Diocesan veteran recalls experiences of faith during World War II

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
October 12, 2006

MAPLETON - With men and women overseas in the war today, a parishioner at St. Mary Parish in Mapleton took time to share his stories and faith experiences from World War II.

Wayne Seuntjens, son of the late Fred and Ida Seuntjens, was born in Danbury and is one of 11 children. He was farming and in the auction and real estate business when he was drafted into the army. He was a bachelor at the time.

He served in the army from 1942 to 1946, two years in the states and two years in Europe. He was inducted into the army at Fort Des Moines and did his basic training in Texas. When he was inducted, the base pay was $21 per month.

After training, Wayne was transferred to the air base in Long Beach, Calif., near Signal Hill.

"I was very fortunate to be drafted into the Air Force," said Wayne. "I applied to be a cook. My uncle was in World War I and was stationed in France. I asked him what would be a good job in the army. He said, 'Be a cook and get in the mess hall. It is a clean job and you always have plenty to eat.'"

From Long Beach he was sent to Camp Hahn near Riverside, Calif. then to a bomb disposal unit in Riverside. He attended mess sergeant school at Camp Stoneman where he learned about nutrition, menu planning, cooking and baking.

"Camp Stoneman was a very large base where troops arrived and then would be shipped to Japan," said Wayne. "At this camp, we fed thousands of men three meals a day in one mess hall."

He commented that 18- and 19-year old soldiers were homesick and scared and asked him to sharpen their bayonets.

"They new they were going to Japan," said Wayne.

After he finished his training, he was sent back to Long Beach and then to Palm Springs, Calif. to help open a mess hall at a new base.

"Then I was ordered to ship out to either Japan or Europe," said Wayne. "We were stationed at Newport News, Va. for about a week."

Wayne boarded the Queen Elizabeth with 5,500 troops to travel the Atlantic for 18 days to Naples, Italy.

"When we landed in Naples, they loaded us in open trucks and hauled us 10 or 20 miles to a replacement area," he said. "It was very cold. There was no electricity and no heat. We slept in tents and kept all our clothes on to stay warm."

He spent a couple weeks in Naples before being shipped to Ciampino, Italy, about 30 miles south of Rome. He was a mess sergeant there as well.

"While I was there, the pope held an audience now and then for the troops, which I did attend," said Wayne. "I shook hands with Pope Pius XII. He blessed my rosary and asked me where I was from and I said Iowa. He replied, 'Ah, corn.'"

Wayne pointed out that he carried his rosary with him through the four years that he served in the army.

"Many times I served as an altar boy using the hood of a jeep for an altar," said Wayne. "I had the opportunity to serve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Our chaplain was a real nice, young, Italian priest."

He recalled serving midnight Mass in Ciampino in a bombed out hanger with "all my clothes on to keep warm and the wind kept blowing the candles out during Mass."

Wayne mentioned that there was a "large, beautiful" monastery near Ciampino that the Germans had occupied. The Air Force bombed the monastery "to get the Germans out."

"All that was left standing was a statue 10-foot-high of the Blessed Virgin. That is all that was standing in that whole monastery," he said. "Everything else was demolished."

When the war ended, Wayne went back to Naples for a couple of weeks before going back to the United States.

"On the way to Naples from Ciampino, we went by truck convoy. The truck hauled approximately 30 men. The truck ahead of the truck I was in missed a curve and plunged into a deep ravine," said Wayne. "Many of the men were injured and killed."

He noted that when the truck he was in stopped he ran down the ravine to help the men.

"There were two Catholic boys that I went to Mass with many times," said Wayne. "They lay there dying and begged me to help them pray, which I did. They died right there."

Wayne arrived back in the states and was discharged from the army in Camp Grant, Ill. He then went back to Iowa to his family.

"If you see a soldier that has served or is serving in the war now, greet them with open arms and thank them for serving our country," said Wayne. "Many have sacrificed a lot for their country."