When World War II began in 1941/42 the parish did its part to support the war effort. In January of 1942 every family in the parish was asked to bring books to be given to our forces in the field. St. Anthony was designated as a First Aid Post and on Tuesday nights First Aid Classes were taught by the Red Cross to our parish and non-Catholic neighbors (Catholic Sentinel, 1/22 and 2/26/1942). On Thursday nights, the southwest company of the Veterans’ Air Raid Patrol met for drill. In Feb 1942, the girls of St. Anthony’s entertained the boys of the Air Base and those of the 29th Engineers at a dancing party in the parish hall. An orchestra from St. Philip Neri’s Parish played the music (CS, 2/12/1942). In April, St. Anthony held their Italian Spaghetti Dinner which cost $.25 for admission. The dinner included cards and prizes (CS, 4/16/1942). On Sunday, Oct. 4, 1942 the parish celebrated its silver jubilee. The silver jubilee of our mother church, Our Lady of Sorrows’ parish took place six weeks earlier. At our silver jubilee Mass, Father Clancy presided and a number of our former pastors took part in the following roles: Deacon, Rev. George Sniderhon, Subdeacon, Rev. Louis Sander master of ceremonies, Rev. Cornelius Shea. The Sermon was preached by Rev. Charles M. Smith, founder of our parish (CS, 9/17/1942).By Oct. 1942, St. Anthony of Padua already had 42 boys in the service. Devotions in honor of St. Anthony were held every Tuesday night, including special prayers to our Lady for our boys. On Sunday mornings, the Sisters from St. Stephen’s taught Catechism Classes for public school children (CS, 10/01/1942). The War had an impact on our 1942 Christmas Celebration. During the first two Christmas Masses the church had to be in comparative blackout in accord with the rules of the 9th Corps Area. Only candles and small lights illuminated the Holy Sacrifice (CS, 12/17/1942). At the start of 1943, there were 28 altar boys and 18 girls singing in the choir (CS, 2/11/1943). Fr. Clancy would take the Altar Boys every year to the Vaughn Street Ball Park (NW 24th and Vaughn) to watch a baseball game. Often called “Lucky Beavers Stadium,” this was the home of Portland’s Minor League Baseball team (Portland Beavers) from 1901-1956.The first bad news on the war front in 1943 was that Private Robert W. Abbott had been declared missing in action since February 17 in Tunisia. He was a part of the first troops to make the North African invasion. The whole parish sympathized with Mrs. Abbott who was a World War I nurse and whose husband died on Feb 6, 1942 as a result of World War I wounds (CS, 4/15/1943). It was found out later that Robert was in a German prisoner of war camp. After almost 2 years in the camp he was liberated in a prisoner exchange and sent to a hospital in Denver, CO. He died 18 months later on July 19, 1946. His funeral was at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish. In May 1943, a Service Flag was made for our parish by the Sisters of the Precious Blood (This convent is currently the location of St. Andrew’s Memory Care– 7617 SE Main St.) Service flags were a regular sight in the windows of homes of the parents of those away at war. They were usually white, with a red outer border and had blue stars that represented each person serving in the war. Blue stars were changed out to gold when word arrived of the death of one of those serving. Our parish service flag had blue stars for our 73 boys from St. Anthony’s in the service (CS, 5/06/1943). In the Spring of 1943, St. Anthony’s new Boy Scout troop, No. 77, went on a camping trip at Mt. Hood National forest on Lake Eena (Now Enid Lake, just North of Hwy 26 near Ski Bowl), which was just secured from the government. They spent the night in 3 feet of snow and met with the U.S. forest ranger in the morning, who helped them determine the area that they would be able to define as St. Anthony’s Lake Camp (CS, 5/20/1943). They went back two months later and built a temporary altar for daily Mass and a raft from which to swim and fish. During this time, the Altar society hosted popular luncheons and card parties on Thursdays at 12:30pm. In Sept of 1943 Father Joseph P. Clancy and George Rauch, attorney and Boy Scout leader started a group called the Boy Commandos, which had the backing of the army, the navy, and the Boy Scouts. This group was “organized to provide semi-military training for pre-induction age youths and at the same time combat increasing juvenile delinquency. They hope to expand the membership from 42 to 1000 or more. Training will be given in obstacle courses, first aid and life-saving, signaling, elementary navigation and compass work, skiing and horsemanship” (Catholic Sentinel, Sept 2, 1943). The name “Boy Commandos” might have been based on the Comic with the same name that came out in June of 1942. The comic depicted a boy gang who fought the Ratzies (a pseudonym for Nazis). In November, Life Magazine came out to take photos of 100 marching Commandos in the streets around the church (CS, 11/18/1943). On November 4, 27 year old A.A.F. pilot Second Lieutenant M. (Jack) Morgan was killed in a mid-air collision when his P-40K Warhawk struck another P-40 over Mokalbari, India (cf ancestry.com). Jack Morgan’s wife baptized their daughter three weeks after her Father’s death. In November, Sgt. John Joseph Smith was declared missing in action when the B-17 bomber on which he was serving as the right waist gunner went down in Tilburg, Holland. His family was notified two years later on Aug 17, 1945 that he was declared dead. On a positive note, various servicemen came home for the holidays and spent time with family and friends. The Catholic Sentinel reported: “Home from Africa and Sicily is Corp. Bob Wilson, spending his furlough with his parents. Also home, from the Pacific fleet, is Dale Riehl” (CS, 12/09/1943). Dale’s parents, Nicholas and Clara, lived close to the parish and had 6 sons. 5 out of the 6 went to war (the youngest was too young to serve). Three were in the Navy and 2 were in the Army. All of Nicholas and Clara’s children were Confirmed at St. Anthony. April 1944 witnessed some changes to St. Anthony’s Parish Hall: It was redecorated in white and French green, with matching crimson and ivory drapes, ready for the next luncheon (CS, 4/06/1944). Some renovations were done in April to the back lots of the parish by the Holy name men of the parish. They built a tennis and basketball court for the children of the neighborhood (CS, 4/20/1944). The September Hot lunch featured the card game bridge, “500” with a 35 Cent admission (9/07/1944). Archbishop Howard paid us a visit in November to Confirm 40 of our students at a Mass sung by the adult choir under the direction of Margaret Tacchella. Margaret eventually married Carl Fite and was the president of the Altar Society for a number of years in the 1970’s. At this time, the parish also had a 35 member girl choir under the direction of Mrs. Ted McInnis. The Men of the Holy Name Society sponsored a Thanksgiving Turkey Card Party and raised enough money to buy $500 worth of war bonds and distribute the rest to other worthy causes: Catholic Literature for the Parish, the Boy Scout Troop and the Holy Name Fund (CS, 12/14/1944). The Christmas Season of 1944 brought us news of our serviceman. As the Catholic Sentinel detailed: “Happily welcomed to our homes and hearts during the holidays were First Lt. Gerard Heard (25 years old), from 50 bombing missions out of Italy; Cpl. Carl Brumbaugh (26 years old), wounded at Attu, home from China; Chief Electrician’s Mate Louis Michaud (23 years old), U.S.N., torpedoed in the Philippines; Steward Francis McDonnell (25 years old), M.M., who just rode a cargo of explosives to the Carolines; Cpl. Joe Gaggero (25 years old), from two years in Iceland; S/St. Mickey McDonald of the marines, wounded in the islands; Bill Van der Berg, U. S. Coast Guard, back to sea; Billy Mascott, U.S.N., back to Pacific; Cpl. Miller Limbach (34 years old) of the tank corps…. Most of these boys are former altar boys. It is hoped they will come home soon again—to stay” (CS, 1/18/1945). When the war in Europe ended on May 8 (V-E Day) the nation celebrated!! The following Sunday we had an exceptional group of parishioners at our exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all afternoon (CS, 5/17/1945). At the end of the month, St. Anthony collected 390 pounds of clothing for the United Nations Clothing Drive for War Victims (CS, 5/31/1945). The War against Japan finally ended on August 14, 1945!! The Catholic Sentinel at that time commented that the war had begun on Dec 7, the Eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the war ended on August 14, the Eve of another Feast of Mary–the Assumption of Mary (CS, 08/23/1945).