Joao Baptista DeValles was born in 1879, in Saint Miquel in the Azores. At the age of 2 his family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. His first name anglicized to John, he quickly proved himself a brilliant student, eventually becoming fluent in six languages. Ordained a priest in 1906, he served at Falls River, at Espirito Santo Church, founding the first Portuguese language parochial school in the United States while he was there. He later served at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in New Bedford, and was pastor at Saint John the Baptist Church, also in New Bedford.
Parish Pastor to Soldier Priest
After the entry of the U.S. into World War I, he joined the Army as a chaplain, serving with the 104th Regiment, a Massachusetts National Guard outfit. It was part of the Yankee (26th) Division, made up of National Guard units from New England. The Yankee Division arrived in France in September 1917, the second American division to arrive “Over There.”
The 104th was a hard fighting outfit, serving in all of the major campaigns of the American Expeditionary Force. For heroic fighting at Bois Brule in April, 1918, the French government awarded the regiment a collective Croix de Guerre, an unprecedented honor for an American military unit. There were quite a few very brave men in the 104th, and among the bravest of the brave was Chaplain DeValles. For his heroism in rescuing wounded, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest decoration for valor in the United States Army. Here is the text of the citation:
104th Infantry Regiment, 26th Division, A.E.F. Date of Action: April 10 – 13, 1918 Citation: The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to John B. De Valles, Chaplain, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Apremont, Toul sector, France, April 10 to 13, 1918. Chaplain De Valles repeatedly exposed himself to heavy artillery and machine-gun fire in order to assist in the removal of the wounded from exposed points in advance of the lines. He worked for long periods of time with stretcher bearers in carrying wounded men to safety. Chaplain De Valles previously rendered gallant service in the Chemin des Dames sector, March 11, 1918, by remaining with a group of wounded during a heavy enemy bombardment. General Orders No. No. 35, W.D., 1920.
“Angel of the Trenches”
One of the many horrors of the trench warfare of World War I, was the plight of wounded soldiers trapped in “No Man’s Land.” Night after night, Father DeValles would go out to rescue Allied and German wounded, risking his life to save theirs. After one such mission he was found the next day wounded and unconscious, next to a dead soldier he had been trying to aid. The newspapers began to refer to him as the “Angel of the Trenches.” The French government recognized his heroism with the Croix de Guerre, and membership in the Legion of Honor.
He was known to the men of the 104th as “Father John.” For his courage and good humor he was popular with his fellow soldiers. He would routinely make “loans” to the men of the 104th who needed assistance, after making certain that the money would not be used for immoral purposes. He recorded the “loans” meticulously, but when Pay Day rolled around, he would invariably tell his orderly to rip out the page of his journal containing the “loan” record.
Father DeValles’ life was brief after his service in World War I. His health had been wrecked by his wounds during the war, and especially by the mustard gas he had breathed in. He died on May 12, 1920 at age 41, a few hours before his Distinguished Service Cross arrived. All of New Bedford mourned his passing.
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Another 12% of Palestinians said they believe that the goal of the “intifada” was to release prisoners held by Israel.
What is notable, is that only 11% of respondents said that the true goal of the “intifada” should be to “liberate” only those territories captured by Israel in 1967.
In other words, approximately half of Palestinians believe that the goal of the “intifada” should lead to the destruction of Israel.
The poll, conducted by the Watan Center for Studies and Research, found that 48% of the Palestinians interviewed believe that the real goal of the “intifada” is to “liberate all of Palestine.”
A public opinion poll published last week refutes Abbas’s claim that Palestinians are committing terrorist attacks out of “despair and frustration.”
They seem to have been influenced by the romantic notion of Abbas’s repeated fictitious claims that Jews were plotting to destroy the mosque, followed by high-flown fantasies of themselves as heroes charging forth to rescue it.
If you look through the social media accounts of these young terrorists, many have said that they set out to kill Jews to “defend” Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Contrary to Abbas’s outrage, no one has yet found even one terrorist who claimed to have attacked a Jew out of “despair and frustration” at the “lack of a political horizon.”
Those young Palestinians are also tragic victims of the poisonous campaign of the inflammatory anti-Israeli language emanating from Palestinian leaders such as Abbas, mosque preachers, news outlets and social media.
Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas. This is, as Abbas knows, exactly the type of incitement that prompts Palestinian teenagers to grab a knife, run out into the street and murder the first Jew they see.
Abbas, his spokesmen and PA-controlled media outlets also have also repeatedly been telling Palestinians that Israel is committing “war crimes” and “summary executions” of innocent Palestinians.
He condemned Jews for “defiling the Aqsa Mosque with their filthy feet.”
Throughout the past year, Abbas has been telling his people that Israel was planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and “change the Arab and Islamic character and identity” of Jerusalem.
This is yet another instance in which anyone could have predicted what was going to happen.
But Abbas seems intentionally to be ignoring that it is he and his Palestinian Authority who are responsible — together with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions — for the violence, as a result of their daily incitement against Israel.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly claimed during the past few weeks that the terrorists are setting out to kill Jews out of “despair and frustration” and the lack of a “political horizon.”
The Palestinians also have not been able to agree on the motives behind the stabbing, shooting, firebombing and car-ramming attacks.
The Palestinians cannot even agree on a name for their campaign. Some are referring to it as an “intifada,” while others are describing it as a “Habba Jamahiriya” [“popular puff,” or “flurry”].
As the current Palestinian campaign of terrorism against Israel is about to enter its third month, it is still not clear to many what the Palestinians are trying to achieve.
Their goal: annihilate the Jewish State. By: Bassam Tawil, The Gatestone Institute.
The wave of terror attacks against Jews in Israel receives broad support from the Palestinian street, and is fueled by daily incitement by the Palestinian leadership.
THEIR HOMELAND FOR GIVING SATANISTS PHARISEES ENLIGHTENED SPA FED A Pretext to kill TOGETHER TO HIS HOMELAND! HERE’S WHY YOU ARE BECOME A SLAVE, hopeless, PAYING HIS MONEY TO INTEREST!
do not want to have a home and want to live as parasites in the Nations, but many saints Jews, the majority, they do not go for fear of terrorism and lack of space!
which are the first who spat is Israel, because moneylenders Enighetened Masons bankers, etc ..
ONLY ONE STUPID CAN REFUSE TO ALL THE JEWS OF THE WORLD