Rev. Mike Dalton celebrates mass with Canadian troops in Europe during the Second World War. Dalton, who died Monday at 106, used his army Jeep as an altar.
Photograph by: File photo, The Windsor Star
Posted on 04/09/2009 8:14:15 AM PDT by Pyro7480
He was a soldier to the end. His threadbare army tunic hung on the wall, and his room was filled with religious icons, rosaries and holy pictures.
And when you spoke to him, his words were about the men he knew on the battlefields of France when he rigged up a makeshift altar on the hood of his jeep and said mass for them.
The photos from the Second World War show these anxious men kneeling, their heads bowed, silent in the muddy fields just hours before they were sent into battle....
I'm speaking about an old friend, Rev. Mike Dalton, who passed away Monday afternoon at Sacred Heart Nursing Home in Courtland, Ont. He was 106, a month shy of his 107th birthday.
This son of a Goderich farmer is the most decorated padre who ever served in the Canadian Army. He marched at the front lines with his fellow soldiers, often carrying their weapons when they tired of battle.
Besides the Military Cross for bravery, Father Dalton was the first Catholic priest to receive the Member of the British Empire. The day King George VI pinned the decoration on his tunic at Buckingham Palace, he dug deep into his pockets and handed the monarch a Catholic religious medal....
The day I met him, Father Dalton wore the Roman collar, and had a twinkle in those slate-grey eyes and a wit and a humour that bubbled out in the stories he spun for me. He loved to talk. He loved people. He loved life. He loved God. He loved being a soldier. He loved being a priest.
If there was anything he didn't like, it was losing those fathers and sons to war....
(Excerpt) Read more at windsorstar.com ...
Rev. Mike Dalton celebrates mass with Canadian troops in Europe during the Second World War. Dalton, who died Monday at 106, used his army Jeep as an altar.
Photograph by: File photo, The Windsor Star
Catholic ping!
An amazing man. A true Priest.
RIP Father Dalton. God Bless.
May he rest in the peace of our Lord after such a lengthy life of service.
“O Master, Lord our God, Who in Thy wisdom hast created man, and didst honor him with Thy Divine image, and place in him the spirit of life, and lead him into this world, bestowing on him the hope of resurrection and life everlasting; and after he had violated Thy commandments, Thou O Gracious Lover of Mankind, didst descend to the earth that Thou mightest renew again the creation of Thy hands. Therefore we pray Thee, O All-Holy Master give rest to the soul of Thy servant, Your holy priest Michael, in a place of brightness, a place of green pasture, a place of repose, and, in that he has sinned in word, or deed or thought forgive him: For Thou art a good God and lovest mankind and unto Thee do we ascribe Glory, together with Thy Father, Who is from everlasting and Thine All-Holy and good, and ever giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.”
May his memory be eternal!
A great Canadian soldier - God rest his soul!
What a great story. Thanks for posting.
it is good to recall that Canada had a very fine military tradition before Pierre Trudeau foisted Obama-style Globalist Socialism on them in the seventies. Even today many do their best to carry it on in Afghanistan. (check out the fine tributes done by Don Cherry during Hockey Night in Canada on your dish....)
what an inspiring story. Enter into your rest, chaplain.
.
Praise GOD that LOVE is the only reality,
...and GOD is LOVE.
The one thing The LOVE Itself needs more of in this world,
...is more LOVE.
And that only comes when,
...people are FREE.
.
Making for:
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~aloharonnie/
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts
.
Sadly the story is now gone.
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