Wounded Catholic chaplain is retired from Army

Published: 2005-02-08

ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- Father H. Timothy Vakoc, a U.S. Army chaplain who was severely wounded in Iraq last May, was formally retired from the Army in a private ceremony in his hospital room Jan. 29. Father Vakoc remained in stable but critical condition at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis, according to a journal entry family members posted on the Internet Jan. 27. Doctors are uncertain of the extent of the priest's brain injuries or of his ability to recover further, family members said. He received severe head injuries last May 29, the 12th anniversary of his ordination, when a bomb exploded near his Humvee in Mosul, Iraq. His mother, Phyllis Vakoc, said Father Vakoc is able to move his right eye slightly. He lost his left eye in the blast. Though he cannot move or communicate, she believes he is alert and aware of people in the room. "We go one day at a time," Phyllis Vakoc said about the tragedy that continues to consume her family's life. "It isn't easy, but we have a lot of support, which sure helps. It's all in God's hands now." Father Vakoc was awarded the Bronze Star Jan. 10 for "exceptionally meritorious achievement as the chaplain for the 44th Corps Support Battalion in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom."

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