Gen. Patton’s chaplain to be honored at Afton ham-radio event
The Stillwater Amateur Radio Association is holding a special event this weekend at Belwin Conservancy’s Savanna Center in Afton to honor the Rev. George Metcalf.
“Remembering Father Metcalf-WØJH” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Jan. 9-11, at the center, located at 795 Indian Trail S., which was once the home of Metcalf, an Episcopal priest who helped craft a famous World War II prayer and was a ham-radio operator under the call sign of WØJH.
The event is free and open to “anyone interested in communicating with other radio operators around the world,” said Dave Glas, past president of SARA. “This is a way for us to honor Father Metcalf,” Glas said. “We want to recognize his generosity in donating the land and his support of amateur radio and other sciences.”
Metcalf, who died in 1995, served as Gen. George Patton’s personal chaplain during World War II. He was one of two chaplains who drafted the “Weather prayer” that Patton’s troops believed ended three months of cloudy skies and rain in December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge.
Last year, Brian K. Burgess, an Episcopal bishop from Springfield, Ill., contacted SARA during the annual event. This year he plans to attend in person and operate alongside the SARA hams. He also plans to visit local clergy and officiate, with Fr. Jay Phelan, at the 10 a.m. Sunday service at Stillwater’s Ascension Episcopal Church.
For more information about the SARA event, go to radioham.org.
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