Easter 1944
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- Original caption: Signal Corps Photo 9 April 1944. (Italy) Easter Mass celebrated for troops in beachhead cave. Signal Corps Radio Telephoto from Italy #. Italy. 9 April 1944
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- Original caption: Signal Corps radio telephoto. Italy. German troops included in American Easter services (via loud speaker)! Hostilities ceased for one hour on this front-line sector during services, conducted by American troops and directed across the lines by specifically installed amplifiers. Here, Chaplain Leo J. Crowley says Mass to a group of soldiers who were close enough to leave their foxholes to attend. Italy. 9 April 1944
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- Original caption: Signal Corps radio telephoto. Italy. Steel helmeted American soldiers kneel in reverence at Easter morning services on the Italian Front. Father Gregory R. Kennedy, Dubuque, Iowa, says Mass for these men who have left the safety of their nearby foxholes to attend. Italy. 9 April 1944
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- Original caption: In a makeshift chapel behind the front lines at Bougainville, three American soldiers take Communion at Easter Services conducted by Capt Lawrence M Brock, Chaplain of the 162nd Inf, Americal Division.
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- Original caption: Members of the 182nd Inf fighting on Bougainville, go forward to take communion Easter Sunday at services conducted by Capt Lawrence Brock, Jesuit father, from Charleston, Mass.
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- Original caption: Just behind the front lines at Bougainville was the scene of this church service conducted by Capt Lawrence Brock, Jesuit father, chaplain of the 182nd Inf, Americal Div. Fr Brock's home is at Charleston, Mass and he served on the faculty of Holy Cross College.
All images from the Collection of The National WWII Museum
Italy in April 1944 was anything but pastoral. The Battle for Anzio was in full swing and would continue for another month, resulting in 7,000 Allied casualties and 36,000 wounded. Easter masses celebrated in the cathedrals in Italy and in the field were a brief relief.
Meanwhile in the Pacific, Allied servicemen were nearly halfway through the first phase of the Bougainville Campaign, which would stretch through November and then continue until nearly the end of the war.
See the Italian images and more at the Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum.
Post by Curator Kimberly Guise.
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