The Captain Wears A Cross

“THIS IS A BOOK about the men of our Navy written by a man who must know as many of them, and know them as well, as anyone who ever wore the Navy’s blue. Chaplain Maguire has, as much as any man I have ever known, a talent which is rare—the talent of knowing other men, not superficially or carelessly or through a veil of personal preconception, but as they are. To the varied, exacting tasks of his profession, he brings deep sympathy for other men and wide tolerance of their human foibles.

Chaplain Maguire’s new book reflects the qualities of its author. It also reflects, to the discerning reader, the spirit which makes the United States Navy the great fighting team it is proving itself to be as I write these words. This is a book of countless stories of Navy men and of the families of Navy men. It shows them in battle and at prayer, in their homes and in their quarters. It tells alike of apprentice seamen and of admirals, because Chaplain Maguire is interested in all kinds of men. It tells of Catholics and Protestants and Jews; of serene men and worried men; of heroic death in line of duty and of long lives devoted to that same duty. There are stories in this book of that grim day at Pearl Harbor, when the men of our Navy came back fighting from a cowardly, bitter blow. There are stories of the distant days of peace, and of the closer, harder days which have come since the Japs stealthily attacked our ships as they lay at anchor.

It is a casual, discursive book and it is almost all about men of the Navy. Those who read it, if they read thoughtfully, will discover much of what our Navy is. They will better understand the fighting spirit, the heroism and the fortitude of our men, already exemplified so often and so gloriously in this war and among the best assurances of the war’s successful outcome. For the men of whom Chaplain Maguire writes are typical of our Navy. So is the officer who writes of them.”-Foreword