Sunday, March 23, 1919
Troy’s soldiers in the world war “stood for bravery, vigor, loyalty, in fact, everything that is good in the human race,” their chaplain tells a lecture audience at St. Patrick’s Church tonight.
“Fighting Chaplain” Rev. Francis A. Kelley of Cohoes has been decorated for bravery by three governments. Rev. Matthew K. Merns, pastor of St. Patricks, introduces Kelley as a living answer to bigots who question Catholics’ loyalty to the United States.
“He is a chaplain of the Catholic church which has always been loyal to this country, but which has been accused by bigots of a want of patriotism,” Merns says, “Do these bigots know that the Catholic church furnished 33 per cent of the man power of the United States army? Do these bigots know it furnished 50 per cent of its quota, according to the strength of its members?”
Kelley himself is more interested in affirming the worth of Trojan troops. “Troy sent into the line lads whose every thought was toward the consummation of their duty, whose every act was toward the accomplishment of a task in the right manner, for they made the supreme sacrifice willingly when it was necessary.
“In the 27th division there were no braver or more valiant lads than those of the first battalion of the 105th regiment, Troy’s own boys.”
As an example, Kelley tells the story of Sergeant Frank Martin. When the chaplain offered to put him in charge of a burial detail that would have kept him out of combat, Martin told Kelley that “I’ve a platoon and if I let a man in it go into the line without me I would never be able to look a Trojan square in the face.”
When Kelley next saw Martin, the sergeant had been wounded. The chaplain ordered Martin to go to a dressing station. Later that day, another sergeant said to Kelley, “Isn’t it too bad about Frank Martin?”
Kelley then learned that Martin had refused to stay at the dressing station. Returning to his platoon, he lead an advance and was killed by a shell.
“That’s the kind of boys you sent out from Troy,” Kelley says, “God bless the living ones. God bless those who have fallen.”
‘ Your boys, my boys — and they are my boys, every one of them, no matter what his race or creed — showed all nations what Americans can do when they are fighting for right against might. Our army is above the criticism of homemade patriots and foreign despots. Of Troy I can only say, ‘God bless her and hers.’”