John Ischy graduated from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, in 1912. He then entered Princeton Seminary where he received a Master of Arts degree in 1914, and completed the divinity program the following year. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister, and he and his new wife began service in Lisbon, North Dakota, where he pastored a small church. In April 1917, he left his parish to become a U.S. Army Chaplain, serving in France with the American Expeditionary Forces and earning two Silver Stars.



