Each year on November 11, we observe Veterans Day and remember all those who have served our country in times of war. Among those veterans are our military chaplains. Five military chaplains, all of them Catholics, have received the Medal of Honor since the Civil War. Two of them are on the path to sainthood as their stories of bravery have touched people the world over. Their example inspires a new generation of men to be chaplains as well.
Four Catholic military chaplains have also been recognized for bravery in the line of duty with United States Navy ships named in their honor. Some current and recent Diocese of Lansing Military Chaplains:
Rev Stanley Czarnota: US Navy
Rev Jay Kersten: US Navy
Rev Louis Madey: US Navy
Rev Tom Nenneau: US Naval Reserve
Rev Greg Pleiness: US Air Force Reserve
Rev Darin Robert: US Army Reserve
Rev Phil Sessions: US Navy
In 2013, the USCCB Media Blog featured a series of posts about past, current and future chaplains, plus the extraordinary history of Catholics priests as Medal of Honor recipients. Links to the blog posts are below. Of Medal of Honor Winners and Saints About Saints Criteria to Award the Medal of Honor Called from Underwater Following Saints and Heroes Ready for a Changing Chaplain Corps The annual observance of Veterans Day in the United States on November 11 has its roots in the armistice that ended World War I hostilities in 1918. The armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed thereafter that November 11 be observed as "Armistice Day." In 1954, Congress passed legislation that renamed the federal holiday "Veterans Day," in recognition of the service of veterans of all U.S. Wars.