Elmer Heindl, 96, Priest Won Battle Stars
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The Rev. Elmer Heindl, one of the most highly decorated chaplains in World War II, died July 17 at 96 in his native Rochester.
Heindl, a Roman Catholic priest who enlisted in the Army as a chaplain in 1942, was awarded a Silver Star and a Bronze Star for ministering to war wounded while under Japanese fire during action in the Philippines and the Solomon Islands.
He later received a Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest combat medal, for his “extraordinary heroism in action” under heavy machine-gun fire during street fighting in Manila in 1945.
Heindl entered a prison watchtower under Japanese fire to offer prayers for a dying soldier, then took the body out. He returned to the tower to carry a wounded man to safety.
Two days later, Heindl crawled through enemy rocket and mortar fire to drag a wounded officer to safety.
After the war, he served in several parishes in the Rochester area.
