A Tribute to Ernie

Abstract

I was sitting in a seclusion room, my world broken in pieces. I had cracked up just before going into battle. I knew where I was—Saint Elizabeths Hospital—the end of the line. This Chaplain came to visit me. We talked for a while about what had happened, my family, my faith—and suddenly for the first time I began to cry. Then he did a remarkable thing. He held out his arms and embraced me tightly as I sobbed maybe for fifteen minutes. I don't remember much of what he said, but I will never forget him. They called him Chaplain Ernie Bruder.