Rev. Allan A. (Padre) Zaun has passed on to be with our Lord on July 24, 2006 at the age of 95. He was a resident of The Village Retirement Community, Gainesville, FL. He was born on March 6, 1911. The letters that follow his name are: Ph.D., D. D., LCDR, ChC, and (Ret) USNR. Padre Zaun had the privilege to be the first and only Protestant war-time Chaplain to serve on board the USS Hornet (CV-12) during her deployment to the south Pacific in World War II. Padre had a fine partner, Roman Catholic Chaplain Terrence Patrick McMahon during this tour of duty.

The responsibility of composing and offering the Commissioning Prayer for Hornet (CV-12) was assigned to Padre Zaun. The prayer was offered during commissioning ceremonies at Portsmouth, Virginia on November 29, 1943. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox was the principal speaker at this ceremony. He served continually with his esteemed colleague, Chaplain Terrence McMahon until July 12, 1945 when the ship, typhoon-damaged, returned to San Francisco. Padre Zaun also had the privilege of giving the Re-commissioning Prayer for the USS Hornet which he read at the USS Hornet Reunion on October 17, 1998.

Padre Zaun had quite a few stories to relay to Kenneth M. Glass and Harold L. Buell for their book, The Hornets and Their Heroic Men. (Pages 27-29)

He was one of the attendees of the early USS Hornet Association reunions in 1949; which were the starting of our Annual Reunions. There are pictures of Padre Zaun attending the USS Hornet Reunion in 1956. Padre Zaun was one the 1992 USS Hornet Honorees and a long time member of the USS Hornet Association. This is the bio that was printed in the 1992 Reunion program.



TONIGHT WE HONOR REV. ALLAN A. ZAUN

“Tell it to the Chaplain.” This is a familiar Navy phrase. When trouble, anxiety, and bereavement come, the Chaplain is there to listen and to be as helpful as possible. But when the Chaplain experiences anxiety, to whom can he go? To God, of course, and to sympathetic, understanding shipmates on the Hornet.

In the Spring of 1944 while out in the Southwest Pacific, he received a letter from his with: “I suppose by now you know what happened to Pat. But she is going to be all right.” Wow! He had not gotten that earlier letter, because mail was delayed. So, for several weeks he agonized, not knowing that their little 3 ˝ year old girl had badly cut her arm and elbow, but all turned out well. This Chaplain faced many of the same anxieties his shipmates did. He cared then. He cares now.

He was born March 6, 1911 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; attended elementary and high schools there, and Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois from 1928 to 1932. In college he was active in debate and public speaking, and in track ran the mile well below Olympic standards.

From 1932 to 1935 he attended McCormick (Presbyterian) Theological Seminary in Chicago. He then became a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and Tuebingen, Germany, receiving the Doctor of Philosophy degree from Edinburgh in May of 1937.

On July 1, 1937 he married Helen Wilma McDonald in Dixon, Illinois. They have three daughters: Patricia, born in Chicago; Victoria, born in Annapolis when he was a Chaplain at the Naval Academy; and Andrea, born in Detroit.

He was Pastor of the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church of Detroit from 1946 to 1980, and then he and his wife moved to Gainesville, Florida.

Through the years he served on numerous church and civic committees on local, state and national levels. In 1966 he and Mrs. Zaun accepted an invitation to preach at the Triple Jubilee of the Church of South India in Kerala. They then traveled around the world, visiting schools, churches, and hospitals in Asia.

He was awarded the George Washington Gold Medal in 1976 by the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, his sermon, “”Speak Up For America!” being awarded first prize among 20,000 entries.

The Zauns enjoy their daughters and their families, all of who live in the Detroit area. They have three grandsons, one granddaughter, and one great-granddaughter.

Currently he is active in Rotary, and is the volunteer Parish Associate in the First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, preaching, teaching, and visiting the sick and shut-ins. He remembers his shipmates, and wishes God’s richest blessings on all those and their families who have survived.

Rev. Allan A. Zaun will be sadly missed by all those who knew him and served with him.