Song's origin

I greatly enjoy Mel Damski’s columns, but I think he misstepped by criticizing the World War II song “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,” describing it as a case of “killing in the name of God.”

The song described an incident during the Japanese Empire’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which killed thousands of American men, women and children in and around the Navy base there and brought the U.S. into the war. One ship in harbor had cut off its electricity because a turbine was being replaced – so ammunition for the anti-aircraft guns, to defend against the attack, had to be carried up manually by a kind of bucket brigade. The ship’s chaplain, a Fr. Forgy, reportedly encouraged the weary and discouraged sailors by crying out “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!”

The song based on this event gilded the lily quite a bit, describing the chaplain (“sky pilot” in the slang of the time) as manning the gun himself. That never happened. But in any case, it had nothing to do with “killing in the name of God.” It had to do with defense of the innocent, and bravery under fire.

Richard Doerflinger

La Conner