Aloysius Schmitt began his education at Saint Luke’s Catholic School in Iowa, and then enrolled at Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. After graduation he attended Columbia College in Dubuque, Iowa, receiving his B.A. degree in 1932. His theological studies were at the North American College in Rome, Italy, and he was ordained a Catholic Priest on December 8, 1935, celebrating his first Holy Mass at his home church in Saint Lucas. He entered military service as a U.S. Navy Chaplain, and was killed while serving on the U.S.S. Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Although his communion chalice and Latin prayer book were salvaged from Oklahoma soon after the attack, his remains were not definitively identified until September 2016. They were subsequently reinterred at Christ the King Chapel, on the grounds of Loras College, Schmitt’s alma mater in Dubuque, Iowa. Chaplain Schmitt was initially awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. It was upgraded to the Silver Star in 2017, and presented to surviving members of his family.
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Awards Received
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Silver Star
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Silver Star
Service:
United States NavyRank:
Lieutenant, Junior Grade (ChC)Division:
U.S.S. Oklahoma (BB-37)Action Date:
December 7, 1941
Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 308 (November 1942)The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Lieutenant, Junior Grade (ChC) Aloysius Herman Schmitt (NSN: 0-83472), United States Navy, for heroism involving voluntary risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy, while serving as a Chaplain on board the U.S.S. OKLAHOMA, during the attack by Japanese forces at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 7 December 1941. Chaplain Schmitt was aboard the U.S.S. OKLAHOMA when that vessel capsized and was entrapped in a compartment where only a small porthole provided outlet for escape. With unselfish disregard for his own plight, Chaplain Schmitt assisted his shipmates through the porthole. While his shipmates were in the process of rescuing him his body became wedged in the narrow opening. Realizing that other men had come into the compartment looking for a way out, Chaplain Schmitt insisted that he be pushed back into the ship so that they might escape. Calmly urging them on with a pronouncement of his blessing, he remained behind while they crawled out to safety.