Father Joseph Vanderheiden has many things.

He was a small town boy, pastor, coach, veteran, prisoner of war in Nebraska, and finally, a man who gave his life in the service of God and the country.

He is also a member of the Nebraska Knights of the Columbus Council No. 3152 of the same name.

His story has been largely forgotten by time, but due to a mysterious plaque and subsequent diligent research, his story and his sacrifice were passed on to the new generation.

A few years ago, when he was cleaning the veterinary center in Dodge, Nebraska, Nom Fendrick, member of the Humphrey Knights Committee No. 1794, discovered a metal plaque commemorating the priest. Van der Heiden, it has apparently been hidden for decades.

The bronze plaque is approximately 8 x 13 inches and reads "Remembrance of Pastor Joseph Van der Heyden, OSB age 34, WWII pastor, active in the U.S. Army, and sea buried in the Pacific Theater on January 14, 1945."

Fendrick said the plaque raises a series of questions, such as "Where did the plaque come from? Why is it here? Who is this guy?"

In the following years, he answered these questions and learned a lot about the life of the priest. Van der hayden.

As he discovered, Father Van der Heiden was born in Humphrey on October 22, 1911. His original name was Gerald D. Vanderheiden, the oldest of Theodore J. and Ida Marie Van der Heiden.

During most of the 1920s, the family moved several times and settled in the Dodge area, Father. Van der Hayden was confirmed at St. Wattslaus Catholic Church in Dodge, where several of his brothers and sisters were also baptized.

After graduating from the eighth grade in 1927, he went to high school in Conception Abbey, Missouri. Later, he entered the Benedictine Abbey as an apprenticeship in 1931. A year later, he took a simple vow and named Joseph.

Two years later, the solemn profession came, and in 1937, three years later, he accepted the ordination. After the ordination, he continued to stay in Conception Abbey as a prefect and teacher, and taught at a Catholic school near Clyde, Missouri.

As the Second World War approached, he joined the Army as a priest in July 1941 and found himself in Mindanao in the southern Philippines, where the Fifth Air Force Base Group was building an air base for heavy bombers.

The Japanese invaded the island the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and American troops surrendered on May 10, 1942 a few months later.

Father Van der Heiden will spend the rest of his life as a prisoner of war, 989 days.

After being held in the Marabalai prison camp until October of that year, he spent the next year and a half in a prison camp in the southern part of the island.

On D-day, the priest. Van der Hayden and more than 9,200 other prisoners embarked on a journey, taking them to the Bilibid Prison in Manila, and then boarding the so-called "hellship" by prisoners of war.

On these "hell ships", prisoners of war were placed in the cabins, food and air were scarce, and sanitary conditions did not exist; many prisoners of war on these ships died of hunger and suffocation.

These ships were not marked as ships carrying prisoners of war and were attacked by Allied aircraft, as were priest ships. Van der Heiden went live on December 15, 1944.

He and his 1,300 prisoners of war (more than 1,600) survived the attack, but were placed in another temporary prison and walked around, and finally boarded another "hell ship" Brazil Maru, he was on January 14th. Died there, beriberi, a vitamin B1 deficiency, was buried in the sea in 1945.

Of the more than 1,600 prisoners of war, including about 20 other Catholic priests, only 128 survived the war.

In his service, priest. Vanderheiden's family lives in Nebraska. In 1945, the family donated a stained glass window to commemorate his stained glass window in the newly built St. Mary's Catholic Church.

Three years later, the Columbus Knights Council of Nebraska City was granted a charter in his name and named after him. His father is one of its chartered members.

As for how the plaque reached Dodge, Fendrick recalled: "I started to realize that I might be responsible for it there. It may have been given to me by a lady in Omaha a few years ago, who thought she was connected to Dodge. "

"She wanted it to be a place to connect with him," he continued, "I left it in the veterinary club while attending a meeting of the American Veterans Association."

However, how this woman got it, and where it was originally shown, remains a mystery.

Fendrick learned of the Nebraska link and thought it belonged to the Cavaliers committee there, and he proposed it at the committee meeting on Wednesday, September 29.

During the meeting, Fendrick shared his research results with board members and several guests, including Humphrey Knights and members of the Fendrick family.

Financial Secretary Ken Karlstedt said: "The discovery of the very detailed background information of Father Van der Heiden and other pastors has an emotional impact on all of our board members."

"Looking forward, it will also provide more inspiration for the Cavaliers and others to pursue charity, faith and other goals," he added.

This plaque was later placed in a prominent position in the parliament display cabinet as a reminder to the priest. Van der Heiden’s sacrifice and the origin of parliament.