RENTZ-GEORGE

ONLY  NAVY  CHAPLAIN  AWARDED  NAVY  CROSS

IN  WORLD  WAR  II

George Snavely Rentz was born on July 25, 1882, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.  He graduated from Gettysburg College in 1903, which was then known as Pennsylvania College.  He then graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1909.  For the next eight years he served as a Presbyterian minister in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  In 1918 he received a commission as a Lieutenant Junior Grade in the Navy Chaplain Corps and was assigned to the 11^th Marine Regiment in France where he served until 1919.  Following World War I he continued on active duty as a chaplain and in 1940, with the rank of Commander, was assigned to the cruiser USS HOUSTON, flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. 

On February 4, 1942, during the Battle of Makassar Strait, CDR Rentz spurned cover and circulated among the crew of the anti-aircraft battery, encouraging them and keeping up their spirits.  It was reported that when crew members at the guns saw this man of God walking fearlessly among them, they no longer felt alone.  On March 1, 1942, HOUSTON encountered a Japanese invasion force resulting in the action known as the Battle Sunda Strait.  Though outnumbered by Japanese ships, HOUSTON and her companion Australian light cruiser engaged the Japanese and during the fierce battle lasting several hours both Allied ships were sunk.

As HOUSTON was abandoned, CDR Rentz entered the water and attained partial safety along with other crewmembers on a destroyed airplane’s pontoon.  Survivors later reported that seeing extreme overcrowding and the fact that the pontoon was taking on water, CDR Rentz attempted to relinquish his space and lifejacket to wounded survivors declaring, “You men are young.  I have lived the major part of my life and I am willing to go.”  According to survivors his attempts to give away his lifejacket and leave were thwarted by survivors who brought him back every time he tried to leave.  One survivor later said that CDR Rentz “told me his heart was failing and he couldn’t last much longer.”  Following a brief prayer he gave his lifejacket to the survivor who refused to put it on, but shortly thereafter CDR Rentz kicked away from the pontoon and disappeared.  Survivors said that “No one realized what had happened.  It’s just one of those things that one minute he’s there and the next minute he wasn’t.”  After his disappearance the lifejacket was put on by one of the survivors.  CDR Rentz was one of the 800 HOUSTON crew members who perished and for his selfless act of heroism he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the only Navy chaplain to receive the medal during World War II.

The body of CDR Rentz was not recovered.  His name has been inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Philippines.  The frigate USS RENTZ (FFG-46) was named in his honor and proudly served from June 1984 to May 2014.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)