Celebrating Priesthood – fr Leo P. Craig OP

On April 5, 1951 near Chunchon, South Korea, a Dominican Priest had just finished vesting for Mass. In the last moments, before he would offer the Holy Sacrifice for the Members of the 99th Field Artillery Battalion of the First Cavalry Division, he went over his homily in his mind. His mental preparation was suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion. A soldier had stepped on an unmarked landmine. Without a moment’s hesitation, the priest removed his vestments and put on his helmet adorned with a white cross and went to the scene of the incident. The priest was Fr Leo P. Craig of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in the United States, who since 1949 had been serving in the U.S. Army as a Chaplain to the First Cavalry Division.

He was born in Everett, Massachusetts in 1918. His mother died when he was five years old and his father was left with five children to raise. His aunt, a Dominican Sister, obtained dispensation to help raise the young Craig children and after the youngest had left home she returned to her convent. Leo received his BA in 1935 from Providence College and entered the Dominican novitiate at Saint Rose’s in Springfield, Kentucky. He completed his philosophy courses at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, and his theological training at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 21, 1942. He then went on to teach at the Aquinas High School in Columbus, Ohio and was appointed curate at Saint Andrew’s Parish in Cincinnati.

With U.S. forces stretched throughout the post-war world, chaplains were needed. Leo answered the call and was sent to Japan. Here he had a joyful reunion with his elder brother, who was a priest in the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. His time in Japan was short, as North Korea invaded the South in 1950. The First Calvary Division, with Leo, was sent to take part in the UN counter-offensive to retake Seoul from the alliance of the the DPRK and China. They had achieved this objective in March 1951 and began to try and drive the communist armies out of South Korea. The retreating forces left behind unmarked minefields hoping to slow down the advancing UN coalition. It was one of these mines that had exploded before Fr. Leo said Mass.

Fr. Leo arrived at the scene and was confronted with a dying soldier. The soldiers, who were already on the scene, warned Leo that the area was unsafe due to the high possibility of more mines. Nevertheless he went to the dying soldier and administered the last rites. The picture below was taken thirty-seconds before a second mine exploded and killed Fr. Leo and seven other men. Fr. Leo Craig demonstrated a great sense of duty and courage. He risked his own life to carry out his priestly duty and his pastoral obligation. He imitated the Good Shepherd and risked his life for one sheep, such was his zeal for the salvation of souls.