United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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L. C. M. Vosseler organized sightseeing tours in Japan for his men in the TOLEDO whenever the ship's schedule made it possible. The following are excerpts from a letter written by Chaplain Vosseler to the Chaplains Division, 4 August 19511. Since reporting to the ship we have been in the Far East much of the time. Is it anticipated that I'll be spending 2 years aboard? lHe had been aboard then for 1 year.l Recent months find Divine Services averaging over 100 per Sunday. Catholic Mass is arranged whenever possible. In the past 4 months six Catholic chaplains, some of them more than once, have come aboard for Confessions and Mass. I have conducted services aboard HELENA, MANCHES- TER, and ELDORADO. Other duties include editing the daily press-news fserving aszl adviser to the ship's paper lmembership on thel Recreation Council, and attending Enlisted Recreation Committee meetings. Bible studies are conducted Wednesday evenings. A daily radio program from the library is originated each day. The chaplain reads the daily news, asks the crew a sports question, and says an evening prayer .... Commendation. Chaplain Harold E. Meade, who served aboard the PHILIPPINE SEA from August 1950 to May 1951, received a letter of commendation award. His citation reads in part: He devoted himself tirelessly to daily contacts with the officers and men, being especially at- tentive to the embarked air group, and removed many of their personnel problems in order to allow their full attention to the operations. Among the activities Chaplain Meade had described in letters to the Chaplains Division was a March of Dimes collection in the astounding amount of S9,281. Upon hearing this Chaplain Mahler lMeade wrotel went off into grand, dramatic gestures. From the practical standpoint, I wish to suggest that the materials for ships afioat outside the continental limits for drives such as March of Dimes, Red Cross, and Navy Relief be sent as far as possible in advance. Our material arrived on board on 23 January. Meade had begun his letter, As Little Boy Blue said as he reached for his trumpet, 'I think I'll blow my own horn.' To which the Chief replied, I trust you re- member a famous sermon on the Sadduceesf' ComCruDesPac Circuit-riding destroyer chaplains are an innovation in the Chaplain Corps.16 After preliminary discus- sion initiated by the then Chief of Chaplains William N. Thomas, and fthenj Atlantic Fleet Chaplain S. W. 16Navy Chaplains Bulletin fFall, 19531, pp. 7-8, W. S. Peck, The Destroyer Chaplaincy. Salisbury, a trial run was organized in 1949. The years 1950 and 1951 saw the new program Hshaken downl' and put on a working basis. On 24 july 1950 billets were established for one chaplain on the staff of each destroyer squadron com- mander in the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets, except for destroyer escort squadrons. One chaplain was as- signed to each Destroyer Force as staff chaplain, with the rank f after February 19511 of commander. The first chaplain to serve on the staff of Com- mander Cruiser Destroyer Force, Pacific fboth types were incorporated into one Force in the Pacific F leetj was Richard P. Heyl, a Roman Catholic, who was relieved in September 1950 by Raymond C. Hohen- stein, Lutheran. Hohenstein served with ComCru- DesPac until February 1953, when he was relieved by Chaplain F . D. Hewitt, Jr. The Force headquarters were in San Diego. Chaplain Hohenstein was the first to hold the Force Chaplain billet. He wrote in his question- naire reply: What made this duty somewhat other than ordinary was the fact that the specific work at hand was to establish the newly authorized program of placing chaplains in destroyers on the staffs of DESRON Idestroyer squadronl commanders landl of initiating activity in character guidance and lay leadership in the DD ldestroyerl and DE ldestroyer escortj type ships. This involved public relations work with the squadron commanders and commanding officers in connection with all three of these fields, training the chaplains themselves fthe first ones reporting direct from civilian life to which they had returned after World War IIB, and publicizing these activities to the personnel of the command. To accomplish the above, I personally conducted two Divine Services each Sunday aboard various type ships, and made periodic cruises in DDs, ADS destroyer tenders, and CAs cruisers-to Mare Island, Calif., Seattle, Wash., Pearl Harbor, T.H., and Sasebo-Yokosuka, Japan. It is of course impossible to mention for, indeed, at the date of this writing to discoverj every chaplain who served with destroyers in the war theater. The roster of chaplains issued by the Pacific Fleet Chap- lain in July 1951 listed the following under Com- mander Cruiser Destroyer Force, Pacific. Force Chaplain .... Hohenstein, R. C. . CDR LUTH CMOSYD BRYCE CANYON Ditrner, M. A ..... LT PRESBY CUSAD ComDesRon 8 .... Fay, P ..... . . . LTJG RC ComDesRon 16 .... Harris, O. J ....... LTJG BAPT CSD HAMUL ......... Hunter, W. M .... LTJG REF ComDesRon 3 .... Jeffers, H. W ...... LTJG METH PIEDMONT ..... Keefe, ll. M ...... LT RC -89-

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Yokosuka Chaplain Swift served in ComNavFE from Febru- ary 1951 to July 1952. As Ships and Docks Chap- lain, Yokosuka, one of his main duties was visiting ships in the harbor. He reported some 355 separate visits to ships ranging from landing ships to fast carriers. Most had no chaplain 3 even on the largest there might be only one, and if he were Roman Catholic Swift would offer to conduct Protestant wor- ship. In his questionnaire he recalled the following incident: On one particular Sunday a service was scheduled for a Destroyer Mine Sweep, to be held on the weather deck. However, it was raining, and no other space was available. Across the pier from this DMS was an LSD lLanding Ship, Dockj. I contacted the officer of the deck and asked if the LSD would be willing to act as host for the service. Ar- rangements were made and the service transferred to the LSD, with personnel from both ships in attendance. The chaplain had additional duty at the Naval Air Facility at nearby Oppama. Frequently I would conduct an early service with Holy Communion aboard a ship, then conduct my regular service at Oppama, and then take a third service aboard an- other shipf' Representative as it must be thought to be of the work of other ComNavFE chaplains, that of Swift was different in at least one respect. Belonging to the Disciples denomination, he practiced baptism by im- mersion. Several persons were baptized in the swim- ming pool in the early morning. It was very peace- ful, he wrote, and I feel that God's Presence hallowed the settingf' Swift also served as supply chaplain for the Far East, setting up a supply center at Yokosuka and shipping religious gear to chaplains in Korea and in ships at their request. His supplies came out aboard MSTS ships, under an arrangement with the Staff Chaplain, MSTS, Pacific. Upon being transferred to Sasebo, where there was no swimming pool, he asked the maintenance officer to rig for him a portable baptistery. Instead, he selected a spot between the chapel and the waterfront which was semisecluded and constructed a con- crete baptistery. Not only did I use it, but it was made available and used by ship's chaplains who practiced immersion. NEW JERSEY The second battleship committed to action in the Korean War was the NEW JERSEY, which received its baptism by Ere on 20 May 1951 at Kangsong.15 'S Cagle and Manson, op. cit., p. 306. Moving on to participate in the siege of Wonsan, she was hit on the 22dg one man was killed and three wounded. Chester L. Hults, Episcopalian, was chap- lain from October 1950 to January 1952. In his reply to the Chaplains Division questionnaire, he noted that the ship raised approximately 36,500 as a memorial to that man. Upon returning to the United States the gift was presented to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund, this organization having been chosen by vote of the crew. Chaplain Peter H. Brewerton served as the NEW JERSEY's Roman Catholic padre from January 1951 to January 1953. Other Ships Chaplains prosecuted their duties of many kinds. Faber H. Wickham, in the ST. PAUL from July 1950 to August 1952, reported that during their first Ko- rean tour they lost 8 shipmates, and during the second, 30. Many came to the chaplain for assistance in those dark hours, he reported. The sobering effect of these events cannot be underestimated. Chaplain Charles B. Robinson, assigned to the escort carrier SITKOH BAY in July 1951, encouraged small groups of men to arrange services of their own. He reported that the Latter Day Saints personnel fre- quently did so. Charles W. Ackley reported a group of six men in the submarine tender SPERRY planning to study for the Christian ministry after discharge from military service. He organized them into a Pastors Class, meeting regularly on Friday noon, for study and dis- cussion of their intended profession. Ackley also wrote that he inherited and further developed one of the best hobby shops in the Pacific Fleet. He also gave much attention to developing an excellent shipls li- brary, a resource for study and recreation that chap- lains have long considered it a privilege to encourage. Collateral duties occupy a good deal of the chap- lain's effort, especially on shipboard, where every officer is likely to wear several hats. If sometimes a chaplain has thought his commanding officer rather trespassed on his primary responsibility of being a clergyman, another has often thought that his collateral ministry not only offered an avenue of service to me not directly interested in hisspiritual functions bu sometimes established relationships which paved the way for future religious ministries. Chaplain Merlin A. Ditmer, Jr., serving in the BRYCE CANYON, a destroyer tender, from Novem- ber 1950 to October 1952, wrote that he had organized volunteer variety shows which entertained casualties in the Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan. Chaplain

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Over and over again chaplains wrote to the Chief Worship at Sea. Chaplain Robert A. Vaughan conducts services aboard the DIXIE. ComDesRon 11 La Duca, P. JI. .... LTJG RC ComDesRon 16 Lee, E. ji. ..... , LTJG BAPT CSD ComDesRon 13 Moran, Ll. ..... LTJG BAPT CSD ComDesRon 1 . Powell, W. D. ---. LTJC BAPT C57 ComDesRon 5. Smith, L. C .,., . LT LUTH ComDesRon 7. Thomas, R ..... LT PRESBY CUSAD DIXIE ........... Vaughan, R. A .... LCDR METH PIEDMONT ..... Wolf, A. J! ....... LT RC PRAIRIE ........ Wren, L. J ,... . . LCDR RC 1 Ordered to report. 2 Ordered detached. The ships listed were destroyer tenders. Some notice has been taken already of the work of chaplains assigned to destroyers operating in Korean waters. Chaplain John R. Thomas reported amaze- ment on the part of tincan sailorsn when he first came aboard that the Navy was interested in them and that chaplains were willing to serve aboard destroy- ers! In 15 months of such duty he had made 23 transfers among the ships of DesRon 7. Chaplain Willie D. Powell reported extending his destroyer min- istry to three British ships, finding excellent attendance at Divine Service. tHe also reported holding services on a British hospital ship.j Powell served in Com- CruDesPac from February 1951 to January 1952. Many chaplains reported that they organized re- ligious schedules in each of the ships of their squadron so that, during the chaplain's presence in one of them, the personnel of the others would be prepared to carry on weekly Bible classes, Rosary services, and even Sun- day Protestant worship. This was of course part of an expanded emphasis upon lay leadership which was everywhere receiving attention during this period. Destroyers are often referred to as the 'fwork horsesn of the fleet. Certainly their chaplains worked as hard as the other tincan sailors, and by their efforts suc- cessfully pioneered one further area in which the Chaplain Corps was learning to carry on its mission. Why We Fought that an important part of their work was trying to give their men satisfactory answers to the frequently asked question, Why must I be here? Though it bore more urgently upon the men in the war zone and upon their families, it was a question on the lips of many others, especially Reserves whose peacetime lives had been interrupted by sudden recalls to active duty. And indeed it was a question the nation asked itself repeatedly. One answer, which may commend itself to some, was given in a memorandum by Col. W. S. Brown, Regimental Commander, 1st Marines, issued on 14 190.-