OBITUARY: The Rev. Michael Horoshko, Canadian chaplain during World War II (07/28/02)

OBITUARY: The Rev. Michael Horoshko, Canadian chaplain during World War II

by Myron Momryk

OTTAWA - The Rev. Michael Horoshko, Ukrainian chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces during World War II, passed away on May 31 at the age of 90.

Michael Horoshko was born on March 3, 1912, in Drozdovychii Horodok, outside of Lviv. When he graduated from the gymnasium (high school) in 1932, western Ukraine was under Polish administration. As a student, he took part in underground nationalist political meetings. He studied for the priesthood at the Ukrainian Catholic Theological Academy in Lviv, and graduated in 1937.

He was ordained on May 30, 1937, at Zhovkva by Bishop Basil Ladyka for missionary work with the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada. With five other Ukrainian Catholic priests, the Rev. Horoshko arrived in Montreal on July 12, 1937. His first assignment was Hafford, Saskatchewan.

Father Horoshko became actively involved with the local Ukrainian community and in October 1938, he founded the Ukrainian Catholic Youth (UCY) movement. From 1939 until 1941, Father Horoshko was the parish priest in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and also served other Ukrainian communities in northern Saskatchewan.

Later, in 1941-1942, he studied at St. Michael's College in Toronto, where he improved his English and assisted the local Ukrainian Catholic clergy. He also worked among the Ukrainian Catholic youth, organizing UCY branches in Toronto. He continued his studies at the University of Saskatchewan during 1943-1944 and was a lecturer at the Markian Shashkevych Institute.

The Ukrainian Canadian community took an active part in the Canadian war effort and approximately 40,000 Ukrainian Canadians served in the Canadian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian Canadian Committee campaigned to appoint Ukrainian chaplains in the Canadian Armed Forces. On May 31, 1944, the Rev. Horoshko responded to his bishop's call for volunteers and on June 22, 1944, he was officially enrolled in Regina, Saskatchewan. In addition to his uniform, he received his "mass kit," a durable suitcase with the necessary articles for celebrating liturgy. His vestments were made by the local members of a Ukrainian Catholic religious order.

The Rev. Horoshko received his military training in Brockville, Ontario, and graduated from the officers' training course on August 26, 1944. He arrived in England on October 18, 1944, and was stationed at Queen Victoria Barracks in Aldershot. Since Ukrainian Canadian servicemen and women were serving in all Canadian units, he began a schedule of visits throughout England that included units of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Canadian Navy.

In London, he soon established contacts with the Ukrainian Canadian Servicemen's Association (UCSA). At the UCSA he met Father Samuel W. Sawchuk, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church chaplain who arrived in England from Canada a few months earlier. He met many friends and former parishioners including members of the UCY. Whenever he visited the UCSA Club in London, there were usually many letters and packages waiting for him. Ukrainian Canadian organizations sent packages for the soldiers including some from the UCY branches that the Rev. Horoshko had organized in Saskatchewan and Ontario.

Almost all of the Ukrainian Catholic soldiers were listed in the official records as Roman Catholics, and the Rev. Horoshko had to regularly request personnel lists to compile his own list based on the Ukrainian names. Ukrainian soldiers who served in British, Polish and American units also attended his services. On one occasion he visited Ukrainian Canadian soldiers who were held in military prisons as inmates and as guards. For Christmas and Easter celebrations, the Rev. Horoshko made special arrangements for Ukrainian Canadian soldiers to attend religious services at the UCSA Club in London, which were the best attended events at the club.

He regularly visited hospitals where he met with wounded soldiers. On another occasion, he was invited by hospital staff to meet a Ukrainian Canadian soldier with a head wound who did not respond to the medical staff. Every known method was attempted to communicate with the soldier. However, when the Rev. Horoshko spoke to him in Ukrainian, the soldier came out of his condition, answered and began to talk with the staff. The Rev. Horoshko also performed funeral services at the gravesites of Ukrainian soldiers buried in various military cemeteries in England.

With the end of the war in Europe, the Rev. Horoshko was faced with a new series of problems. Many Ukrainian Canadian soldiers submitted requests to marry the local British girls. He was personally opposed to these marriages and did his best to discourage them.

In July 1945, the Rev. Horoshko organized a five-day religious retreat for the Ukrainian Canadian soldiers. The retreat was a success and the soldiers gave the Rev. Horoshko a hand-carved souvenir with a list of their signatures. On August 15, 1945, the war with Japan was over and Ukrainian Canadian soldiers who had served in the Far East and in India were returning through London. The UCSA continued to welcome Ukrainian soldiers from all the Allied armed forces.

On September 21, 1945, the Rev. Horoshko received permission to visit Ukrainian Canadian soldiers on the continent. He visited Canadian units in Holland, Belgium and Germany. In addition to holding religious services, he also visited military cemeteries and blessed the graves of Ukrainian Canadian soldiers. He also encountered the familiar problem of soldiers wishing to marry the local girls, and he continued his policy of refusing permission. In some cases he charged the applicants as disciplinary problems and they were sent home to Canada before other soldiers.

It was in the British zone that he met for the first time with Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons who were in a desperate situation and feared being forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union. He intervened with the Allied military authorities when possible and did his best to assist the refugees. He returned to England on November 4, 1945. He continued his schedule of visits to Canadian units waiting for repatriation to Canada.

He celebrated Ukrainian Christmas at the UCSA Club in London and on January 11, 1946, he received instructions for his return to Canada. He returned through the United States and visited Ukrainian communities in New York and Philadelphia. In Canada, the Rev. Horoshko visited Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary, where he was officially discharged on March 3, 1946 from the Canadian Army with the rank of captain.

The Rev. Horoshko returned to his work as a parish priest and was assigned to the Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Sudbury, Ontario. During this period, the Communist Party of Canada was very active among the Ukrainian communities, in northern Ontario and Quebec, and the Rev. Horoshko conducted a determined anti-Communist campaign in these communities speaking at local service clubs and voluntary organizations.

He later served in parishes in Kirkland Lake, Windsor and Montreal. In 1961, he began to organize St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Phoenix, Ariz. In 1983, the Rev. Horoshko became the pastor of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Mahonoy City, Pa. He was named pastor emeritus in 1990.

After he retired, the Rev. Horoshko visited his surviving family and friends in Ukraine whom he had not seen since he left in 1937. He particularly enjoyed visiting friends and military comrades in Canada. The Rev. Horoshko maintained his membership in the Ukrainian Canadian Veterans' Association and, when possible, he wore his Canadian Legion jacket.

He lived in retirement in Mahonoy City and later at the Seaton Manor Nursing Home where he passed away on May 31. His funeral was held on June 4, and interment was at the parish cemetery Mahonoy City.

The Rev. Horoshko donated his papers to the National Archives of Canada in 1988 and his mass kit with church vestments was donated to the Canadian War Museum.

Myron Momryk is project archivist, Canadian Archives Branch, at the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa.

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