By Wayne Wangstad, Pioneer Press Originally published Dec. 23, 1994 The Almighty is in many people’s thoughts around Christmastime, and that was especially true 50 years ago this week for George R. Metcalf of Afton. But Metcalf, a native of St. Paul and an Episcopal priest, had a problem. He not only had to serve the Almighty, he had to serve a man who, some say, was nearly as powerful – the irascible Gen. George Patton. “He was all kinds of an s.o.b. and he was always making remarks he was sorry for,” the 88-year-old Metcalf recalled during an interview earlier this week. “But in his own simple way, he was a religious man. You can be a religious person and not necessarily behave like a monk.” Patton was worried about something on the morning of Dec. 22 when he summoned Metcalf to his headquarters in France. Metcalf supervised 400 chaplains in Patton’s Third Army. The four-star general’s concern focused on American GIs who were shuddering under a brutal attack the Nazis had launched through the Ardennes Forest in Luxembourg and Belgium. The struggle had become known as the Battle of the Bulge. Hitler needed three key elements to succeed – surprise, speed and bad weather to keep Allied aircraft from bombing his advancing troops. When the battle began, he had all three. It was the fog and low-hanging clouds that troubled Patton when he spoke with Metcalf. The weather had cooperated with Hitler for seven days, and American aircraft had remained locked at their bases in England. “He called me up along about 8 a.m. on the 22nd of December and said, `Chaplain, this is Gen. Patton. Can you find me a prayer for fair weather?’ I said to myself, `I wonder what’s coming next?”’ Patton explained how he was losing a great many men and how his troops were stalled in Luxembourg. “I said, `Yes, General. Can I look at what we have and report back to you at 10 a.m.?”’ Metcalf remembered. Metcalf conferred with his superior, Father James O’Neill, Third Army head chaplain. O’Neill found a “Prayer for Victory” from his missal and Metcalf found an Anglican “Petition for Fair Weather” from the 1928 edition of his American Book of Common Prayer. O’Neill took their combined effort to Patton. “The chaplain came back smiling and said, `Patton likes the prayer and he is going to have a Christmas greeting printed on the side. … He must have had 500,000 copies made for distribution for everyone concerned.” Metcalf’s reaction when clear weather greeted the dawn of Dec. 23, 1944? “Thank God!” he remembered. Did the prayer, which was portrayed in the movie “Patton,” help? “All I can say is that soldiers looked up to a clear, blue sky and the American planes turning back the Nazi advance were the evidence.” “There is no question in my mind,” Metcalf continued, “that anything there is a good need for can be taken to the Lord in prayer. What he does with it is another matter. It can be answered. Or, on the other hand, it may not. But I think all prayers are answered, although in ways we may not understand.” Metcalf’s key chore while he was No. 2 chaplain for the Third Army was to hold Sunday services for the general, which frequently meant he would fly hundreds of miles to catch up with the hard-driving tank commander. “My personal relations with George Patton as a communicant of the church were always pleasant. But I never knew when he would explode. It was like sitting on a time bomb,” Metcalf recalled. The interesting part of Metcalf’s experience with Patton 50 years ago is that Metcalf did not need to be there at all. Born and raised in a home on the corner of Dale Street and Grand Avenue, Metcalf attended the St. Paul Academy and graduated from Harvard University in 1927. He attended the Harvard Business School for a year, then enrolled in the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge and was ordained in 1933. After serving parishes in Southbridge, Mass., and Boston, Metcalf was at the Episcopal Church of St. Barnabas at Irvington-On-Hudson, New York, in July 1942 when he made a fateful decision. He left the church and volunteered for service in the Armed Forces. He was 36 years old and had three children, the youngest of whom was but 3 months old. “I felt it was tremendously important for every able-bodied man to do their part to battle the Nazi approach,” Metcalf declared. “It is difficult for people today to realize how serious a thing this appeared to be to all of us. “This is something my wife and I felt, that it was my part to do whatever I could and what I could do was be a chaplain, so I volunteered. This is the way people felt by the time a year after Pearl Harbor had come and gone,” Metcalf recollected. “Other armed conflicts we’ve been in since have not had the same urgency. It seemed likely we would be defeated, there was no sure thought of victory and England was hanging by a thread.” There was no way of forecasting where Metcalf would land. As luck – or misfortune – would have it, he ended up with the 29th Infantry Division. When the Invasion of Normandy began on June 6, 1944, Metcalf was with the first wave of 29th Division soldiers that landed in France. As chaplain for the 29th Division’s 115th Infantry Regiment, Metcalf’s post was at the forward first aid station, which was “only a good football field length from the main line of resistance … my job was to live and fight with them, although chaplains don’t carry weapons, but to assure those who are frightened or in need.” “There are not many of us left now. I was exceedingly fortunate, and the only thing that came near happening to me was being drowned. I was in combat until about Aug. 6, 1944. I had developed a tumor on one foot and was flown back to England,” Metcalf said. He served the spiritual needs of American fighting men in London until Thanksgiving Day 1944, when he was asked if he would like to join Patton’s Third Army. “Inside of three days, I was outside Nancy, France, as the No. 2 chaplain for the Third Army. It seems my predecessor had put something in the headquarters bulletin that indicated the men would be there for Christmas,” Metcalf remembered. That hint that the troops would be there for the holidays sent the mercurial Patton into a snit. The general never liked to stay in one place long when there was an enemy to pursue, and the erring chaplain was gone within 36 hours. Related Articles Local News | ‘Grant us fair weather for Battle’: Afton event to honor Rev. George Metcalf, who helped craft Patton’s ‘fair-weather’ prayer Local News | Today in History: December 26, massive earthquake triggers devastating tsunami Local News | Today in History: December 25, George Washington crosses the Delaware Local News | Today in History: December 24, former defense secretary pardoned in Iran-Contra scandal Local News | First-time Twin Cities filmmaker shares stories of Ukrainians during the 1930s famine The recipient of two Bronze Star Medals, one for valor at Normandy, Metcalf was mustered out of the Army in 1946. He was chaplain at the University of Minnesota for five years, then was assistant pastor at St. Paul’s Church on the Hill until 1959. That year he built the Oratory of St. Mary, a small retreat center in Afton that has hosted nearly 8,000 visitors over the years. He retired in 1971. This Christmas, Metcalf will be making plans to move into a retirement home. “I think back to 50 years ago, and it is a time I was very glad to have lived through, and surprised to have lived through,” he said. “I thank God that I was able to live through those times and have them as a memory. But I should hate to have to go through them again, and I don’t know how I managed to do them. “If our prayer for fair weather had not been answered, I don’t know if I would be here today or not,” he said.