Holy Yell

One day last week 400 Annapolis midshipmen, trim in white, marched off their cruise ships Wyoming and Arkansas, through the streets of Rome, past helmeted Swiss Guards and into the Vatican. In the long, gilded Hall of the Consistory where His Holiness the Pope is accustomed to receive his Cardinals, they knelt on glistening marble. Pius XI mounted his throne to greet them, made a little speech about the sea as a character-builder, passed up & down the hall to confer his blessing. With that His Holiness thought the audience was over. Not so Midshipman Henry L. ("Hank") Muller of Leonia, N. J., fresh-faced, handsome son of a devout Catholic mother. Leaping up before the throne, he threw up his hands, cried: "All right, boys, let's have four N's, one Nay-vee and three Holy Fathers. Make it hot!" As the Pope blinked and "Hank"' Muller's arms flailed the air, there arose 1 mighty, measured yell: N N N N A A A A V V V V Y Y Y Y Nay-vee! Holy Father! Holy Father! Holy Father! As had Benito Mussolini when he got similar acclaim at the Palazzo Venetia, Pius XI recovered from the shock quickly and gracefully. He called "Hank" Muller to him for congratulations, smilingly waved down at 399 red, grinning faces.

The midshipmen marched away feeling they had given His Holiness a thrill. Remarked a Vatican official afterwards: "The Holy Father has received pilgrims from Africa who have made stranger noises than that."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.