Page 28 Advertisement 1

New Zealand Tablet, 4 September 1919, Page 28

. TEMPORARY CONVERSION. Father Francis A. Kelly, chaplain of the 108th U.S.A. Infantry, is the hero of one of the war stories told by the officers of the 27th Division. At one time General Headquarters sent out an order, it is related, calling for the religious registration of the men of the 108th. The men, fearing that Father Kelly would be taken away, decided on measures to adopt. The report showed that every man in the battalion in question had registered as a Catholic. Now, in that battalion, according to the story, there were several Jews and a number of Protestants. Father Kelly was provoked at what he believed to be a hoax, but the top sergeant calmed his fears. “Father,” said the sergeant, himself a Protestant, “we felt that if there were not enough Catholics in the outfit you’d be taken away from us, so we all became converts for the duration of the war.”