From the S&S archives:
Americans in Europe go to church

(Click here to view photos)

EACH SUNDAY, servicemen and their families attend religious services at one of the more than 280 chapels on Air Force bases and Army posts from Scotland to Saudi Arabia.

The building in which they worship may be a spacious modern church, the familiar stone and concrete chapel on the military reservation, a compact prefabricated wooden house of worship, or a converted quonset hut.

These buildings are unique, since Catholic, Protestant and Jewish services are often held under the same roof — sometimes only minutes apart.

In isolated troop areas, such as the lonely radar stations, chaplains visit each installation and conduct services much as did the circuit-riding ministers of America's frontier days.

Serving the spiritual needs of servicemen and their families are more than 400 dedicated Catholic, Protestant and Jewish chaplains.

Americans in Europe today are aware that freedom of worship no longer exists behind the Iron Curtain. There is a realization today that religious freedom is something that must be protected for future generations.

Each Sunday they are preserving their heritage by the worship of God in their own way.