page_title: Francis P. Duffy
section_title: Service as an Army chaplain
hierarchical_section_title: Francis P. Duffy / Biography / Service as an Army chaplain
caption_attribution_description: English: Colonel "Wild Bill" O'Donovan, left, and Father Francis Duffy, chaplain of the 69th New York, returning from France after World War 1.
context_page_description: Francis Patrick Duffy was a Canadian American soldier, Roman Catholic priest and military chaplain.
  Duffy served as chaplain for the 69th Infantry Regiment, a unit of the New York Army National Guard largely drawn from the city's Irish-American and immigrant population. He served in the Spanish–American War, but it is his service on the Western Front in France during World War I for which he is best known. Duffy, who typically was involved in combat and accompanied litter bearers into the thick of battle to recover wounded soldiers, became the most highly decorated cleric in the history of the United States Army.
  Duffy Square – the northern half of New York City's Times Square between 45th and 47th Streets – is named in his honour.
context_section_description: Already well known in theological circles, Duffy gained wider fame for his involvement as a military chaplain during World War I, when the 69th New York ("The Fighting 69th") was federalized again and redesignated the 165th U.S. Infantry Regiment. When the unit moved up to the front in France, Duffy accompanied the litter bearers in recovering the wounded and was frequently seen in the thick of battle. Recognized by the regimental commander, Lieutenant Colonel William "Wild Bill" Donovan – who would go on to found the OSS in World War II – as a key element in the unit's morale, Duffy's role in the unit went beyond that of a normal cleric: the regiment was composed primarily of first- and second-generation Irish immigrants from New York City, many of whom wrote later about Duffy's leadership. Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur stated later that Duffy was briefly considered for the post of regimental commander.
  For his actions in the war, Duffy was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal, the Conspicuous Service Cross (New York State), the Légion d'Honneur (France), and the Croix de Guerre. Father Duffy is the most highly decorated cleric in the history of the U.S. Army.
  Following the war he wrote Father Duffy's Story, which grew out of a manuscript originally started by Joyce Kilmer, the poet and convert to Catholicism who had joined the regiment and had become a close friend to Duffy. When Kilmer was killed in France, he was working on a history of the regiment's involvement in the war, which Duffy intended to continue, but Duffy was prevailed upon to include his own reminiscences.
caption: Father Duffy (right) with Colonel Donovan upon their return from France
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