Dole Institute dedication: Last surviving D-Day chaplain to lead interfaith service

LAWRENCE -- The last surviving chaplain at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, will be the featured speaker during an interfaith worship service to be conducted during next month's dedication of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas.

George Russell Barber, the only living chaplain to survive D-Day, will lead the service at 10 a.m. Sunday, July 20, at the Lied Center of Kansas.

Eight Lawrence churches will come together for "Service above Self," a ceremony that will commemorate the people who served the United States in World War II, said Peter Luckey, pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church and co-chair of the service.

"I think it will be very stirring," Luckey said. "Giving to a cause greater than yourself is a theme that resonates with people of all different faith backgrounds."

Jim Dunkin, co-chair of the event and pastor of First Presbyterian Church, said the service would recognize the veterans while focusing on worship.

"The purpose of the service is to worship God," Dunkin said. "The veterans are a wonderful illustration of service above self as we worship God."

Barber began his career with the Army's 11th Horse Cavalry in October 1941. At the time, he was the youngest chaplain serving in any branch of the military. He was one of four chaplains to make the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach.

Barber also served during the Battle of the Bulge and comforted hundreds of injured and dying soldiers on many European battlegrounds.

While at the Dole Institute dedication, Barber also will tell his war stories in the "Memory Tent" at 4 p.m. Sunday, July 20. For more information about the Memory Tent, visit www.ur.ku.edu/News/03N/JuneNews/June10/dolememory.html.

After returning home in 1945, Barber chose to remain in the reserves, but he switched to the Air Force in 1947. During his tenure with the 452nd Military Airlift Wing (Res.), Barber served two years in Japan and Korea during the Korean War. Later, he counseled air crews leaving for battle in Vietnam.

Barber also was a key figure in establishing World Vision, one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world today.

Luckey said Barber's insight into the events of WWII and connection to the soldiers who fought would bring a deeper meaning to the service.

"He has memories of being with the men who were wounded and dying in the invasion," he said.

The Dole Institute service will celebrate Barber and his fellow veterans with the Kansas Brass and combined choirs performing patriotic hymns.

Besides Plymouth Congregational Church and First Presbyterian Church, other participating Lawrence congregations will include First United Methodist Church, Trinity Lutheran Church, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), St. John the Evangelist Church, Unity Church of Lawrence and the Clinton Parkway Assembly of God.

Several of the local churches will either cancel or modify the schedules of their normal services to take part in the Dole interfaith service. Questions about services may be directed to individual churches.

For more information about the interfaith service, contact Luckey at (785) 843-3220 or Dunkin at (785) 843-4171.

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The three-day Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics dedication program, slated for July 20 through 22, will include a World War II air parade, military vehicle display and fashion show; a re-created USO-style performance; an evening of dancing to the Glenn Miller Orchestra; and an outdoor band concert as well as the formal dedication. Among the dignitaries attending the events will be former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, author of "The Greatest Generation."