Chapter 36
1400 Hours
March 13, 1943
Office of the Regimental Chaplain
187th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR)
11th Airborne Division
Camp Mackall, North Carolina
Seated at the metal desk in the sparsely appointed, roughly hewn, tarpaper-covered room at the rear of the non-denominational military chapel, Father Nachen contemplated the sermon for Sunday’s service. He’d developed a bad case of writer’s block. He glanced over his office, longing for Divine inspiration.
The Army engineers had designed the regimental chapel to be multi-functional. It could hold up to 300 soldiers. During the week, company officers lectured on military subjects: field sanitation, the risks of venereal disease, the Articles of War, and military courtesy. On Saturdays and Sundays, the chaplains held religious
