Senior Roman Catholic Chaplain

Father L. P. Spring¹⁵ sailed with the First Echelon and for the whole war, save for one short trip on a hospital ship to New Zealand, was the Senior Roman Catholic Chaplain. In the Greek campaign he was attached to the Machine Gun Battalion. Afterwards he chose duties which gave him most opportunity for controlling the widely scattered work of his chaplains. He was largely responsible for the good relations which existed between his denomination and other members of the Department. By good sense and patience he was able to evolve the most useful arrangement of postings for his chaplains, and to soothe the doubts and fears of many officers who did not realise that the work of Roman Catholic chaplains had to differ in many respects from the work of the others. Father Spring had a very friendly disposition and was widely respected by his own Church members and by many others.