Pryor Scrapbook Clippings, 1955-1980

''The first Easter .Day in 'the lines was a novel one. Artillery chaplains held services in gun pits and infantry units took time out to kneel and pray .in for– ward positions. In the 349th I sector, the most unusual (worship) service ever held was ·staged ' within a i' few hundred years •of l enemy lines on Hill 411 near Castelforte." So begins an account i~ the book "The Blue Devils in Italy," a history of the 88th Infantry Division in WWII. And leading in that ''most unusual service" was Chaplin Conrad Hays, ' now a Bible professor and •Jj » ;;t . "/>t l assistant Bible Depart– ment chairman at Harding University . Hays, now 62, recalls the Easter service vividly. He remembers how the enemy mortar and artillery fire brought death of.ten to those men fighting around him, but how the guns were suddenly silent on April 9, 1944, near the troops' frontline holding position near Castleforet, Italy. In a time when the Allies and Germans · shared enly hostility and artillery fire, there was a more noble shal'ing for at least part of one day - th~ sha~ng of a worship service through loudspeakers placed outside the gun pits near the German line. , The book tells the story concisely: "Moving equipment and an altar up the hill by pack– mule under the coyer of darkness, regimental ,chaplains w,re ready :;bortly after .dawn to bring the message of Easter to their own troops and to the Germans across No Man's Land by, meaiis of loud– speakers. "After an·explanation in German of what was about to, take place Chaplain Oscar L. Reinboth in·:ited the enemy· to take part in the services in their own fasmon from their side of the lines. The b~ guns fell silent along the parigliano and their .thunder of death and destruction was replaced by the e,temal and peaceful message of Easter.'' ' "No signs of tnovement were visible in German lines - their gum had not spoken since the initial · words of Chaplain Rein– both. The doughboys had been told to lie low in their · foxholes, but now,. in the ~ sudden lull of battle, they came forward to gather about the·small altar. ''...In less than an hour it was over. The hillside on which the alta-r rested ·became military ~jecti~e No. 411. The troqps went ba~k to their foxholes. A few minutes later e guns roared. The war , was on again." · Reinboth gave U,e initial tidk in German, followed by Hays with a sermon on · ! 'the certainity of the ressurection of Christ." A Catholic Mass followed, performed by a Chaplain • Leo Cr(?wley of S~racuse, .YOUNGER DAYS Conard Hays looked New,.York.. . . younger in 1944 when he preached at a famous Hays :;aid the event cease-fire Easter service on the front lines brought quite a bit of during WW II than he does now. The photo was publicity. He said a friend copied from a book documenting the work of told his wife that they saw cbaplins during the war. Hays (left) is shown as him on a newsreel back in he preached at the service. the states, showing him reaching. Hays described the talk ·ias "a basic sermon" that ~ had prepared earlier as '1 tnission~ry preacher, J:>efore going into the military. . The chaplain worked ' among the . troops when possib'ie, but when the fighting was heavy, he had lo stay around the first aid tation. Hays could devote • bOok to his experiences i the troops - their pressions of .loneliness, way from their people and untry l their fear and ~rations, wondering hether the next attack ould bring .a shell into eir lines ; their sense of · lation. He talked with e men as much- as be uld, he said, and often udied the Bible with some · ps. He· usually held ven or eight services ch Sunday, he said. ' The 'Protestant chaplain, filiated with the Church Christ, had strong beliefs t his God, and said at although he didn't ree with all points of lief ofother chaplains, he d to admire and respect eir dedication, Hays, ·who is • rather ight of build, mild nnered and quiet spoken · t with a quick smile, said was fired upon several es by snipers and was ar artillery blasts. from tine to time, but w~s never t. "'lbe most danger was t e artillery fire and ortar fire,,,. he , membered. . The chaplain .was 26 hen he went into chaplain hool on the Harvard ~mpus - "it was ..sically a glorified boot mp," he said. Then, at rt PQlk, Louisiana, he was assigned to th~ 88th fantry Division. · The men were shipped o t of· Fort Sam Houston' aid anived on Christmas ·.D(l~ at Casa Bla~a, North Alr1ca. y the first of March they were on the Italy line in · a holding position, waiting for a spring push. ·It was the following April when Hays and the other chaplains gave tl)e Easter •