For God and Country: The War Diary of Lieutenant Commander John P. Foley, S.J., Navy Chaplain, 1942–1945

For God and Country: The War Diary of Lieutenant Commander John P. Foley, S.J., Navy Chaplain, 1942–1945

Jesuit, History, WWII, World War 2, Chaplain, Navy, Diary, Foley

Between 1942 and 1945, a Boston College Jesuit named John Patrick Foley (1904-1995) kept a diary of his experiences as a Navy chaplain in the North Africa and Pacific theaters of war. He wrote about the soldiers and sailors he came to know and minister to; of his first walk on a battlefield; of war news and rumor; of the striking beauty of the battle-ravaged Solomon Islands; and of the ruins of Tokyo. Transcribed and typed by Fr. Foley’s secretaries after he returned to his administrative post as a dean, the diary was in the New England Provincial Archive at the College of the Holy Cross when Joseph P. Duffy, S.J., a retired BC senior administrator with a deep interest in 20th century Jesuit history, came upon it and determined to develop it as a public document. Edited by Duffy and former Boston College Magazine editor Ben Birnbaum.

Duffy, Joseph P.

Birnbaum, Ben

Foley, John P.

Joseph P. Duffy

Jesuit Archives & Research Center

Joseph P. Duffy

Joseph P. Duffy

JA-Duffy

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eng

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JA-Duffy-godcountry12132021

2021-12-13

1942-1945