During his time in Guadalcanal, Ross began a lifelong friendship with the famous Father Frederic Gehring, a wartime chaplain who wrote regular correspondences for "Reader's Digest" magazine. Gehring considered Ross a national treasure who defied logic when it came to bravery and the defense of principle. Ross was the only one capable of playing a temperamental organ on the tropical island. On Christmas Eve, before he and his fellow Marines were to go into battle, Gehring asked him to learn "Silent Night" and other Christmas songs for the troops. After playing them, Gehring asked Ross to play a Jewish song. Ross played "My Yiddishe Momma," about a child's love for his self-sacrificing mother. Many of the Marines knew the melody of the song because Ross always had it played when he entered the ring. When the Marines heard the lyrics, newspaper reports say they were all in tears.