Top Photo: Louis M. Prevost. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), St. Louis, Missouri 

Eighty years after V-E Day, the son of an American WWII veteran was chosen to lead the Roman Catholic Church. On May 8, 2025, the College of Cardinals selected Cardinal Robert Prevost to become the 267th pope—and the first American to fill the role. He chose the name Leo XIV.  

Prevost is the son of Louis M. Prevost, a longtime public-school administrator in Chicago. According to documents held by the National Archives and Records Administration in St. Louis, Missouri, Prevost was born on July 28, 1920, and, like millions of young Americans of his generation, served in the US Armed Forces during World War II. 

After graduating from Hyde Park High School in Chicago, Prevost attended Central YMCA College, where he studied political science. Near the end of his junior year in 1942, Prevost applied to join the US Navy’s V-7 accelerated training program, which would allow him to enter the Navy as an officer when he graduated the following year. He received three letters in support of his application: two from employers and one from his pastor at St. Thomas Apostle Church in Chicago, who called Prevost “a good Catholic and a young man of good character and steady habits.” 

After graduating from Midshipman’s School in New York City, he received his commission as an Ensign in the US Naval Reserve on November 24, 1943. His first orders were to travel to a receiving station in New Orleans, where he was to report for duty aboard the USS LST-286. 

According to a December 31, 1943, muster roll, Ensign Prevost left the port of New Orleans aboard LST-286, bound for the European theater of operations. The LST, or Landing Ship Tank, was used throughout World War II to deliver tanks and trucks to the beach during and after amphibious assaults. More than 300 feet long, two doors in the bow of the ship opened to deploy a ramp for vehicles to disembark onto a beach. 

USS LST-286 with other LSTs invasion loading in the Bagnoli sector, Italy for the invasion of southern France, August 10, 1944. US Army Signal Corps photo # SC 192559-S

These vessels were critical for American and Allied success during the D-Day amphibious landings in Normandy—Operation Overlord. Prevost and LST-286 participated in two major amphibious operations in the spring and summer of 1944. The ship landed troops on Omaha Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944, and returned during subsequent activities. The commanding officer of LST-286 reported that during the landings on D-Day, Prevost handled his duties “very satisfactorily.”

The second major amphibious assault was Operation Dragoon on August 15, 1944, which landed American and Allied troops in Southern France. During his time aboard LST-286, Prevost received consistently positive evaluations from his commanding officer, who recommended him for promotion in October 1944.

A May 13, 1945, profile of local servicemembers in the Chicago Tribune stated that Prevost had become the executive officer of LST-286 and took part in both Operations Overlord and Dragoon. The same article announced that Prevost, who had been serving abroad for 15 months, was promoted to Lieutenant, Junior Grade, and placed in command of the USS LCI(L)-188, a Landing Craft Infantry (Large) vessel operating in the Mediterranean theater. 

After leaving active duty, Prevost continued to serve his country as an officer in the Naval Reserve until 1956. He died on November 8, 1997.