.
 .
U.S. Army
.
|
James
Walter
O'Brien
1912-1944
Silver
Star
Medal
|
.
.
Corps
.
|
Purple Heart
Medal
|
Prisoner
Of War
Med
|
Combat Action
Ribbon
|
American Defense
Medal
|
American
Campaign
Medal
|
Asisatic-Pacific
Campaign Medal
|
World War II
Victory Medal
|
Philippine
Presidential
UnitCitation
Ribbon
|
Philippine
Defense Medal
|
Philippine
Independence
Medal
|
Biography taken from
"CHAPLAIN PRISONER OF
WAR
IN THE
PACIFIC 1941-1945"
.
USAF CHAPLAIN
SERVICE
INSTITUTE
Maxwell AFB, Alabama
1993
The Reverend Father
James Walter
O'Brien
Roman
Catholic
Born: April 21,
1912
Died: October
24, 1944.................... |
First
Lieutenant,
U.S. Army
Oakland,
California
In sinking of
Arisan
Maru |
James
O'Brien was
educated at St.
Joseph's Parochial School in Alameda,
California,
and
at St. Joseph's College in
Mountain View,
California. Between
1932 and 1938 he
attended
St. Patrick's
Seminary in Menlo Park, California.
He
was
tonsured in 1934. He was ordained at St.
Mary's
Cathedral by the
Most Reverend John J.
Mitty
for
the San Francisco Diocese on April 2, 1938.
He was
assigned
to Five Wounds Parish, San Jose,
California,
as assistant
pastor between April
21,
1938,
and May 7, 1941.
Because of
his small stature (less than five
feet, six
inches), he had been
rejected by the U.S.
Navy
Chaplaincy.
The Army, however, accepted him
and
commissioned him as a chaplain in the 3rd
Coast Artillery
at Fort
MacArthur in
California.
He was sent to the Philippines on July 14, 1941,
where he
was
assigned as an assistant base
chaplain at
Nichols Field,
Philippines. As the
first
resident
Catholic chaplain at Nichols, one of his early
projects
was to
organize
a Holy Name Society.
His quarters at Nichols
were destroyed
on the first day of the war (December
8,
1941),
but he bedded down in a thicket near
the base
and spent every
davlight hour
ministering
to the
needs of the men. After American forces
withdrew
from Manila around Christmas 1941, he
became
an assistant
regimental chaplain
for the
Provisional
Air Corps on Bataan. By
commandeering
an abandoned jeep, be also did his
best
to reach and serve all
the units stationed
in the
Eastern
Sector of II Corps. He made the grueling
Death
March
which followed the surrender on
Bataan, ministering
along the
way to the
battle-weary and
ill-fed
men struggled along the roadway toward
imprisonment.
Following a period of
internment
at Camp O'Donnell, he was moved to
Cabanatuan
in June 1942. There, he
continued to
hear confessions and say
Mass when not joining
in
the'back-breaking
labor of the camp work details.
He was
among the 1,800 prisoners who sailed
from Manila
for Japan aboard
the Arisan
Maru. The
unmarked
ship was sunk by American submarines in
the
China
Sea on October 24, 1944. Eight
men survived
the open-sea disaster
by clinging for days
to
floating
debris. One of the eight tells of how Chaplain
O'Brien
prayed
with
and granted absolution to the Catholic men until the ship
was completely
submerged.
For his outstanding
bravery, Chaplain
James Walter O'Brien was posthumously
awarded
the Silver Star.
Family Members
of Reverend Father
O'Brien.
|
|
John
and
Annie O'Brien
Parents
(Deceased)
|
|
|
|
John
O'Brien
Brother
(Deceased)
|
|
|
|
Margaret
Kettleman
Sister
(Deceased)
|
|
|
|
Constance
Henneberry
Sister
(Deceased)
|
|
.
|
|
Steven
Henneberry
Nephew
|
|
|
|
Bridget
O'Connell
Niece
|
|
|
|
Margaret
Dorff
Niece
|
|
|
|
Ellen
Brock
Niece
|
|
|
|
Michael
Henneberry
Nephew
|
|
This Web Page was
created
by and
is maintained by Paul
D.
Henriott
last updated 20
March
2006
