www.theleaven.com | Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas | Vol. 32, No. 7 september 17, 2010
The saint and the soldier
Story and Photos by Joe Bollig One of Ray Bunten’s finest moments during his World War II service in Italy had nothing to do with the military. Here, Bunten holds a photograph of himself (kneeling, center) receiving a blessing from St. Padre Pio, along with another American serviceman, Art Lucchesi (kneeling, far right).
WWII vet recalls serving for a saint
T
he fighting had moved north, so there wasn’t much happening around Foggia, where Private First Class Ray Bunten was stationed. It was 1944, and Bunten was at a B-24 bomber base about eight miles south of Foggia, in southern Italy. He was a truck driver, a cog in the war machine that supported the bombers flying north to pound Nazi Germany.
Saints alive
Most Catholics can only pray to their favorite saint. Ray Bunten served Mass for his. To hear how a young soldier crossed paths with a saint, go to: www.theleaven.com. The temporary base was literally in the middle of nowhere. Bunten had to drive through farm fields to get to the airfield, which had a runway consisting of linked steel mats. One day an Italian-American buddy, Joe Peluso, implored Bunten to use his connections to get transportation for a little joy ride up in the mountains. Peluso wanted to go to an obscure village where some kind of gee-whiz holy man lived, a priest named Padre Pio. Bunten had never heard of the village — San Giovanni Rotondo — or this Padre Pio. But there was nothing else to do, so he was game. Today, the 86-year-old Bunten lives in Vintage Park care facility in Gardner. The last thing he sees before he falls sleep, and the first thing he sees when he awakes, is
a photograph of St. Padre Pio on his wall. On his bedside table is a rosary containing a bandage from Padre Pio’s hands, given to him in 1945. Bunten and his precious relic will be at a 7 p.m. Mass on Sept. 23 — the feast day of St. Padre Pio, and Bunten’s birthday — at Sacred Heart Parish in Gardner. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann will be the main celebrant, and pastor Father Joe Cramer will concelebrate. All are welcome to attend. There will be an opportunity to venerate the second-class relic. Bunten is a lifelong Catholic, born and raised in Carsonville, now Bel-Ridge, in St. Louis County, Mo. He didn’t even finish trade school when he was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force and shipped to Italy. “When I landed in Italy, [the battle of] Anzio-Cassino was still going on, and at nighttime you could see the flares of the shells,” he said. The Germans retreated, however, and the war moved north. “I was very fortunate,” he said. “I never shot anyone, and no one shot me.” Turn to “former” on page 6
A third-class relic of St. Padre Pio is embedded in a medal attached to his rosary, but a second-class relic — a bit of a bandage that covered the saint’s hands — is contained within the crucifix. St. Padre Pio was known as a “stigmatist,” one who receives the wounds of the crucified Christ in his or her own body.