Father William Martin Carroll, CSsR

The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps was officially authorized on July 29, 1775, and 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the Corps. In honor of this milestone, we celebrate the legacies of Rev. Hansen Bergen and Father William Carroll, CSsR, who served as chaplains with Base Hospital 50 in Mesves, France, from August 1918-January 1919.

Father William M. Carroll, CSsR

"Priests Asked to Volunteer"

In addition to the medical staff, nurses, and enlisted men of Base Hospital 50, many of whom were from the greater Pacific Northwest region, two chaplains were also assigned to the unit: one Protestant and one Catholic; Reverend Hansen Bergen, a Presbyterian minister, and Father William Carroll, a Redemptorist priest. 

When the United States officially entered the Great War, the country did not even have a standing Army. As a result, as the Army and other military branches began developing their fighting forces, they also realized that considerable support personnel were needed, including chaplains. Chaplains had been part of America’s military since the Revolution; however, before World War I, they were appointed to individual regiments and not organized as a specific corps.

In 1917, Congress appropriated more than $1,000,000 for the recruitment of clergy for the armed forces. Men younger than 40 and in good health were sought.  Successful candidates were to be paid $2,200/year for overseas duty. Fr. Carroll, at 45, was older than the recruiting parameters, but may have been selected because he met other criteria.

The Right Reverend Patrick J. Hayes, D.D. (later Archbishop of New York), was tasked with recruiting hundreds of priests as commissioned officers or chaplains to serve during World War I. Although commissioned as first lieutenants, chaplains wore Latin crosses in place of rank insignia to appear less militaristic in the hopes of establishing a better rapport with the enlisted men. The Army estimated upwards of 40% of its soldiers were Catholic and set out to recruit over 500 priests. Local dioceses were advised to release priests for Army service. One such priest to answer Bishop Hayes' (and the nation's) call was Father William Carroll, then a parish priest at Most Holy Redeemer Parish in Detroit.

Irish-born Fr. Carroll was a Redemptorist priest who had immigrated to the United States in 1896. The oldest child of John Carroll, a clerk, and his wife, Ellen Ahern, who were married in County Limerick, Ireland, on February 3, 1871, William Martin Carroll was born on November 8, 1872, on Pennywell Street, in the city of Limerick. The following day, William was baptized at St. John's Cathedral just a few short blocks away. William was followed by siblings Mary Catherine (known as Mary Kate; 1874), Ellen (1878), and Edward Joseph (1880). John Carroll's occupation was recorded as a draper in subsequent birth records. 

The origins of Fr. Carroll's vocation are unknown, but he benefited from an extensive education before entering the priesthood, despite his family's modest background. Personnel records note that he was educated at the Christian Brothers' School and High School, as well as Mungret College in Limerick, and later attended Maynooth Seminary, which was then part of the Royal University in Dublin.

In 1896, at the age of 23, William Carroll left Ireland bound for the New World, arriving in New York City on the RMS Lucania on August 22, 1896. The ship's passenger manifest does not note his intended destination following his arrival, but Redemptorist records indicate he began receiving theological training at the Redemptorist Seminary in Kirkwood, Missouri, soon after his arrival.

Officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris, abbreviated CSsR), the Redemptorist order was founded in 1732 by St. Alphonsus Liguori to work among the poor and abandoned in the mountains of Southern Italy. Members of the Redemptorist order began ministering in Ireland in 1851, beginning at St. John’s Cathedral in Limerick. Primarily a missionary order, the Redemptorists focus on preaching the Gospel, especially to the poor, and are known for their special devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. The original icon was entrusted to the order's care by Pope Pius X in 1865.

Perhaps Fr. Carroll's early exposure to Redemptorist fathers inspired his interest in the priesthood. He began his studies as a novitiate under Father Augustine Ahlert until he was transferred to the seminaries at Rock Church (St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church, St. Louis) and De Soto, Missouri. Having received some seminary training in Ireland, William was not required to complete the full course of studies, and he made his profession on October 15, 1897. The Redemptorists have been present in North America since 1832 and were well-established by the time William Carroll was ordained on July 25, 1900, by fellow Irishman Archbishop (and later Cardinal) John J. Glennon in Kansas City, Missouri. Fr. Carroll said his first Mass there at the seminary in Kansas City. 

Fr. Carroll, Kansas City, 1897

Following his ordination, Fr. Carroll began a productive and well-traveled career. Over the next eighteen years, Fr. Carroll was posted to parishes in Denver, Colorado; Fresno, California; Kirkwood, Missouri; St. Louis, Missouri; and New Orleans, Louisiana. He coordinated building projects, delivered commencement addresses, advised young women to "look before you leap" when considering marriage, officiated at Knights of Columbus breakfasts, and performed a variety of other pastoral duties, including saying Mass, hearing confessions, visiting the sick, and more. 

When the recruitment of priests to serve as chaplains began, Fr. Carroll was released from his duties as a parish priest in Detroit. Upon enlisting, Fr. Carroll initially served as a chaplain for three months with the Knights of Columbus at Kelly Field, one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established during World War I. Following his commission as First Lieutenant on August 1, 1918, at Detroit, Michigan, he was assigned to serve as a chaplain with Base Hospital 50. He departed for Europe with a group of Casuals aboard the France on August 25, 1918. (Casuals were soldiers temporarily unattached to a specific unit.) Fr. Carroll's emergency contact was listed as Rev. Christopher McEnniry, superior of the Redemptorists' St. Louis province in 1918. Coincidentally, Base Hospital 50's nursing staff traveled to Europe on the same troop transport as Fr. Carroll.

Fr. Carroll, Mesves, France, ca. 1918

Fr. Carroll, BH50 Reunion, Seattle, 1937 

  

From the time he arrived at the Mesves Hospital Center, Fr. Carroll and his fellow chaplain, Rev. Bergen, were responsible for leading worship services, administering sacraments, and performing religious rituals, including bedside prayers and end-of-life ceremonies, balancing the diverse religious needs of the patients and hospital personnel. Chaplains provided spiritual and emotional support to patients and staff, offering counseling and a calming presence during a time of tremendous stress. 

The two chaplains officiated at the funerals of soldiers, prisoners of war, and staff who died at the hospital center, carefully recording their names, service numbers, and burial locations so they could be accounted for to the Army's Quartermaster Corps. Certainly, presiding over the funerals of the five members of Base Hospital 50 who died while serving in France must have been among the more challenging duties the chaplains faced. Following the war, the bodies of those buried at the hospital center's temporary cemeteries were exhumed and reburied in one of the eight newly created cemeteries for America's war dead, or, if their families preferred, their remains were repatriated to the United States. 

Following the Armistice on November 11, 1918, Fr. Carroll served with Base Hospital 50 until it was formally disbanded in January of 1919. He continued to serve in France with the Army's Services of Supply (SOS) division until he was discharged at Camp Dix, New Jersey, on August 1, 1919. In his portrait above, taken after the war had ended, Fr. Carroll has an Advanced Sector patch (part of the SOS) on his uniform and two six-month service stripes on his sleeve.

Following his return from active duty, Fr. Carroll resumed his busy ministry, with postings in Denver and New Orleans. In 1925, while serving in Kansas City, Fr. Carroll celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination. The celebration was attended by fellow clergy who had been present at his first Mass. In addition to his clerical responsibilities, Fr. Carroll became a member of the American Legion, a veterans' organization authorized by Congress in 1919. 

After the war, like Fr. Carroll, the staff of Base Hospital also returned to their pre-war daily lives. They held a reunion every year, however, on Armistice Day, November 11, to reminisce and reconnect. Fr. Carroll, far away, was not able to attend these gatherings until 1937, when the invitation to the annual reunion noted the opportunity to "meet again our beloved Chaplain, Father Carroll, who is coming from New Orleans just to see the old gang." By this time, Fr. Carroll had been quietly retired due to declining health. He may have been gassed or suffered a bout of pneumonia during the influenza pandemic, but Fr. Carroll developed lung problems and began declining sometime after his Army service. 

The trip from New Orleans to Seattle was so arduous for Fr. Carroll that immediately upon his arrival in Seattle, he was whisked to a local hospital. "With a twinkle in his eye," Fr. Carroll joked "it was an excuse to put him in a good central place where they could pop in and talk to him." Whether it was a ploy or not, their "principal guest" received a steady stream of visitors from his former compatriots. As he reminisced about his wartime service, Fr. Carroll stated:

All of the men and women at Base Hospital 50 did a marvelous job. The hospital was a series of wooden shacks with tar-paper roofs. It rained all the time. It was cold. The roofs leaked. The doctors and nurses had an eternal fight to keeps things antiseptic and to handle the thousands of cases which came to them. But they did things. I have never had a chance to attend one of the reunions before and I am very happy to be here.

Sadly, Fr. Carroll wouldn't get another opportunity to attend one of Base Hospital 50's reunions. Just over a year later, on December 2, 1938, Fr. Carroll died of chronic myocarditis and nephritis at Mercy Hospital in New Orleans at the age of 66. He was buried at the Redemptorist Cemetery in nearby Lacombe, Louisiana. In addition to his life of service, Fr. Carroll was remembered for the kindness he extended to the many soldiers he consoled, whether American, French, or German. 

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.  

Rev. Hansen Bergen, Chaplain (Protestant), U.S.A., Seattle, WA.

The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps was officially authorized on July 29, 1775, and 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the Corps. In honor of this anniversary, we celebrate the legacies of Rev. Hansen Bergen and Father William Carroll, CSsR, who served as chaplains with Base Hospital 50 in Mesves, France, from August 1918-January 1919.

Reverend Hansen Bergen

Reverend Hansen Bergen lived a life dedicated to his country, his fellow Army men, and to the Presbyterian faith. Despite his age, he served in both World Wars and was only pulled out of active service after he sustained a service-related disability.¹ To truly appreciate the dedication he had to his work as a chaplain, it is imperative that we address the elephant in the room: his heritage.

Reverend Hansen Bergen sports a name that holds power in New York. Born on August 21, 1888, in New York, Bergen was the second-oldest son to Reverend Dr. John Tallmadge Bergen and Ellen Grace Dean. Most importantly, he was lovingly named after his ancestral grandfather, Hans Hansen Bergen. That name may sound familiar to those in New York, as Hansen’s heritage can be directly traced back to the very foundations of modern New York.

As the tenth generation of the Bergen family, he was born and briefly raised in the original Bergen farmhouse built on Bergen Island (now Bergen Beach) by founding immigrant Hans Hansen Bergen.² Hans Hansen Bergen was among the earliest settlers of the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam and was notably one of the first few Scandinavian settlers.² Despite their deeply established roots in New York, Dr. John T. Bergen, Hansen’s father, felt a calling to serve the Presbyterian Church in the Midwest. As a result, the Bergen family moved out of New York and never truly returned since. 

Bergen Beach postcard via National Amusement Park Historical Association

From census and college records, Bergen grew up in Michigan and Minnesota.^3,4 He graduated from Huron College in 1912 and received a master's degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1915. His life was particularly eventful following his graduation; not only was he ordained as a pastor for the Seattle-Brighton Presbyterian church,⁵ but he was also married to his wife, Jessie McCrindle, in 1915.⁶ Additionally, their marriage license indicates that Bergen’s wedding was officiated by his own father.⁷

In 1917, Bergen was drafted for the Great War.⁸ At the time, Bergen and his wife had just welcomed their newborn son into the world. With the inevitable fact that he was to be sent to war, Bergen resigned as pastor for the Brighton Presbyterian Church.⁹ Bergen was given the rank of 1st Lieutenant and headed to Camp Lewis, WA, where he served as camp pastor before being assigned as the protestant chaplain for Base Hospital 50 in 1918.¹⁰ Shortly after the announcement of his position with the Base Hospital, Jessie gave birth to their second child, a baby girl.¹¹

Although a chaplain was optional for Base Hospital 50, Bergen was appointed for service with the Hospital Unit.¹² As part of his chaplain duties, he was also responsible for boosting soldiers’ morale. Thus, he was appointed Athletic Officer and was put in charge of the YMCA building associated with the Base Hospital.¹²

Chaplain Bergen's notebooks,
UW, Special Collections 

      

One of his most important chaplain responsibilities was his duty to serve dying soldiers and their next of kin. During his service with Base Hospital 50, he created burial log records for soldiers who were expected to die, allowing him to conduct funeral procedures for both American and French soldiers after their passing. In his burial logs dating from September 1918 to February 1919, Bergen meticulously recorded each individual he tended to and noted their full name, religion, next of kin, cause of death, burial location, and service number. After contacting each soldier’s next of kin, Bergen would cross their name off his log. By the end of his service, he had attended to 315 soldiers: 286 American and 12 French, along with 17 additional burial sermons. Bergen’s two burial logs can be viewed in the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. 

After Base Hospital 50, he worked briefly with Base Hospital 72 until he was discharged.¹³ From his military records, Bergen served overseas from September 5, 1918, to July 7, 1919, and received an honorable discharge on July 9, 1919.¹³ 

Once Bergen returned to the United States, he returned to his family and his position as a pastor for the Presbyterian faith and subsequently accepted a position in the newly built Madrona Presbyterian church in WA.¹⁴ Additionally, he accepted captaincy in the Army Reserves during this period of peace.¹ Shortly after Bergen’s return, the couple welcomed their third child, a second girl, into their family.¹⁵ 

Sometime around 1932, Bergen moved to Wisconsin to serve at the Eau Claire Presbyterian Church until 1941, the start of WWII.¹⁶  From the occasional news article between 1920-1940, Bergen can be found taking a relatively active role in his community with the Kiwanis club and the American Legion. 

On September 1st, 1939, Nazi-Germany invaded the neighboring country of Poland. Despite the then-prominent isolationist mindset from the general American public, Bergen, at the age of fifty-four years old, returned to active service in early 1941. By July 3rd of that same year, Bergen was assigned to Camp Croft’s Station Hospital to serve as camp chaplain.¹⁷ On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. The US responded to this tragedy by declaring war on Japan and their allies. 

Artist's impression of SS Argentina, 1938–41 or 1948–58, VIA Wikipedia Commons

During the war, Bergen was Post-Chaplain at Camp Kilmer, N.J., where he oversaw the processing of chaplains for overseas duty.¹ He was later transferred to work on the S.S. Argentina as Transport-Chaplain.¹ Shortly after WWII ended, in 1946, Bergen suffered a heart attack in Grenick, Scotland.¹ This most likely led to his retirement with service-related disability with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1947.¹

Bergen lived a relatively quiet life after he retired from service. Sometime during their retirement, Bergen and his wife moved to La Jolla, California.¹⁸ In 1967, Bergen was awarded a Doctor of Humanities degree in recognition of his and his wife's generous donation of $50,000 to his alma mater, Huron College, for the construction of a new chapel and fine arts building.¹⁹ Unfortunately, his family could not celebrate this award for long, as just four months later, on September 22, Bergen suddenly passed away. He was survived by his wife, three married children, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.¹⁹ 

Solving a Photo Mystery...

In mid-July, the nurses of Base Hospital 50 received their orders to travel to New York in preparation for their departure for France. The nurses had been posted to Army camps across the U.S. for training before their deployment, gathering as a unit for the first time following their arrival in New York. While waiting for their overseas orders, the nurses had daily roll calls and training at a nearby Armory. 

They also gathered for a unit photo and a flag dedication service on August 15, 1918, before their departure. The photo's location, however, wasn't recorded in the annals of The History of Base Hospital Number Fifty. Looking at other nursing unit photos, it quickly became clear that this was an important and standard location for unit photos. As it turns out, this "mystery" wasn't much of a mystery, after all. 

Other units noted where the photo had occurred, St. Paul's Chapel, located in Lower Manhattan at 209 Broadway, New York. Adjacent to the chapel is St. Paul's graveyard, and sharp eyes will note the headstones visible in several of the unit photos, such as this group of American Red Cross nurses. The nurses were seated along a curved path, which can be seen more clearly in this view of the churchyard from the 1940s.

The identities of the two clergymen pictured in the photo with the Base Hospital 50 nurses were also of interest. An email query to the Trinity Church archives quickly yielded an identity for the rector pictured on the far left, "with the impressive facial hair", as William Montague Geer, an Episcopal vicar who was named vicar emeritus of St. Paul's in 1918. The Base Hospital 50 history provided the key to the other man, which included this detail:

“Dr. Crosby of the St. James Chapel, was a very good friend of all nurses. We had an opportunity to join French classes organized by him, and each Unit had a Dedicatory service in his Chapel.” (pg. 76.)

Thomas James Crosby served as the assistant rector of St. Paul's until 1918. In addition to serving as the chaplain to Army nurses, he was also the chaplain for the Guild of St. Barnabas for Nurses, a social and religious society founded in 1886, as an offshoot of the Anglican (Church of England) organization of the same name. Dr. Crosby can also be seen in this photo of nurses receiving French language instruction. 

Built in 1766, St. Paul's Chapel is the oldest surviving church in Manhattan. Miraculously spared from damage during the 9/11 attacks, the chapel served as a community gathering place, Red Cross center, and refuge. It continues to serve as a beacon for visitors to New York to this day, but its role during World War I as a haven for nurses en route to France is just one of the ways this historic site has witnessed history.

Photo Credit: Colin W  CC BY-SA 3.0