Tenborg, the major who shared stories of Tracy’s gallantry on the battlefield with the Fargo Forum, said the chaplain cared for everyone under his tutelage, regardless of religious affiliation or background.
“Father Tracy was every inch a Soldier. Creed didn’t enter and Father Tracy took care of his duties as chaplain gloriously,” he said. “Father Tracy would say mass for the Catholic boys and then conduct services for the Protestants …”
The chaplain, though principled in his faith, was remembered for his temperate approach when it came to discussing spiritual matters. Alvin Paulson, a retired colonel and friend of Tracy’s, recalled during a speech in June 1978 an encounter between a Soldier in his company and the chaplain in which the two took opposing sides on the existence of a creator. Tracy posed a series of questions about the “miracle of the solar system, its creation and perpetual orbit without collision,” nature and its “necessity for life” and he also pondered the significance of the “miracle of (the Soldier’s) own birth and life.”
“He concluded his remarks by saying, ‘When you find all the answers to all these things, come and see me and I’ll be willing to listen.’ To him, this agnostic was a human being and important enough for this priest to attempt to stir his conscience and make him think for himself,” Paulson said.
Converting non-believers, however, has never been the intended profession of a U.S. Army chaplain. Their military profession has three primary competencies: to nurture the living, care for the wounded and honor the dead. These were the tasks to which Tracy dedicated himself.
“It was not intended that chaplains should perform front line duty on the battlefield, but rather to serve in the general area, conducting religious services when possible, counseling and praying for the sick and wounded, and burying the dead. Father Tracy was not content with this role,” Paulson said. “He was not afraid to walk the torturous jungle and front lines unarmed. His faith in God was his shield and strength and we knew that he had a powerful friend and ally.”
True North
Today, hundreds of North Dakota Guardsmen each year visit Camp Grafton Training Center, near Devils Lake, mostly during the summer months, for required annual training. As the Soldiers drive past the post’s front gate, they traverse over a stretch of road bounded by a leafy tunnel of ash and elm trees. Near the end of the straightaway, a right turn will take them past a sign adorned with a line of scripture, and behind it, a modest chapel named after the well-regarded chaplain who showed determined bravery while serving with the 164th Infantry on Guadalcanal.
The Chaplain Tracy Memorial Chapel was built in 1957, but it wasn’t until June 9, 1978, when the facility was officially dedicated with the name. It serves as a house of worship, but also has been used for weddings, military funerals or as a gathering space during retirees’ weekend retreats. Open to visitors year-round, Tracy Chapel is a special feature at Camp Grafton.
“Chapels in the military inventory aren’t designated with a name. I think we’re (North Dakota) unique in that regard, that it’s named after a specific chaplain. It’s the only building on post facing true north,” said Chaplain (Col.) David Johnson, staff chaplain for the N.D. National Guard. “To have that constant reminder of Tracy Chapel is important because it tells the story of a humble, faithful man of God, who served everybody and who offered what all chaplains offer, and that is hope.”
That message, in fact, is enshrined on one of the stained glass windows fitted within the outside walls of the brick chapel. The ornamental features weren’t installed until the late 1990s. Three windows on the west side of the building feature the words faith, hope and love, which are the eternal qualities of mankind, according to Paul the Apostle in Corinthians 13:13. On the east wall, the words duty, honor and country are etched into three windows. The words represent the core values military members are called to live by.
Retired Chaplain (Col.) Jeff Franko, who served as state chaplain for the N.D. National Guard, gave remarks during a window dedication ceremony held on June 14, 1998. At the event, he spoke about the careful selection of the words chosen for the windows.
“You start with a simple citizen-Soldier and you add the content of these six words to his or her heart and mind and will, and you end up with a beautiful world. This is our hope. That is our prayer. That is our dream,” he said.
The chapel ultimately serves as a tribute to Father Tracy’s message of faith and actions of courage. For North Dakota’s chaplain corps, it’s also an inspiration. Franko said during his time as a chaplain in the N.D. National Guard, stories about Tracy’s dedication on Guadalcanal remained prevalent and “left a big mark” on the state.
“He was the kind of guy that didn’t sit in an office, but put himself right in the middle of the troops and provided face-to-face ministry. And that kind of legacy speaks to the kind of role that inspired me, and I think many other chaplains,” Franko said. “Instead of waiting for people to come, you go out and meet Soldiers where they’re at.”
The 164th Infantry Regiment helped turn the tide of World War II 75 years ago. Some of the Soldiers who served in the unit equate entering combat on Guadalcanal to the expression “baptism by fire.” The embers of their courageousness and faith in one another continue to burn, not only at Tracy Chapel, but within the loyal service of those who continue to wear the uniform in the N.D. National Guard.
| Date Taken: | 03.29.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.29.2018 12:24 |
| Story ID: | 271077 |
| Location: | BISMARCK, ND, US |
| Web Views: | 288 |
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This work, Everlasting Light: 'Foxhole Chaplain' Tracy Kindled Legacy of Faith and Hope, by SSG Eric Jensen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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