Duffy's War: Fr. Francis Duffy, Wild Bill Donovan, and the Irish Fighting 69th in World War I

by Stephen L. Harris

Richard O’Neill was there, although neither Green nor Woollcott had singled him out among the veterans. New York’s most decorated hero of the Great War, O’Neill owed much to Duffy. The chaplain had indeed comforted him on the battlefield, heard his confessions and later, after the war, had gone against the bias of his church and married the young sergeant from Harlem to his protestant sweetheart. Duffy said to her at the altar, “You’re a Christian and a good woman.” And that was all the priest needed to know. He later christened their son; whom they named after the child’s godfather, William Donovan.13 When the

My Godfather "Russell Bliss" Uncle: Richard O'Neill