Chaplain recounts horrors of Iraqi war

It was in the middle of the night when Father Alfonso E. Erestain was suddenly awakened by the words he prayed he would never hear.

“Mass casualties receiving! Casualties incoming!” the male nurse shouted.

The priest immediately jumped out of his “rack” or naval bed aboard the Naval Hospital Ship USNS Comfort and slipped into his standard-issue jumpsuit so he could race to the recovery room to minister to the victims. He could hear the whirring blades of the helicopters overhead as they flew the wounded to the very top deck of the 894-foot white ship with large red crosses painted prominently on her hull.

The start of the ground war of Operation Iraqi Freedom that day, March 22, was to be the first of many long nights of first-hand experiences withe the horrors of war for the 66-year-old Catholic chaplain. But it also represented a deepening of his Catholic faith, he said, helping him know evermore intimately the Passion of Christ.

Comfort returned to her home port in Baltimore on June 12 following a five-month mission near Iraq.

“Bullets are so terrible now,” said Father Erestain, a lieutenant commander and the only Catholic priest aboard the Comfort as it cruised the Persian Gulf throughout the war.

“They come in and they rip the body right through,” he explained, slowly trailing a finger along the length of his abdomen to show the power of the weapons.

The disfigured men and women the priest prayed over experienced all sorts of wounds. Some lost eyes. Others had arms or legs blown off, while many suffered severe burns. One had his stomach sliced in two and had to undergo a series of operations to sew it back together.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Comfort’s medical treatment facility helped more than 650 patients, including American servicemen of all branches of the military and about 200 Iraqi prisoners of war and Iraqi civilians. More than 600 surgeries were performed and nearly 600 units of blood were transfused — making Comfort’s blood bank the busiest in the U.S Central Command theater of operations.

Comfort has a 1,000-bed treatment facility and 12 operating rooms, with a crew of about 60 civilian mariners and 1,200 military medical personnel.

Father Erestain said his most important job was to be present for the wounded and to offer prayers of support.

“I pray for the patient to recover and I always pray that God will give strength to the medical people,” said Father Erestain, a priest of the Archdiocese of Manila who is based at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

“They are very afraid and they hope they will survive,” he added. “I promise to visit them everyday and they are happy that a chaplain is present for them.”

While Americans were grateful, the priest siad it was difficult to gage the reaction of Iraqis as he ministered to them. Because of the language barrier, he could not communicate with them beyond asking the question, “Do you believe in Allah?”

“Most were in such pain they were not capable of responding,” he said.

Father Erestain said prayer was the foundation of his work. His days began at 4 a.m. with morning prayer, followed by time ministering to a crew that was about 30 percent Catholic. He also celebrated Masses, prayed the rosary, heard confessions and prepared sailors to be received into the church.

During Holy Week, the priest said he had one of the most fervent religious experiences of his life when he participated in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for four straight hours on Holy Thursday.

“I never prayed as intensely in all my life,” said Father Erestain, a Navy chaplain for 16 years who had never served on a ship before his assignment to the Comfort.

The priest said he believes his prayers and the prayers of many others made a difference. No Americans treated on the Comfort died, he said. And only Iraqi — a young child — lost his life.

Growing up in the the Philippines, Father Erestain said he remembers as a young child witnessing Japanese soldiers execute his countrymen. As a hospital chaplain in the United States, he has seen many traumatic physical ailments. With that background, the priest was prepared for what he would face during the Iraqi war, he said.

“The religious experience I had was having a concrete connection with the Passion of Christ,” said Father Erestain, sitting on a couch in his small office aboard the Comfort. “When I was here, I saw the image of Jesus crucified — suffering with all the wounds in his body. My ministry was for the most part a religious experience. God gave me all the strength and skills to minister to them.”

Father Erestain said he was glad to be home. The Confort was welcomed by many Baltimoreans who expressed appreciation for her service, he said.

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

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