The beautiful Spanish-style chapel at a joint military base in the United States

For years, the United States Armed Forces have included all kinds of services for their military personnel and their families at their bases.

The small church in the United Kingdom that pays tribute to the Polish airmen of the WW2
The Chapel of Saint Kinga of Wieliczka: a spectacular underground church in Poland

In addition to schools, cafeterias and recreation centers, these military installations also include places of religious worship. Some of these centers are multi-denominational, meaning that ceremonies of different denominations can be held there. Others are specifically geared toward a particular religion. Spirituality care is an important part of caring for soldiers' morale, and that is why the United States is concerned about building such services.

One such religious center is Chapel One at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, a base that encompasses the Army’s Fort Sam Houston and the Air Force bases of Randolph AFB and Lackland AFB. Chapel One is at Randolph AFB and has been a place of worship for many U.S. airmen for 90 years, and is used today primarily for Catholic ceremonies, but also for Protestant services.

Randolph Air Force Base was opened on June 20, 1930, as Randolph Field. It was then part of the United States Army Air Corps (the Air Force was not an independent branch of the U.S. military until 1947). It was a major base, housing 233 aircraft and 15,000 men.

Chapel One was completed in 1934. It is located in Washington Circle, northeast of the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing headquarters, a building known as the "Taj Mahal" for its impressive size and distinctive architecture. Chapel One was built in a genuinely Spanish style, a common sight in the southern part of the United States, which was part of the Spanish Empire until the 19th century.

Chapel One was modeled after the early Spanish churches of Mission Concepción (1716) and Mission San José (1720), both located in San Antonio, Texas. As Robert Goetz noted in an article on the base’s official website in 2018, Chapel One cost $66,000 at the time and was completed a few years later than the rest of the base because it was not deemed “mission-essential”, according to Gary Boyd, a historian with the Air Education and Training Command.

The chapel features a rose window, a copy of the one at Mission San Jose, “a beautiful stained glass window and one of the finest pieces of its kind in the Air Force”, according to Boyd, who also notes that the chapel “is known for having six of the most original stained-glass windows in all of the Air Force and all of the military, each of them dedicated to different memorializations.” The windows feature motifs commemorating airmen of different specialties, as well as Gertrude Lahm, wife of Brigadier General Frank Lahm, who headed the Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center at Randolph.

Of the stained glass, Boyd noted that “the Spanish loved to have a light that was an embodiment of the stars and the sun”, as “they came up and shone directly onto the altar.” Another feature of Mission San Jose that was copied at the Chapel was the absence of a dome on its right tower, giving the chapel a sense of unfinishedness. “They left it unfinished because the Spanish would not tax a building that was unfinished”, Boyd noted. “In deference to that tradition, they left it the same way here at Randolph, so you get a feel for hundreds of years of history when, in fact, it’s only about a century old.”

As we can see in this image, the entrance arch of Chapel One is adorned with images of propellers and radial aircraft engines, a typical image of the period in which it was built. Higher up, two large wings welcome visitors.

One feature of this chapel is that it is a popular site for Air Force weddings. One of the airmen who was married there was Major Thomas McGuire, an airman who died in air combat in the Philippines on January 7, 1945, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. “Every time you sit in one of the pews, you feel a link and a direct kinship with the history of the Air Force”, says Boyd, who considers the Spanish-style chapel “one of the great buildings on Randolph to visit if you want to see historic architecture in almost pristine state.”

If you are ever on base, Chaplain One service times can be found here. Catholic Mass is held on Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. and Sundays at 11:30 a.m., and Tuesdays through Fridays at 11:30 a.m. Protestant chapel service is held on Sundays at 9:30 a.m.

---

Photos: Joint Base San Antonio / JBSA Randolph Chapel.