United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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Headquarters Battalion, to form a pool,' upon which the Division Chaplain could draw for assignments to the separate battalions. The First roster given in this account, that of Division Chaplain Schwyhart on the eve of the Inchon landing, indicated such a distribu- tion? Under field conditions, however, it usually proved more satisfactory to attach a chaplain directly to the Headquarters Company of the separate bat- talions. In most rosters such distribution will be seen. Each regiment was entitled to three chaplains, normally all attached to the regimental headquarters, the senior being regimental chaplain and a member of the regimental staff. He was responsible for the place- ment of himself and the other two chaplains within the regiment. An infantry regiment had, besides its Headquarters and Service Company and 4.2 Mortar Company, three infantry battalions. Under combat conditions it was customary for one chaplain to be with each battalion, the regimental chaplain also main- taining contact with the regimental CP and providing a ministry there. Usually the Headquarters would be located near enough one or other of the battalions to make this feasible. Since there were normally two Protestants and one Roman Catholic per regiment, a certain amount of rotation within the regiment was usually thought necessary for religious coverage. In addition exigencies arising under field conditions dic- tated rather frequent shifts, so that a chaplain would be-found now in the first battalion, later in the third or again in the second. Regimental chaplains were not always in agreement with one another on the best policy regarding this point, some of the differences stemmed from the na- ture of the varied operational assignments. One would keep himself in Regiment and assume respon- sibility for one of the battalions, and then assign, semiofficially and temporarily, one chaplain to each of the other two battalions. Another regimental chaplain, feeling that all three chaplains should be sensitive of their responsibility to the entire regiment, would keep himself and both the others attached to Regiment, but working in more or less orderly rota- tion throughout the subordinate units. While the Di- vision chaplain would be advised on these shifts, the actual placement of chaplains within a regiment, once assigned there, was the prerogative of the regimental commander with the regimental chaplain as his adviser. As a member of the Commanding General's staff the Division chaplain found many of his duties to be 4 See ch. 1. administrative, though he furnished a ministry repre- senting his particular faith at the Division. CP and Headquarters Battalion. Also at Headquarters would be a chaplain of the Christian faith different from that of the senior chaplain, for instance, through most of the period here under review, Chaplain A. D. Prickett, Southern Baptist, worked with Chaplain Slattery. In addition, the single Jewish chaplain was always assigned to Headquarters Battalion, though his duties carried him through the entire Division and on occasion he would be given temporary additional duty orders to one or other of the separate battalions. Sometimes this was necessary to provide a chaplain in a given battalion, besides, it gave the chaplain an opportunity to gain experience as chaplain in an inde- pendent unit. One or both of these chaplains were sometimes referred to as assistant division chaplain. In filling the regimental chaplain billet seniority naturally was an important factor. Usually a lieu- tenant commander was assigned, though on many occasions a lieutenant filled the billet. For instance, on Slattery's 19 May roster only the lst and 11th Ma- rines had a lieutenant commander fMcCabe and Lanej, while the 5th and 7th Marines each had a lieutenant CMendonsa and Willetsj. As far as pos- sible these billets were rotated among Protestants and Roman Catholics. All other factors having been weighed, it sometimes happened that all three regi- mental chaplains would be of the same faith, but with new arrivals shifts would be made to bring that aspect of the distribution picture into normal alinement. Other reassignments were made, as chaplains at- tached to separate battalions became senior to more recent arrivals and were shifted to regimental chap- lain billets and relieved in the separate battalions by their less experienced colleagues. Sometimes chap- lains were shifted from separate battalions to regi- mental billets, because of their own request for infantry duty, or because they seemed to the Division chaplain especially suited for such duty or because denominational and rank requirements dictated such changes. Chaplains serving with regiments would sometimes be reassigned to rear-area battalions, on occasion it was felt a chaplain had had all the front- line duty he could take for a while, or again he would have displayed particular abilities that recommended him to the Division chaplain as the right man for a particular assignment. One such situation can be in- ferred from the following paragraph in Chaplain Slattery's letter of 5 lNIay to the Chief of Chaplains. Chaplain Stamper took over in Combat Service Group when conditions there were, to say the least, unsavory. The -139-

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Outdoor Worship. Chaplain A. W. Robertson mounts his portable altar on a T46 tank at a forward outpost in Korea and conducts services. lain serving with the Division was ordered detached after 6 or 7 months, the actual date of detachment, within the terms of the Bureau of Naval Personnel orders sent to Division Headquarters, was left to the discretion of the Division Chaplain. Normally de- tachment was effected in order of priority of report- ing, though the overriding consideration always was the most economical distribution of chaplains through- out the Division's units. Siegel, of course, had to await the arrival of a Jewish relief, being the only chaplain of that faith in the Division. Chaplains E. A. Wolfram, Jr., and Ward D. McCabe completed the list Qincluding the six abovej of eight chaplains who had reported before 31 January, who could expect rotation in accordance with the earlier policy. Chap- lains reporting on or after 1 February would be ex- pected to serve 10 months in Korea. Chaplain Distribution The administrative processing of chaplains attached to the lst Marine Division was a G-1 fDivision Per- sonnelj function, acting for the Chief of Staff and with the advice of the Division Chaplain. The chap- lains had no direct command link with the Division Chaplain, once assigned they were under the mili- tary jurisdiction of their respective commanding of- ficers. The Division Chaplain served, however, as an effective liaison between the various unit chaplains and the Division subordinate commands. Chaplains were reassigned within the Division from time to time, so much so during certain periods that trying to follow them resembles unscrambling a maze. There is clearly much in favor of keeping a chaplain with the same unit for an extended period, and in peacetime, at least, as long as both unit commander and chaplain are satisfied, long pastoratesv are more likely the rule. Under field conditions, however, itinerancy provided the only adequate and economical distribution of the services of a limited number of chaplain personnel ffrontier churches had of course had the same experience in the early days of the west- ward expansion of our countryj. It was the function of the Division Chaplain to see that the available chaplains were so assigned that their ministry might be utilized to the benefit of the largest number of personnel. According to the Divi- sion TKO the Division Chaplain and all others not assigned to regimental organizations were carried by 138-

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ofiicers were rather, shall we say, flamboyant in their conduct and attitude. Others followed suit. Bob Stamper who has been one of the top men here handled the situation with firm diplomacy and he reports that things are in hand now. He urged me to fill the billet with a field grade lin Marine terms, a major, hence, lieutenant commanderj chaplain. Another illustration may be seen in the exchange of Chaplain T. A. Newman, Service Battalion, with Chaplain C. W. Herrick, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, and Prickett of Headquarters Battalion with Willets, regimental chaplain, 7th Marines. Concerning these shifts Slattery wrote on 15 September: The moves were made in order to give Chaplains Willets and Herrick a rest from the pressure they have been under in 'enemy engaged, units. Both are pleased to move to rear units and Chaplains Newman and Prickett are the lgung-ho' guys who wanted to get a taste of the fighting front. He added: I intend shortly to make a similar switch of Adams f7th Motor Transportl and Callahan l3d Battalion, lst Marinesjf' Concerning a plan for more stable assignments which he was trying to effect, Slattery wrote on 9 June, after a meeting of the chaplains, All agree that the present plan to keep each chaplain with his originally assigned battalion is the one most beneficial to the men and the individual chaplain. Apparently Slattery and his regimental chaplains were assigning chaplains within a regiment at bat- talion level. For instance, the 19 May roster showed W. D. McCabe as regimental chaplain, lst Marines, with duty in the 2d Battalion, T. Callahan was as- signed to the 3d Battalion and M. E. Torstrick to the first. The 1 September roster showed K. D. Killin fordered but not yet reportedj as McCabe's relief, both as regimental chaplain and in the 2d Battalion. Callahan was still in the 3d Battalion. Oscar Weber, who had been in the Medical Battalion on the May roster, was now in the lst Battalion. But the latter assignment had not been uncomplicated. E. S. Jones had relieved Torstrick when his time was up, coming from the Armored Amphibian Battalion. Jones was accidentally injured and sent to the HAVEN in Pusan. Weber had then been drawn from the Medical Battalion to replace Jones. A comparison of the 19 May and l September rosters in the case of the 5th Marines shows A. F. Mendonsa as regimental chaplain, with duty in the 2d Battalion, on both dates, Calvin H. Elliott in the 3d Battalion on both dates, and H. C. Duncan, who had returned stateside, relieved in the lst Battalion by Chaplain J. C. Brown, who had reported to the Division on 30 May after duty with the Air Wing's unit at Itami since 20 March. In the 7th Marines the slate was unchanged: R. H. Willets was regimental chaplain, with duty in the lst Battalion, on both rosters, C. W. Herrick, 2d Bat- talion, and L. A. Guillaume, 3d Battalion. In the llth Marines, with a normal complement of four battalions, W. P. Lane appears on both rosters as regimental chaplain carried at Headquarters, F. Forney, detached, had been relieved in the lst Bat- talion by H. C. Bowling, who had previously been in Combat Service Group. N. L. McDowell contin- ued in the 4th Battalion and C. T. Duggan in the 3d. Whether Lane covered the 2d battalion does not appear from Slattery's rosters. In any case the llth Regiment was well served, with four aboard on a TXO calling for three. When Forney had been due to be relieved the new- est replacement was M. Strumski, a Roman Catho- lic without previous Marine duty. Lane and Duggan were also Catholic. So Bowling was brought up from Combat Service Group to the llth Marines. Otherwise las Slattery wrote to the Chiefl the llth Marines would be without adequate Protestant coverage. There are four battalions, the llth CP and three batteries of reinforce- ments from the Army scattered over many miles of front. I made an analysis of the possibility of coverage for Prot- estant services from one of the other units but find it is beyond the capabilities! of the chaplains, due to heavy schedules of their own and the tactical location of the artillery. After a short period of indoctrination at Headquar- ters Battalion Strumski was assigned to Combat Serv- ice Group, a rear unit not likely to be involved in combat. As things turned out, it was a happy move. On 29 July Slattery wrote: The arrival of Chaplain Strumski was fortunate as Combat Service, which had depended on an Air Force chaplain for Catholic services, was suddenly bereft of his services due to a move by the Air Force. By coincidence the Army ordered a Protestant chaplain to a camp just 100 yards away from our Combat Service Group. So I was able to parlay the moves to our advantage. At Division Headquarters a comparison of the May and September rosters shows the same slate, except that Siegel had been relieved on 10 July by Chaplain Samuel Sobel. Q But as we have seen, within 2 weeks of the latter roster, Prickett and Willets would be exchanged., In some of the separate battalions, the picture was unchanged: A. W. Boyer was still with Motor Transport, R. F. Barlik with the Medical Bat- talion, B. Nowakowski with the AmTracs, A. W. Robertson with Tanks, and H. Muller with Shore Party. -140-