Seventy six years after he died at Pearl Harbor, a Navy chaplain who helped sailors escape from a sinking battleship is scheduled to be honored with the Silver Star medal Thursday in a ceremony at his alma mater in Iowa.
Lt. j.g. Aloysius Schmitt, a Catholic priest from St. Lucas, Iowa, will posthumously receive the third-highest decoration for valor in combat during a ceremony at Loras College, in Dubuque.
Navy Chief of Chaplains Rear Adm. Margaret Kibben will present the medal to family members in a ceremony on the campus.
Schmitt was buried in a special crypt there after his remains were identified last year by experts with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).