United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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But there had also been changes. V. W. Lustig had been assigned to the Armored Amphibian Bat- talion when Jones had replaced Torstrick at lst Bat- talion, lst Marines. Weber had replaced Jones there when the latter was injured. Both Lustig and Weber had been drawn from the Medical Battalion, one would infer the need for chaplains there was not pressing at the time. Upon Jones' return to duty he was assigned there, giving the Medical Battalion once more its normal complement, one Protestant and one Roman Catholic. E. A. Wolfram had been detached and replaced by G. E. Kuhn fordered but not yet reportedj in the Engineers. Wolfe had likewise been transfered state- side and replaced in the Service Battalion by T. A. Newman, who reported on 5 July. Bowling had been replaced at Combat Service by Strumski. The Ord- nance Battalion, which had no chaplain at the time of the May roster, was now to be covered by R. C. McMillan, ordered but not yet reported. The Signal Battalion had no chaplain attached at either date but was covered for services, probably it would have been near enough Headquarters Battalion to make that feasible. Chaplain Patrick Adams, who reported 23 May, had been assigned to 7th Motor Transport, a unit not formerly allowed a chaplain. The 1 Sep- tember roster showed a total of 28 chaplains, includ- ing the 3 ordered but not yet reported, with none at that time awaiting detachment. This somewhat cursory and perhaps confusing sur- vey at least indicates the nature of the Division Chap- lain's job in trying to make sure that the complement of chaplains was distributed in such manner as to provide the most adequate ministry to the most men in any given set of circumstances. Not least of the changing conditions was the mobility of the Division's units, often necessitating this month a reshuflling of what had only last month seemed a workable distribu- tion. Despite Slatteryls new plan of keeping chap- lains with their originally assigned battalions, it could be implemented only in part. The chaplain himself wrote to Salisbury on 22 September: I am sure that you agree we should not indiscriminately assign a 'body to a battalion, but should try to fit the man to the type work involved. At least, we have tried to do so, as some jobs here are more challenging than others and de- mand more forceful chaplains. A survey extended through 30 November, the end of the 8th Korean Campaign, would doubtless show still further reassignments, but all the Hchess playing was, hopefully, in the interest of a more effective ministry. -141 Chaplains' Information Booklet In May the Division Chaplain issued a mimeo- graphed Chaplains, Information Booklet. Purely in- formational and advisory, and in no sense an official directive, it consolidated within one cover a good deal of pertinent information based upon the Marine Corps Manual, the Chaplains Manual, the FMF Pac Gen- eral Order setting forth the SOP for chaplains serv- ing with a Marine division and current Division orders. A section on casualty letters attempted once more to clarify the procedures to be followed in writing letters to the next of kin of deceased personnel. It is quoted here in its entirety. ENCLOSURE C21 CHAPLAIN,S CASUALTY LETTERS 'ro NEXT or KIN Ref: Cal Chaplain's Manual, NavPers 15664, Sec. 5102. tbl Par -lcflj, FMF Pac General Order 19. fel Par 3bf7l, Annex K, lstMarDiv General Order 50. 1. In compliance with references fab, fbl, and fel, a chaplain's casualty letter will be sent to the next of kin of all deceased personnel of the battalion to which the chaplain is attached, regardless of status of death. 2. It is recommended that the following procedure be fol- lowed in compiling necessary data, writing and submission of the casualty letter: a. Upon receipt of the casualty report, information such as rank, name, service number, component, organiza- tion, next of kin, and address of next of kin should be pro- cured from personnel records as soon as possible. The re- ligion of the individual should be ascertained by contacting the administrative rear, or the administrative section of the organization prior to the time the service records are mailed to Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. This information should be held pending receipt of the Casualty Amplifying Report, which will be forthcoming in approximately two f2l to three Q31 weeks after the individual becomes a casualty. b. Upon receipt of the Casualty Amplifying Report, the information contained thereon, such as rank, name, service number, etc., should be checked against the information you have been holding. A check should then be made to deter- mine that the designation and address of the next of kin you have obtained from examination of records compares with the addressee of the Company Commander's condolence let- ter. This will insure that the same person will receive both letters. All information should be checked thoroughly be- fore a letter is written. It is suggested that no letter be written until the amplifying report has been received, as that report will contain information relative to the disposi- tion of the remains and will therefore be conclusive. In the event letters are received from the next of kin or relatives, they should be acknowledged, with a statement that the sit- uation fnot deathj is being investigated and that information will be forthcoming as it becomes available. c. After all data has been compiled and thoroughly checked, a chaplain's casualty letter to the next of kin will be drawn up, for the signature of the chaplain, along with an envelope addressed to the next of kin. Chaplain's cas-

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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-

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yi. ualty letters will be transmitted through official channels to the Commandant of the Marine Corps fCode DGUJ for forwarding to the next of kin. Copies of this correspondence and of the casualty letter should be retained in the chap- lain's files for reference and information. A copy should be made for each via in the chain of command, and an extra copy for the Commandant of the Marine Corps for inser- tion in the jacket of the individual at Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps. Another section of the Information Booklet dealt with publicity concerning chaplains' activities in Ko- rea. It quoted excerpts from several letters received from the Chief of Chaplains. We are still concerned about receiving pictures and stories on chaplains' activities with the Marines in Korea. There are two fields which have not been publicized, but which we feel contain excellent possibilities for public relations. First, our Office and the Marine Corps Public Information Office would like very much to publicize the work of the Marines who are serving as chaplains' assistants. Secondly, we are interested in securing the reactions of men in combat to religion. Would you please request the chaplains of the Division to secure some statements from the men in their units, who felt that religion had helped them when they were involved in fighting at the front. We are especially interested in learning of men who have had only a superficial relation with religion before. A great deal has been said and written concerning the help and strength of religion to men in combat. But we actually have very little from the men themselves as to just how they were helped and how much they feel this would affect their future life when they return home. We continue to receive .requests for pictures of men in combat engaged in religious activities. Recently we re- ceived an excellent picture of a Marine saying the rosary. It is this type of picture that we need for illustrations in religious periodicals. We have recently learned of several awards for Navy chaplains who have served with Marines in Korea. We are embarrassed when we send out publicity concerning their awards because many times we would not have pictures of them made with the Marines in Korea. Chaplain Craven fnow in the Chaplain's Divisionl would appreciate it if you could speak to the Public Information Officer about getting a picture of every chaplain serving with the Division while he is engaged in conducting Divine Service, interviewing a Marine, assisting with the wounded, or similar scenes of chaplains' activities. Other sections dealt with supplies, the semimonthly report of chaplain activities required by a Division memorandum and the monthly report required to be submitted to the FMF Pac Chaplain for inclusion in his quarterly report to the Chaplains Division. Concerning assistance to the work of the Red Cross, the booklet advised: 1. On occasion the American Red Cross field director will request a chaplain to deliver a notification of death in the family. 2. It is expected that such requests will be expedited and that American Red Cross will be notified of mission accomplished. 3. When an American Red Cross field director requests a chaplain to accompany him for notification, the chaplain will do so for the purpose of giving spiritual comfort. Because on rare occasionsi' fas Slattery put itj, commanding oflicers had assigned chaplains collateral duties which were a handicap to their basic work, especially in the field, the chaplains were reminded of paragraph 6, Annex K to Division General Order No. 50, here quoted: The primary work of the chaplain is spiritual and moral leadership. He will therefore not be required to undertake duties of any other nature that would absorb the major portion of his time, and thus cause him to neglect his chaplain duties. The booklet included a list of the chaplains then on duty in order of their reporting to the Division, with the dates of reporting, and the probable or anticipated date of detachment. Finally there was a list of all the chaplains who had served or were cur- rently serving in the lst Marine Division in Korea, compiled from such records as were available in the Division Chaplain's Oliice. Marine Padres, Inc. The chaplains were dependent on their units for transportation and only rarely were actually assigned a vehicle. Often the chaplainis personal relationship with his unit CO or transportation officer had much to do with the availability of wheels Early in June the Division chaplain held a conference at which all 27 chaplains aboard were present. After being ad- dressed by the Commanding General and the G-1 fpersonnel officerl , there was a roundtable discussion, during which the same old subject of transportation came up. However, it is clear that all CO's are furnishing wheels when a chaplain has a scheduled Divine Servicef, Slattery's conclusion on this matter would be echoed by every chaplain in the Corps: Maybe someday Congress will make an appropria- tion for jeeps to be specially allotted to chaplains! The British chaplains were at least better off on that point, though from the American point of view they suffered some disabilities in turn. One of our pleasant associations here has been with the Padres of the British Commonwealth Division. I visited their senior chaplain last Wednesday. You know their sys- tem, of course. They are envious of the fine integration of our Protestant and Catholic chaplains and of the considera- tion the Chaplains Division gives to the men in the field. Their tour is almost 3 years in comparison to our Marine tour. Of course they are on an Army plan. I guess the 142 -