The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-09-26

ner. But trip of exploration was
 necessary.
 The trip deserves more than passing mention. It was on the
 second Tuesday of July that we
 made the trip On that day the entire Chaplain Corps of nineteen priests, ministers and one Jewish, Rabbi Rabbi Nathan Witkin - were in session for the monthly conference at France Field. Some were from the Atlantic Side, some from the Pacific, so the conference had to terminate at noon. Father Joseph Koch, department chaplain received word that If we wished MT. Hernandez would drive us to the interior that very afternoon It was one-thirty before we were ready to leave and then nine of us climbed aboard & bombing plane-four priests, four ministers and the Rabbi-for our trip to the other side. We found later that for at least two of the men, including the Rabbi, 1t was their initial ven- ture with the "air-borne' sky pil- c'7. They watched the changing scenery from the glaSsed-in gum ner's turret.
 Beautiful Road Makes
 Driver Want To Go Fast
 Arriving at Balboa, we went to the Jewish Welfare, for the Rabbi was to take the trip to the inter- for with Father Koch and myself. Mir. Hernandez met us and we be- gan our seventy mile auto trip from Balboa to Fl Valle. Parts of the road were good, parts pret- ty awful. On one stretch of paved road (thlS will be the International Highway some day) Luis let the car have its head" until we were sharply awakened from our dozing by the warning blast of 8 police whistle. We thought 1t merely Q warning until about ten miles fur ther along the policeman caught up with us. A long dialogue In spanish followed, but Luis had the best alibi we ever heard. It im- pressed the policeman too. T saw this stretch of so beautiful road and I could not resist the tempta- ton to go little faster"
 The officer, stopped I1lomentar- fly resorted to another tack. But I endangered my life trying to catch you-I was going IS miles an hour" For the time being there was a stalemate until 1t was sug- gested in an indirect way that the Padres Mi!itares" were on a visit to the churches of the in- terior and that one of them was Bishop-Luis must have meant Father Koch-and certainly no good Catholic even if he were & traf- fic officer of the magnificent Pana- manian Patrol would interfere with Bishop in the discharge of his pastoral duties. The officer paused smiled at us and with & stern warning to Luis not to speed any more told him to drive on with Gods blessing. At least that is what I think he said. Neither Father Koch the Rabbi, or myself were adept enough in Spanish to interfere with Luis story and If he likened the Department Chaplain to Bishop well, 1t was his idea
 So we traveled along quietly and peacefully. Our driver was full of anecdotes here was a lovely countryside filled with orange trees and looking very prosperous. "Oh, yes," said our driver, "this is the work of one of the good Fath- CTS who lived here several years ago. He was much interested in the cultivation of oranges and whenever his congregation came to him to confess their sins he would tell them that they must be good children and for their pen- ance they would say one Hail Mary and plant three orange trees" It was practical penance and now the country side abounds in oranges.
 All Dug Up And
 No One To Bury
 Further along we came to small town with a splendidly kept cemetery. Again we had a story. The townsfolk had decided on a beautiful resting place for their dead-the grounds were laid out, enclosed and all was in readiness for the conservation. But for six months no one died. They were heartbroken as they could not have consecration without 6 funeral. What to dol One day word came from a nearby town that a man had died and his friends would al- low him to be buried in this new cemetery. What a gala occasion it was as all stopped work (not dif- ficult here). priest came to read the funeral Mass. a procession was formed and after the interment a day of fiesta was enjoyed. At last the cemetey was properly blesged with q good Catholic man decently buFied-but was he c good Cath. olic9 Alas. they found out that they had buried . Chinese Bud- dhlst with solemn Catholic cere-