Army chaplain Father Sidney Marceaux died this month in Walter Reed Army Medical Center after decades of ministry to troops, the Pentagon announced Sept. 23.

Stars and Stripes magazine reported Sept. 25 about the death of Father Marceaux, who was serving in Kuwait before he became ill and was transferred to Walter Reed’s Warrior Transition Brigade.

Father Marceaux’s death Sept. 14 was “from a noncombat related illness,” according to a press release.

The future chaplain joined the Army at age 17 and served in the Texas National Guard from 1955 to 1963.

After leaving the military and later entering seminary, he was led back into military service following a training session ministering to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed.

A tribute to Father Marceaux is posted here at the website CatholicMil.org.

Father Marceaux, 69, was slated for retirement from the military in 2007 but requested an additional active-duty tour because of the shortage of Catholic chaplains in the Army.

“I was able to help them face death daily,” Father Marceaux told Stars and Stripes in an August 2007 interview, explaining why he asked for another tour of duty with combat troops. “They knew they had to go out and they knew they may not come back.”

— Tom McFeely