The story of Chaplain Joseph Timothy O'Callahan:

On March 19, 1945, Catholic Chaplain Joseph Timothy O'Callahan was serving on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin near Kobe, Japan, when it was hit by two 500-pound bombs. The flight deck was crowded with fully armed and gassed planes that began exploding. Responding to the disaster, Chaplain O'Callahan manned a hose to spray water on bombs in an attempt to keep them from exploding. He gave last rites to dying men, ministered to the wounded, and repeatedly risked his life wetting down ammunition and dumping shells overboard. Captain Gehres, commander of the carrier, declared, "O'Callahan is the bravest man I've ever seen in my life." Lt. Commanded O'Callahan's heroic conduct aboard the Franklin earned him the Medal of Honor - the first chaplain since the Civil War and the only chaplain in World War II to receive the nation's highest award. Never forgetting the sacrifice of his fellow soldiers, Chaplain O'Callahan spent four years after the war visiting the families of the nearly 800 men who died on the Franklin. A destroyed escort, the O'Callahan, was named in his honor.

Jewish Chaplains:

Rabbis in World War II represented the entire spectrum of Jewish identity, from the most assimilated to the traditionally observant. In addition to counseling soldiers of all faiths, Jewish chaplains helped to provide a meaningful connection to Jewish rituals and traditions for those far from home. Amidst the turmoil of war, many Jewish soldiers turned to religion for a sense of identity and comfort. "It could only happen here," Albert Eisen wrote to his mother. "I went to Jewish services tonight. I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I have gone before." Steel helmets were used a yarmulkes, and at a Yom Kippur service held not more than 200 yards from a Japanese ridge the makeshift bimah or altar was constructed from ammunition boxes covered in captured Japanese silk. Once the concentration camps were liberated, Jewish chaplains helped with the millions of survivors and displaced persons. They provided for spiritual needs, improved living conditions in the camps, worked with orphans, and paved the way for many survivors to eventually leave Europe. They also arranged services and burial ceremonies, and sought to make spiritual sense of the situation for themselves and their troops.

Black Chaplains:

The story of African American soldiers and sailors in World War II is a sobering one. Relegated to segregated units, they were for the most part assigned support duties in areas such as transportation, cooking and manual labor. With the exception of such distinguished squadrons as the Tuskegee airmen, their courage and service, as well as the humiliation and disrespect they endured, have not been told. Black chaplains trained alongside their white counterparts and then were assigned to all-black units. They responded to the same needs of morale, homesickness, fear and grief as did all chaplains. Added to their duties must have been issues of frustration over injustice and fairness. More than one million black soldiers served in World War II. Counted among them were an estimated 300 back chaplains whose personal faith and pastoral care bolstered the troops.