United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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1 l Mgt... Memorial Service, Hongchon. Chaplain Francis W. Kelley gives the invocation at services held 3 August for marines who died in Korea. Behind him, left to right, are: Maj. Gen. Gerald C. Thomas, Commanding General of the Division, Brig. Gen. William J. Whaling, Assistant Division Commander, and Chaplain Rickel. Chaplain Hollingsworth also participated but is not pictured here. On 3 August a memorial service was held in memory of those Marines who had given their lives since 29 De- cember 1950. Chaplain Kelly gave the invocation, prayer was offered by Chaplain John E. Hollingsworth, and the benediction given by Chaplain Elihu Rickel. The address was given by Maj. Gen. Gerald C. Thomas, Commanding General, lst Marine Division. A letter sent from General Thomas to bereaved families included the following: The ceremony . . . was held on a hillside in the valley of the Hongchon River, in an area where a considerable number of the heroes whom we gathered to honor had fallen. Several thousand men of the Division attended, and I know that I ex- press the heartfelt sentiment of each one present when I say that we share fully in your sorrow and bereavement. Chaplain Joseph C. F itzgerald, 11th Marines Regi- mental Chaplain, was cited for meritorious serv- ice . . . during operations against enemy aggressor forces in Korea from 14 January to 15 July 1951, a period stretching from the Pohang guerrilla hunt until the Division went into reserve. The citation accom- panying the Bronze Star reads in part: An able and resourceful officer, Lieutenant Commander Fitzgerald displayed exceptional understanding and confi- dence in ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of the men in the regiment. Exposing himself to intense enemy fire on many occasions, he unfailingly gave immediate consolation to the wounded, lending comfort to them in their distress. Chaplain joseph D. McDonald, Regimental Chap- lain of the lst Marines, was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a second Bronze Star. His citation, covering

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CHAPTER 6 UNITED NATIONS SUMMER-FALL OFFENSIVE 9 July-27 November 1951 The last 2 years of the Korean War included few outstanding military campaigns. The peace talks which began in July 1951 dragged on through inter- minable rdlelays and exasperating double-talk until the armistice was finally signed on 27 July 1953.1 There were of course combat operations during these 2 years, the Department of Defense has recognized five dis- tinct campaigns, each of which entitles personnel who participated in it a battle star on the Korean Service ribbon. For the most part limited to actions seesaw- ing back and forth from one hill to another, for the men who fought in them these operations were never- theless often as perilous and always more monotonous than had been the more renowned battles of the First year of the war-and mostly without the glory. War has a way of becoming commonplace to those on the home front. 93 Breathing Spell The 1st Marine Division had enjoyed a brief respite during the winter of 1950-51 at Masan. On 15 July 1951 it went into 8th Army reserve in the Hongchon area, its second and last relief from the line until May 1953. Division Chaplain Kelly suggested to the Chaplains Division that the truce talks might provide a good time for rotation, but it was felt that until the cease-Hre negotiations should have taken effect, it was best to leave the current rotation system in operation. On 20 July Kelly held a meeting of the Division chap- lains, which was addressed by Colonel Platt, G-1 C Di- vision Personnel Ofiicerj and Colonel Hager, G-4 fDivision Logistics Oflicerj. Both stressed the im- portant work being done by chaplains and expressed command appreciation for it. Chaplain Kelly em- phasized the primacy of the chaplain's spiritual minis- try and the importance of his own attitude toward his work. The job ahead of us,', he told them, is tough, but we are dedicated to God and therefore we 1See C. Turner Joy, How Communists Negotiate fNew York, 19551. Foreword by Matthew B. Ridgway, and Vatcher, Wm. Jr., Panmunjon QN.Y., 19581 should be ready to make sacrifices. Certainly we all want to go home when our time is due, but we must not build up arguments with men for getting out of here. We must help them to realize what personal sacrifices may be required. In the rest area, although the Marines were engaged in training, there was time for athletics and amateur entertainment, the chaplains had a hand in arrang- ing these. Kelly felt that they were also showing ugreat ingenuity in constructing chapelsf, From this period of relative quiet Chaplain Keene H. Capers recalled the following delightful incident. We had built a beautiful little chapel in a grove of trees. The chapel area was surrounded by a rail fence made of rough logs and painted white. The altar was made of stone. Probably more than any other chapel, this one was mine. I had cut the logs, carried the stones, built the fence. We were having our regular Sunday morning service. I had asked our Jewish chaplain, Elihu Rickel, to preach the sermon. My organist, a Korean, was playing the prelude. For some reason the music was not having its usual quieting effect. There was more talking than usual, even laughter, and then I realized what it was. The organist was playing the old hymn O Happy Day, That Fixed My Choice on Thee My Saviour and My God.', But to the Marines he was playing Nobody Knows How Dry I Am! Work Goes On During these days Kelly was visited by Chaplain Ivan L. Bennett, Staff Chaplain, Far East Command fGeneral Ridgway's commandj , Chaplain Tobey Q8th Army Staff Chaplainl and Chaplain Jones QX Corps Staff Chaplainj. At the request of Chaplain W. A. Mahler, ComNavFE Staff Chaplain, Kelly lent him Chaplain Austin on Temporary Additional Duty, with the proviso that in case of emergency he would have to be immediately recalled. Several chaplains had been ill, usually with dysentery, Chaplains Uber and Wissing both contracted hepatitis, and although Uber was returned' to duty after hospitalization aboard the HAVEN in Pusan, Wissing had to be evacuated to Japan and did not return to the Division. ..92..

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the period 25 January to 17 July, includes the fol- lowing: Working under extremely trying conditions which in- cluded l period of 43 consecutive days in the attack, he fre- quently was busy day and night, evacuating and cheering the many wounded, and often administering last rites on the front lines, with no regard for the danger involved nor his own fatigue. The roster of chaplains submitted on 1 August showed that the Chaplains Division had on the whole been successful in its rotation policy. Seventeen of those included in the roster of 21 April had been re- turned stateside, and 15 chaplains had reported since to the lst Marine Division. Recent arrivals had been assigned as follows: Service Bn ..... . . Stanley I. Ray ..., LT PRESBY CUSAJ Shore Party Bn .... Bashford S. Power . LTJG METH Motor Transport. . john L. Wissing. . . LT RC 5th Marines ....... Donald W. jolly. . . LTJG PRESBY CUP Medical Bn ....... Robert Schncck. LT LUTH A feeling of tense expectancy enveloped the Marines in their rest area as rumors reached them in August that the Communists were massing large reinforcements of troops and supplies in the North. Writing to Chaplain Salisbury on ll August, Chap- lain Kelly said: There are over 650,000 Chinese and North Koreans in North Korea. Including the troops in Manchuria, they can muster a million men. Allied aviators returning from reconnaissance over enemy territory reported a tremendous number of trucks heading south with supplies. The Marines remembered how such signs were observed on previous occasions before an enemy offensive. Kelly continued: On August 15 we shall have been in reserve for a month. That is about the length of time that a Division can expect to remain in reserve. So it is generally expected that any time after that may find us committed to the lines.. It is generally felt that should the peace negotiations break down, our Division will be called upon to make an amphibious landing behind the enemy lines. Kaesong Truce Talks The cease-fire negotiations had begun when the chief delegates met for the first time on 10 July, Vice Adm. C. Turner Joy, Far East Naval Com- mander, acting for the United Nations Command. Lieutenant General Nam Il was the spokesman for the enemy. After settling on an agenda, they had become stalled during August over the first item, the demarcation of a buffer zone between the opposing forces. The United Nations delegation held out for a de- militarized strip 20 miles deep in front of the current UN line: the Communists insisted on a zone extending 10 kilometers on either side of the 38th Parallel? 2Britannica Book of the Year, 1952: article, Korean War. Baptism. , - ..f --,.., ' The waters of the Hwachon Reservoir are used for baptism by Chaplain Austin on 11 July 1951. , ,. , ,, .1 nw.-, A . 1' :N ffl' ' . , f.f.. : ' ' -f . , ' t- i r e' . ,,.. E ,reread -ffwvw , Nr . 1 .. ,.s.:f me--f.u1eNft5 f ' ,, 'S , M4 srsrfss .....,...... r . 1 sr 7 1 - ri.. 94-