The document is a bound collection of monthly alumni newsletters sent by Fr. Joseph Bilstein, S.J., to alumni across the globe during World War II. Fr. Bilstein graduated from Saint Ignatius in 1919 and was serving as the Director of the Alumni Association. He requested that graduates send letters to the alumni office on Roosevelt Road stating where they were stationed and how they could be reached. Although the original letters have not been found, Fr. Bilstein faithfully compiled and published the information he received. His newsletters ranged from brief updates on where a graduate was stationed to vivid anecdotes from the front lines.

One sentence in a long paragraph listing the locations of Ignatians reads, “Joe Cella ’39 has moved to Santa Ana Air Base” and “Ed Hosek ’35 is at Ft. Lewis, Wash., and wants to be remembered to all the lads of (class) 4D of ’35.” These letters were vital connection points for alumni that offered one of the few ways which they could learn about the status of their classmates. Did they enlist? Where were they serving? Most crucially - were they still alive?

It is clear the extent to which Saint Ignatius alumni viewed these letters as a thread of hope, familiarity and home in moments of uncertainty. Bob Nolan ‘43 wrote to Fr. Bilstein, “Despite having crossed two continents, an ocean and a sea, I can always expect the Alumni newsletter.” George Pick ‘43 wrote in January of 1945, “you’ll never believe what the alumni newsletter means to boys out here.” One can imagine Bob and George, each of them fresh out of high school, opening Fr. Bilstein’s newsletter with anticipation countless miles from home.

The most striking testimony about the importance of the newsletter comes from Ernest Stumpo ‘43, which Fr. Bilstein reproduced in whole in the March 1945 newsletter: “I went all through France, Belgium, and up to Germany. There was one time when I received your newsletter sitting in a slit trench of an outpost of the Siegfried line. I just read it and read it. I prayed and prayed and received all that I asked even the sparing of my life. I brought a few followers into the Church and I have others going with me. I pray for all and I love to receive the paper. May God bless you for a work which is doing good which you can never fully realize.” 

What is clear from Ernest Stumpo’s letter is the anxiety that you could be killed at any moment. More than fifty alumni of Saint Ignatius died in the war, including Private Jeremiah Mahoney ‘43, and nearly each one of Fr. Bilstein’s letters begin with the announcement of a young man injured, missing or confirmed dead. The July 1945 letter echoes with this tragedy: “It is with deep regret that we announce that Eugene Sweeney ‘43 was killed on May 23rd at Mindanao. Gene was an honor student at school, a member of the football squad, vice-president of the Senior Class, (member of) the Ignatian staff and was chosen as the all-city Catholic high school boy for 1943.” Two summers ago, Fr. Bilstein had announced in the newsletter Gene Sweeney’s award from the Catholic Youth Organization. Now, he was announcing his death.

In an atmosphere of such loss and devastation, young Ignatians relied on their Faith to persevere. Alumni consistently wrote to Fr. Bilstein that they had visited Catholic churches abroad, tracked down Jesuit chaplains and prayed their rosaries. A note from Frank Hudon ‘42, a naval officer writing from Morocco just after Christmas of 1943, best encapsulates the power of Faith in war: “I’ll never forget the Mass at Casablanca on Christmas Eve. The Soldiers, Sailors and Marines all kneeling on the hard deck singing carols brought me nearer to Christ than ever before. The sermon was beautiful, and I could have listened for hours.”

Another way Ignatians persevered was with each other. Though alumni had been sent to all corners of the world, they often reported running into their classmates. Many writers passed on to Fr. Bilstein the whereabouts of their classmates who they’d seen or were serving with, and reported that they’d handed them a copy of the newsletter. Jim Golden’ 40 and Steve Jais ‘40 crossed paths in the Southwest Pacific in 1944 and “immediately recognized each other and immediately thought of Ignatius.” Writing from Australia, Jim Wolfe ‘35 claimed “it seems quite the usual thing to run into an Iggy man wherever you go.” 

But it was not just former students who contributed to the war. At least 10 Jesuits who’d worked at Saint Ignatius served as Chaplains. Jesuit Chaplains went to the front lines to provide spiritual counseling, say Mass (often in improvised conditions) and, regrettably, give last rites to dying soldiers. One of these Jesuits was former Saint Ignatius teacher Fr. Joseph Boggins, S.J. Fr. Boggins was the first Jesuit to enter the South Pacific area, according to Fr. Bilstein, and he appeared in a 1943 edition of Life Magazine photographed standing next to comedian Joe E. Brown. Fr. Boggins reported that he could spend “an hour reading Ignatius News Letters” and that he had run into and counseled one of his former students at Saint Ignatius.

Even in the midst of war, Fr. Bilstein still updated Saint Ignatius alumni on subjects that would be part of our alumni newsletter today: victories from the track and football teams, productions from the Harlequins, improvements of the campus and dates for alumni events. This speaks to the power of the school’s Jesuit Mission: no matter what is happening in the world  Saint Ignatius College Prep will continue to educate students in preparation for lives of Faith, love, service and leadership.

And it is the Mission of the school that reverberates throughout this document. Something that is often lost to history are the stories of those who served. We have plaques, memorials and holidays to honor those who fought, but what we miss, and what this document revives, is their voices. Their voices show how the Jesuit Mission from Saint Ignatius - to lead, to have Faith and, most importantly, to serve - helped them fight honorably in the largest war in human history.