All Creeds Study Together at Army Chaplain School

The one officer to whom an enlisted man can go anytime, to talk over anything he likes, is the Army chaplain, and 151 ministers are now being trained at the Chaplain School on Divinity Avenue to take over that job of spiritual adviser to soldiers at war.

Four weeks of classes in Andover Hall and Semitic Museum turn civilian ministers into Army officers prepared to be assigned to posts anywhere from a hospital to the front lines. All these men have had at least three years of practical experience after being ordained, and the school teaches them Army discipline and methods.

Get Military Training

Taking for granted adequate theological proficiency, the classes, attended by Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish chaplains together, offer instruction to these complete novices to Army life in everything from grave registering to close order drill. The chaplains, who enter as First Lieutenants, will form part of the regimental staffs and must be acquainted with Army practices.

This only Chaplain School in the country, with the task of providing enough men for the expanding services of the nation is headed by Chaplain (Col.) William D. Cleary as Commandant, assisted by Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Herman Page.

Class All Morning

Reveille is at 6:30 o'clock for the fighting priests, and their classes from then on take up such subjects as military law, defense against chemical warfare, map reading, and various duties of the chaplain at the front. Physical exercise comes in for a lot of attention, and according to officials of the school, plenty is needed to get the ministers ready for action. Exercise and drill fills the afternoon.

Both Commandant and secretary of the School saw action in World War I, and have naturally applied lessons learned in France to teaching here. Chaplain Page stresses the interdependence of the chaplains of various creeds in battle. "Each is responsible for the welfare of men of all beliefs," he said.