Prelude to War

By 1940, Europe was a much different place. Hitler had succeeded not only in rebuilding Germany but in conquering most of the continent as well. Britain was dangerously close to invasion, and the United States was reluctant to get involved in what many saw as a European problem. Rev. McDonald was aware of the evils of Hitler and sympathetic to the plight of Europeans. From his post at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon, he became an early proponent of American intervention. He joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and was stationed at Ft. Mason, San Francisco, as an Army chaplain.

Having taken so staunch a public stand against both Nazism and Japanese Imperialism I felt I must be ready to serve with those actively sharing battle risks … I was truly becoming the soldier I had hoped to be.

–Fred McDonald