World Battlefronts: MEN AT WAR: Tempi* le Rebuilt

St. Michael’s Cathedral at Alexishaven, a modest pile, was nevertheless one of the oldest buildings in New Guinea, which meant that it was around 50 years old. And it was a church; B-25 pilots disliked the job of destroying it. But it looked as if they would have to do it: Fifth Air Force intelligence learned that it was being used by the Japs as a military storehouse.

The flyers consulted their chaplain, the Rev. Eugene J. Reilly, and he dispelled their qualms: the Japs were “using a house of God to do the work of His enemies.” The cathedral was blasted. Within two days the airmen had raised $800 and turned it over to Father Reilly to help “build a new and greater St. Michael’s after the war.” By prevailing Melanesian building standards and wage rates, there should be some change left over to endow the postwar cathedral.