Harrisburg priest is chaplain with Marines in Afghanistan mountains

Published: 2004-06-18

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CNS) -- When the USS Wasp was deployed for service in Afghanistan in mid-February, Father John Hoke was on board, ready to serve 1,100 men and women Marines assigned to help protect villages from Taliban attacks. Father Hoke, a priest of the Harrisburg Diocese who is a lieutenant, ministers to the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marine Infantry. The battalion landing team is part of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and comprised of ground combat elements such as infantry, artillery and tanks. After completing a six-week transit from the East Coast, Father Hoke and his battalion of Marines arrived in the Red Sea and from there were deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan. From Kandahar, Father Hoke accompanied his unit on a three-month trek into the surrounding mountains on a mission to defend villages against Taliban holdouts and to help rebuild village schools. A priest since 1976, Father Hoke served in numerous pastoral assignments prior to joining the Navy in 2000. After training at the naval chaplain school in Newport, R.I., Father Hoke began his current chaplain assignment.

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