This is a photograph of Fr. Burns at Tunghua [now Tonghua] on the day of his release from prison. "Left to right, Mr. Yakamoto, Srgt. Kawase, Major Kobayashi, Fr. O'Donnell, Fr. Burns, Mr. John Davies, Mr. Mori [interpreter], Mr. Mitchell [N.Y. Times] and Fr. Comber." Born in Ohio, Fr. Burns performed industrial work during the World War I years, entering Maryknoll in 1922. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 17, 1934. He as assigned to Fushun, Manchuria in 1934. From February through November 1936, he was captured and held by bandits in China. He published an account of his captivity in 1941, Bandits Surrounded Him. He returned home to the United States in 1940 and played several key roles for Maryknoll in Chicago, Illinois, and the seminary at Glen Ellyn, Illinois. -- Rev. O'Donnell was born in New York City. He entered Maryknoll in 1922 and was ordained in 1929. He was assigned to Fushun, Manchuria where he remained until granted a furlough in 1937, after which he returned to Fushun. He was interned when war with Japan broke out and in 1942 was repatriated aboard the refugee ship Gripsholm. -- Born in Massachusetts, Bishop Comber came to Maryknoll in 1925 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1931 and a Bishop on April 9, 1959. After ordination, he sailed to Fushun, Manchuria where he served for eleven years where he became proficient in both spoken and written Mandarin language. His first assignment was pastor of the mission in Er-Pa-Tan and then the mission in Tung Hua. He also served as Vicar Delegate of the Bishop and Associate Professor in the Fushun Junior Seminary. In 1939 he became pastor of the Fushun Center Parish. Through his influence, Fr. Clarence Burns was released by his bandit captors early in 1936 without any harm. After the outbreak of World War II in 1941, all U.S. missionaries in Japanese held countries, including Fr. Comber, were interned by the Japanese military. He was repatriated to the United States in 1943 on the Swedish liner M.S. Gripsholm.
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