Easter Sunday: A Reflection from Jack’s Story
On Easter Sunday in 1945, Jack paused to reflect during a quiet service held near the front lines. His thoughts turned to the men around him and to home. This passage from Jack’s Story captures that moment of faith, just weeks before the war in Europe would come to an end.
“Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the
light is the same as the survival of the soul.” — Victor Hugo
Easter Sunday has always been celebrated as a day of hope and prayer.
Jack attended an Easter service with the chaplain and was thinking about the challenges he would face going forward into the Ruhr Valley. He prayed for the safety of the men under his command and an end to the war so they could all return home to their families.
Unknown to Jack, Easter Sunday services were also being held for prisoners in nearby POW camps by Protestant and Catholic chaplains who were also prisoners. The guards stood by as the services took place, with large groups attending in open fields within the prison walls.
As John Toland wrote in The Last 100 Days:
A group of American prisoners from the Battle of the Bulge were being marched from the POW camp Stalag 13 at Hammelburg (40 miles east of Frankfurt) to Bavaria. They had made it a third of the way and stopped near Nuremberg. Father Cavanaugh, a POW, came upon a small village Catholic church. He talked with the local priest and borrowed his vestments to hold High Mass at 11:00. He had not entered a Catholic church since he was captured in the Bulge. He addressed the 80 men in the church:
“This is the day that the Lord hath made; let us rejoice in it… During the past four days, we have suffered our way of the cross, and we have suffered with the Christ who was represented in the wayside crucifixes that flanked our line of march. We have many blessings to ask Our Lord for. We ask him to continue His protection of us, to keep us free from sin, to help us be better men.”
Tears ran down many cheeks, and Father Cavanaugh’s own eyes were wet.
“Easter is the feast of peace: peace between God and men, peace between nations, peace in political life, peace in home life, and peace in every child of God. Let us offer this Mass and Holy Communion so that peace may quickly come to this world.”
Looking back, it’s remarkable to realize how close they were to peace—and how far it must have felt. In those last difficult weeks, men like Jack and Father Cavanaugh turned to faith, not knowing how many more batt perfectles lay ahead. Their words still echo today: reminders that hope, prayer, and resilience can carry us through even the darkest moments. This Easter, may we honor their spirit and carry forward their vision of peace.
