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World War
II
Dec. 7, 1941, was
a turning point for Sheil, as it was for the rest of the world.
Shortly after a communion breakfast at the Orrington Hotel,
the news came: "Pearl Harbor bombed." Almost immediately,
the men began to march, sail and fly off to war. As these
students disappeared from the campus, others, mostly men and
in uniform, took their place: R.O.T.C. officers in training,
Navy V-12 men, students in the naval flight and radio schools.
Sheil meetings
were now filled with servicemen, and the club became the principal
center of activity on campus for many of them as also for
an increasing number of coeds. Father Mac was appointed auxiliary
military chaplain and given an office in the Technological
Institute. Meetings, held in the S.A.E temple or in the Harris
Hall auditorium, were often filled to capacity. Annual weekend
retreats were begun at this time, launching a long-standing
Sheil tradition. Held first at the Villa Redeemer retreat
house in Glenview, they met with enthusiastic response from
the campus servicemen.
When V-E day came,
the campus, full as it was with servicemen, erupted to celebration.
Navy men swarmed out onto Sheridan Road, blocking all the
traffic, hugging and kissing all they deemed huggable and
kissable. One car driven by a young woman was surrounded,
and to protect herself she locked the car doors. To her dismay
the men just picked up the car and deposited it on a lawn.
By the end of this
period in the life of Sheil, five of its active members had
given their lives for their country: Navy officer Bob Wiltgen;
Air force pilots Glen Phelps and Fred Williams; and Phil Kessler
and John Cooper, the Marine lieutenant who was in charge of
the famous flagraising on Iwo Jima.
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