United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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chaplain for COMNAVFE, attached to Fleet Activities, Yokosuka. Atsugi Chapel On the air station, which the Navy had taken over from the Air Force in 1951, stood a large building, formerly a Japanese gymnasium and then used by the Air Force partly for storage, partly for religious pur- poses. During World War II Japanese pilots had used it for practicing Kendo, an ancient game of tilting involving the use of heavy staves. Included in the building were a banquet hall and a small Shinto Elhrine. Before Kamikaze pilots would leave on a ission, they were feasted and decorated and then participated in a Shinto ritual before the shrine. Chaplain C. L. Sullenberger, when assigned to the aval Air Station, had been instrumental in securing he use of the entire buil-ding for religious purposes. lln the years following, during the tours of Chaplains Orlando Ingvoldstad and D. M. Humphrey, this Jap- nese building would become the nucleus of a well- lanned, expanded religious center for American ersonnel. PhibPac A In the Amphibious Force, Pacific, Chaplain Earl R. Brewster had replaced W. Kuhn as Force Chaplain. A roster dated March 1952 shows that Alvin O. Col- lins had reported to the staH' of Transport Division 15. Chaplains E. A. Day, W. J. Kokoszka, and F. A. Ruder were now listed on the staffs of TransDiv 14, TransDiv 12, and TransDiv 13, respectively, rather than as attached to individual ships as formerly. Chaplain Jacob R. Thomas was ordered to relieve R. T. Noland at Naval Beach Group ONE, after nearly a year of duty with ComServPac as the Fleet's free- wheeling circuit rider. The amphibious command ship ELDORADO had returned stateside in September 1951, her place taken by the ESTES, whose chaplain was William R. Petre. MT. MCKINLEY, which had been relieved in June 1951, returned to Korean service in March 1952 as flagship of Rear Adm. F. X. McInerney, Commander Navy Amphibious Forces in the Far East. Her chap- lain was Thomas M. Gibson. MSTS Chaplain George W. Thompson, Staff Chaplain, Military Sea Transportation Service, Pacific Area, submitted on 15 April 1952 the following list of chap- lains serving in MSTS ships. l, Peter .....,....... REF ...... . . . . . . GEN G. M. RANDALL runs, Bruno ....,.,... REF .......,..,. THOMAS JEFFERSON hildress, Elmer H., Jr .... ..,. B AP QSD .... ........, . . GEN. N. M. WALKER ohrmann, Leonard B ..... .... E VAN SL REF .....,... . . GEN. C. BRECKENRIDGE rickson, Paul F ......,. . . . EVAN MISS CONV ..... . . GEN. E. D. PATRICK andran, Ralph E .....,., . . . RC ...,......,,....... . . GEN. A. E. ANDERSON rlemphill, Edward J., Jr ,.... , . . METH .,............ . . GEN. H. W. BUTNER 'Iolmes, Norman B ........ . . . CHRI SCIENCE ..... . . GEN. WM. WEIGEL .rwin, Paul I ............. ,... M ETH ............ . . GEN. JOHN J. POPE Carnasiewicz, Charles F ..... .... R C ............, . . GEN. WM. BLACK iennedy, Deane W ....... . . , METI-I ...... . . GEN. W. A. MANN v1cCarthy, Eugene W ..... . . , RC ......... .... W INDHAM BAY vIoran, John L., Jr ..... BAP CSD ..... GEN. E. T. COLLINS vlforton, Frank R ..... LUTH .... CAPE ESPERANCE Jolan, William F ..... '0tter, Paul K ......,. lobinson, Charles B .,.. linger, Wilson H ....., rtowater, Seattle A .,... fydnor, Charles E ..... ferhune, Cornelius A. . fulley, Edward M ..,., Vartes, Arthur J ....., Vatts, John E., Ir. . . . Vheeler, Wendell C .... RC ...,.....,. METH ..,....... PRESBY CUSAJ .... METH .,....,,.. UNIT ...,.,.. BAP my ....,,.. PRESBY CUSAD .... RC ............... PRESBY CUSAD ..,. PRESBY qusp ,.... CONG ...,. ..... GEN. A. W. BREWSTER GEN. W. H. GORDON SITKOH BAY GEN. M. C. MEIGS DAVID C. SHANKS GEN. WM. MITCHELL GEN. D. I. SULTAN GEN. W. F. HASE PRESIDENT JACKSON FRED C. AINSWORTH GEN. C. G. MORTON Chaplains Thomas P. Dunleavy and George J. CAPE ESPERANCE, and SITKOH BAY were nyedi had been recently detached. Five ships had escort carriers used to ferry planes and personnel to t the time no chaplain. The WINDHAM BAY, the war theater. Aboard SITKOH BAY Chaplain 535332 o-6oL10 - 131 -

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Relief Work Chaplain Weidler wrote that during January and February 1952 numerous North Korean children were airlifted from advance airstrips to the Kangnung field, in need of food, clothing, and a place to live. The local orphanages are the first places the youngsters receive assistance on their way south. This section of Korea has been overrun four times by war in less than a year. The buildings where the children were placed required a lot of repair work. Our men have donated many hours of labor and have written home describing the plight of the children. From our Protestant chapel offering we have spent S585 for clothing to meet the immediate needs of the youngsters. We have been joined by the Marines at El Toro .... We are receiving on the average of 10 large boxes of clothing each day from people at home, in response to the letters written by the men out here. There are 3 UNCACK IUN Civil Assistance Commission, Koreafl and 1 Catholic orphanage with a total of over 250 children depending on us for fuel, clothing, and food. The chaplains serve as liaison between the Air Group and the UNCACK and civil relief personnel in making assistance available where most needed. Commander William Lederer of CINCPAC spent a week with us, obtaining material for a story on our Air Group and its work with these children. ,You should be able to read his own account of our work here in Korea in an Q early issue of This Week, if his plans materialize. According to Chaplain Twitchell's report, cited just above, Weidler had reported that Marines of Marine Aircraft Group 12 had provided clothing for 350 children in the 4 Kangnung orphanages and that 31,200 from the Chapel fund had been donated to them during March. MAW Chaplains Cited Chaplain Richard D. Cleaves was awarded the Bronze Star for his service with Marine Aircraft Group 33 from 23 May 1951 to 1 February 1952. Constantly concerned with the welfare of the men of the group, he frequently spent long hours in helping to seek a solution for individual tribulations. Always ready to assist in the struggle to aid an impoverished country, he guided and directed the Marines in founding and maintaining orphanages in the vicinity of the airfield where he was serving and elected to remain at his post rather than avail himself of the rest and recreation facilities in Japan. Two of the Air Wing chaplains received the Letter of Commendation award for outstanding performance of their duties during periods ending before the termi- nal date of the 7th Korean Campaign. For meri- torious service as Acting Wing Chaplain from 27 November 1951 to 7 April 1952 Chaplain Seymour was cited for his thorough understanding of the various complexities confronting the fighting manfl His work in aiding civilian refugees was singled out for comment. Sparing no efforts in assisting the United Nations struggle to help an impoverished country, he supervised the generous efforts of Marine personnel in their desire to establish and maintain orphanages in the vicinity of Pohang Airfield. Chaplain James A. Sullivan was commended for service with Marine Aircraft Group 33 from 30 June 1951 to 10 April 1952. His concern for the spiritual, mental, and physical welfare of the men prompted him to assist them in their difliculties and troubles at any hour. His citation continues: Not confining his Christian work to his unit alone, Lieu- tenant Commander Sullivan assisted the United Nations efforts to help an impoverished country by aiding in the rehabilitation and maintenance of churches and orphanages in the vicinity of the airfield where he was serving. COMNA VFE Chaplains Cited As the first chaplain to serve on the staff of Com- mander U.S. Naval Forces, Far East, Walter A. Mahler had successfully and with constant good humor planned and supervised the many activities necessary to meet the greatly increased scope of re- quirements for the chaplains' ministry throughout the command. In addition he carried duties as Headquarters chaplain. He was given the Letter of Commendation award covering service from 20 No- vember 1950 to 11 January 1952. Part of his citation reads as follows: His ability to achieve and maintain the proper and delicate balance between the religious and naval aspects of personnel relations and problems was outstanding. His integrity and his staunch, unswerving faith and piety set an inspiring example for all who knew him. Chaplain James E. Reaves, Senior Chaplain, Fleet Activities, Yokosuka, also received the Letter of Com- mendation with ribbon for faithfulness to duty during the period 25 June 1950 to 15 November 1951. Chaplain Mahler was relieved by Daniel F. Mee- han. Other changes in the command since the roster given in chapter 5 were as follows. Chaplains E. D. Bennett, O'Neill, E. Reaves, and E. M. Turner had been relieved. Raymond A. Beaulieu had been assigned to Naval Air Station, Atsugi. Gerard Clark had reported to Naval Hospital to relieve C. W. Lawler, awaiting orders. Benoit R. Galland had re- ported to Fleet Activities, Yokosuka. Charles Horejs was ordered to the repair ship HECTOR and Bob G. Rochelle to the DELTA. Edward G. Swain was assigned to Camp Otsu, which functioned largely as a Marine casual company. In addition, A. Wolf, as noted earlier, had been assigned as Jewish -130-

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Robinson held services in the hangar deck or forward elevator when troops were embarked and in the ready room or compartment formerly housing catapult machinery when traveling without troops. Chaplain Handran found an amazing response to daily services on transports. In addition to daily Mass, he arranged a service for Protestants composed of Bible reading, prayers, and hymns, usually con- ducted by a lay leader. All were well attended, though, he added, It may be they had no place else to go. Chaplain Holmes reported a daily weekday attendance at Protestant services between 250 and 300 men. On a single voyage into Korean waters, as many at 600 copies of the complete Bible would be distributed to men requesting it. Chaplain Sydnor reported that in addition to their contribution to the March of Dimes, sailors in the GENERAL WILLIAM MITCHELL pledged S900 to help a young lady, Miss Bunting, in California at- tend commercial art school. Miss Bunting who was stricken 5 years before with polio was a guest of the ship in port, and was presented to the captain and taken for a tour of the vessel. MSTS chaplains, under the leadership of Staff Chaplain Thompson, cooperated with the annual American Red Cross campaign. The first ship mak- ing its contribution in 1952 was the GENERAL E. D. PATRICK, where Paul F. Erickson was chaplain. Chaplain Thompson reported to the Chaplains Divi- sion that in 1951 MSTS ships in the Pacific area had contributed 847,671 to various charities. Panmunjom Talks Meanwhile, during the entire 5 months of the 7th Korean Campaign, full-scale talks had continued at Panmunjom. Resumed on 25 October 1951, a month had been consumed in debate over the position of a buffer zone and the related question whether the cease-fire should be put into operation immediately after agreement on that, or only after agreement had been reached on all other items of the agenda. The United Nations delegations insisted on the latter course lest a premature truce allow a Communist buildup while the talks continued. Finally on 27 November Q the date later designated as the end of the 6th Korean Campaignj agreement was reached on the establishment of the demilitarized zone: each side should withdraw 2 kilometers from the present point of contact if an armistice should be signed within 30 days, or from whatever lines should be held at the time an armistice should be agreed upon. The 27 November line started along the Sachon River on the west and ran north and east 1 through the Iron Triangle, thence to a point about as far north as the apex of the Triangle, from there the line dipped southward, though still above the Punch- bowl, and afterwards turned north and ran out to the sea at Kosong. The United Nations thus held posi- tions north of the Parallel everywhere except in the extreme west, where the truce line dipped slightly below it. On 30 November the delegates began discussion of the composition and functions of a Supervisory Commission and matters pertaining to military stance after an armistice should be reached: troop rotations, replacement of equipment, and rehabilitation of air- fields. With no agreement having been reached on these matters, on 11 December the negotiators began concurrent discussions of the prisoner of war issue. On the 18th POW lists were exchanged. UN pro- posals for Red Cross teams to investigate POW camps were spurned by the Communists. Talk ranged over such questions as whether the prisoners should be exchanged one for one' or all for all. It was agreed to screen the prisoners in order to separate bonafide civilians from combatants. The most serious stumbling-block concerned the disposition of prisoners who did not want to be repatriated. In April 1952 the UN Command began a screen- ing of the North Korean and Chinese prisoners it held to determine their wishes, of the approximately 121,000 in UN camps, approximately 38,000 indi- cated their desire not to return? On 28 April the UN delegation offered the Communists a package deal on the three main disputed issues: They would not be party to forcible repatriation g they would concede the buildup of damaged airfieldsg and they would accept Poland and Czechoslovakia as member: of a Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, but noi Russia, and asked the Communists to accept Sweder and Switzerland. Thus far had the talks come wher the period here under review came to an end. Change of Scene The 7th Korean Campaign drew to a close witl the end of April 1952. The battleground had be- come a narrow band across the peninsula, boundec by the main defensive lines of the UN forces on the south and of the Communist forces on the north Both opposing armies were capable of offensive opera- tions but remained for the most part in static defense 'Britannica Book of the Year, 1953, article, Korea: War. 132-