THAT GREAT MAN
THE U.S. NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS YORKTOWN (CV-10)
Remembering Chaplain Moody, Who Was Always There for His Men BY RAYMOND J. BROWN
L
et us now praise famous men . . . but I’ll just remember a faithful servant who once went to war against powers and principalities, both seen and unseen. On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 1,300 ships, four Army divisions, and three Marine divisions would invade the Japanese home islands in a brutal 82-day campaign. But getting to Okinawa for the amphibious landings and desperate engagement with the Divine Wind (Japan’s kamikaze pilots) was no simple task.
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Two weeks earlier, on March 18, the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown—The Fighting Lady— was proceeding toward Okinawa. Though aircraft carriers were surrounded by battleships, cruisers, and destroyers afloat, and Combat Air Patrol aloft, the protective screen was not impenetrable. On that Sunday, the 18th, Japanese aircraft did break through and attacked Yorktown. A 500-pound bomb exploded in the air just off the port side of the carrier. That fifth Sunday of Lent was promptly renamed “Bomb Sunday” by the ship’s company.
