November 11 @ 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm
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We are honored to announce that Fr. John Feltz will be celebrating the 5:00 PM Veterans’ Day Mass at St. Pius X Parish, Essex, November 11, 2024.
Fr. Feltz originally served with the Vermont Civil Air Patrol for 15 years when he was approached to join the Army as a Chaplain. At 49 he went to boot camp and then officer school at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. 17 years later he retired with the rank of Colonel.
“You’re a Chaplain for everybody,” he said. “I could cross the barrier for everybody.”
Fr. Feltz’s career was marked by September 11th. Three months later he held Christmas Eve mass for the soldiers on duty at the Burlington International Airport, followed by two combat missions, first to Kuwait and Iraq in 2005 and the second to Afghanistan in 2010.
In Iraq, Fr. Feltz visited soldiers at Camp Bucca, a former military prison that housed up to 3,000 inmates, including several Saddam Hussein impersonators. Father said he eventually got used to walking in a building full of people who wanted to see him dead.
Upon military retirement Fr. Feltz was awarded the Legion of Merit by the Guard and similarly recognized by the Knights of Columbus.
Immediately following Mass on Veterans’ Day the Knights will serve pizza and soda downstairs in the Fr. Murray Room. Representatives of JOSH’S HOUSE will be present to explain their services for Veterans, current service members, and their family members.
The background information contained in this press release is based on information published in the MILON INDEPENDENT, September 6, 2012, reported by Courtney Lamdin.
For more information regarding Veterans’ Day Activities at St. Pius X please contact [email protected]
63 Kiln Road
Essex Junction
VT 05452-4710
802 662 5577