United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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Jfk... ,AHA 'MA Christmas Day on the Front. Chaplain Allen Newman offers a prayer for all fighting marines at Christmas Day services at the front. I was told that one of the men who was a soloist in the variety show and was to sing for Easter services had been killed early in the fighting. His name was Matthews, Sgt. Daniel P. Matthews. That was the Hrst of much sad news that came to me. The battle was more personal than before. Since there was nothing I could do but wait for darkness, I began to make the rounds of the men who were crouch- ing in the gully. There were menlfrom the 5th Marines waiting to help remove the wounded to the main line of resistance. I talked to as many of the men as possible in between the enemy mortar barrages. During one heavy at- tack a cry went out behind me, Help me I'm hitfl And the word Hcorpsmanl' echoed from man to man in the gully. The man just a few feet in front of me was moaning. i A piece of an enemy shell had hit him in the head. Rapidly the corpsman, James McCrabe HM3, and I dressed his wound. Quickly we placed him on a stretcher and started 'across the rice paddies that separated Vegas from the friendly lines. I had known this particular man for several months as he had often attended church services. He was 1- afraid that something like this would happen to him-and it did. As fast as was possible we rushed him to the doctor, but in spite of using eight men and the speediest route, he soon gave up the fight for his life. More and more of my men were coming back that way. With darkness came thc wounded, carried by their buddies who stumbled in the darkness. Eager hands reached down to pick up stretchers for the long and wearisome trip back to the lines. Names were called out, Smith! Wooten! Ward! as attempt was made to find out who was on the stretcher. Strong and then sometimes feeble voices answered back, I'm all right, one of my buddies is still out thereg take care of him flrstfl I could hardly recognize any of the forms or faces as men I had known before and yet they were the same men who had climbed into the trucks just a few hours ago. They were surprised to hear my voice. The word was soon passed that the chaplain was out here. A few asked me in weak voices to write their mothers. Others were too far gone to say anything. One boy who had his chin hanging far below its normal place needed

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During its stay with the Division, Chaplain John P. Byrnes reports that he administered the Sacra- ments for the Army detachment at Panmunjom once a week, and Chaplain Karl H. Ernst reports that he never worked so hard in his life in the holding of services. Chaplain Ernst also reports on the value of tours to Seoul that gave his men an opportunity to see another side of the Korean people and their culture. It was about this time that some consideration was given to an extension of the period of a tour of duty for the chaplains to 12 months instead of 10. On 26 February Chaplain Meachum wrote to the Chief of Chaplains stating, I am glad that you decided to keep it at 10 months. This is tough going in the dust, cold, heat, mud, 'incoming,' and what with one and two services a day and all a man can stand up to on Sunday? A A glance at the roster of February indicates the following new chaplains, B. Conlon, Catholic, A. Barry, Catholic, R. E. Brengartner, Catholic, E. V. Lyons, Presbyterian QUSAQ, L. F. Rice, Catholic, T. V. Edwards, Catholic, and W. H. Nordby, Lutheran. In March the Division Chaplain indicates that there is a concentrated effort in the promulgation of Char- acter Education Programs underway. In a personal letter fentered in his filej dated 20 March we also read for the first time of retreats being set up for chap- lains. He writes, All of our chaplains are invited to meet Chaplain Bennett at I Corps Chapel on 8 April. In lieu of this trip to I Corps we will not have our regular monthly Protestant retreat in April. We have had fine fellowship at these meetings since I came. Our fellows did not pay much attention to the re- treat before the January meeting. They do not feel that they should leave their outfits. However, I am going to insist that they go. We get a chance to meet the chaplains in the Commonwealth and 2d Divisions. They secure an outstanding missionary or native to speak in the morning and the divisions rotate with the devotional period after lunch. He further mentioned action on the front 18 March, he says, We had 89 casualties the night of the 18th, 9 KIA's with superficial wounds accounting for the most of the others. Our boys QCHCJ are doing a wonderful job. The battles which took place this same month caused a number of chaplains to record their experi- ences. One such account was entitled On a Hill Far Away and was written by Chaplain Allen Newman. Because it vividly describes a chaplain in action it is recorded in full as follows, I couldn't get any closer to the ground which I hugged with all my body. The enemy mortars and artillery shells were landing and whistling around us. How did I, the chaplain, ever get way out here was the question I kept asking myself? It all happened so fast! It wasn't planned that way! The plans were for a show the next Sunday, a choir that was to sing for Easter, a series of Lenten services. A nice and quiet weekend. The men had been rehearsing for the Palm Sunday variety show during the past 4 nights. The choir just 2 nights ago had practiced for Sunday serv- ices. Then last night in the middle of rehearsals the 30 minute alert was given to all troops of the 2d Battalion, 7th Marines. There was trouble on the lines, several out- posts were under attack. With rapid and precisionlike move- ment the 2d Battalion began to ready for battle. The trucks started arriving during the night, their engines roaring out the noise of their coming. In the darkness of the early morning the men climbed into the trucks bound for a destination unknown. There were no bands to cheer them, only the voices of the platoon sergeants and officers piercing the night with curt cries, all right keep movingf' There was excitement in the air and anticipation made many a heart beat faster. One company, then another, pulled out toward the front line in the direction of the 5th Marines sector and away from the security and peace of our reserve camp. We had been in reserve for just 2 weeks and expected to stay there for at least 2 more weeks but the enemy wasn't cooperating with our plans and hopes. All that night the sound of artillery and the light of flares re- minded us that there was crisis ahead-a dangerous oppor- tunity for the battalion. With the coming of daylight the flares and artillery shells stopped their ceaseless flow. Quiet became the early morn- ing hour's song. I tried to take stock of all my men, to locate all the widely scattered companies. All the companies were still waiting the word as to what they were going to do. The outposts Reno and Carson had fallen to the enemy during the night. Rumors were making a rapid tour of the companies- Easy Company is going to take Reno back - Dog Company was to helpf' No one knew just what was going to happen. Easy Company was in a position to move out at any moment. I walked among these men that I knew and loved, talking, joking, just being with them as they worried and wondered what was in the future for them. I wondered too. The morning passed quickly with Easy Company. Early in the afternoon word came that Fox Company had been committed to recapture outpost Vegas from the enemy. They had already started up the hill and were in close range fighting with the enemy. The battle was on! There were four chaplains besides myself in the immediate vicinity. They were seeing the wounded and dead as they came through the medical aid stations. My men were fighting for their lives. I had to go with them. And there I was in the advanced Fox Com- pany C.P. which was set up in a gully at the closest tip of Vegas. It was 1630 on Friday, 27 March when I got out there. I had gone out with a platoon of Weapons Company men who had been organized into stretcher teams and supply carriers. We were waiting for darkness to come so that we could remove the many wounded men who were still up on the hillsides. It was too hazardous to attempt relief during the daylight hours. Bad news travels fast and -166-

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another bandage, and as I placed a new battle dressing on his damaged chin, he kept saying he was O.K. I hadn't even recognized his face at all. No tears were shed by those whose bodies ached with paing no words of self-pity or complaints were said that night. The long trains of men carrying stretchers-four men carrying one wounded began the many journeys that were to continue during the night. Back and forth went Marines and Koreans carrying supplies out to Vegas and the dead and wounded back in again. Word was passed that there were 16 seriously wounded up in the lowest trench line. A group of stretcher bearers, enough to carry back 12 wounded, under the leadership of Sergeant Schrum started out to make this journey. I went with them to help and encourage the tired and weary men. We traveled the three or four hundred yards to the place where the men were waiting. There in a shallow trench were the men who had been waiting for hours for us to come and get them. They were all seriously wounded. We had to decide which ones we could take and which ones would be left until the next trip. A decision like that might mean the difference between life and death for some of them. There was never a word or outcry from any as we quickly and painfully lifted them onto the stretchers we had carried out. Broken legs, miss- ing legs, torn bodies, dirty wounds, all were common to those who depended upon our skill and judgment for some chance to live. Those who had cared for them told us that there were six more seriously wounded farther up the trench line. We had to leave some so we picked the ones we thought needed to get back quickest. One after another the stretcher teams of four would leave with their burden and start the hazardous and difficult journey through dark- ness to life and safety. I left with the last team. Our stretcher was a broken one so that delayed us until we could find another out there on the hill. By that time all of the other teams had disappeared into the night and we had to find our way alone. We lost our way once, but soon found the gully where the other teams were waiting to make the last leg of the trip. Fox Company made one more assault on the outpost early Saturday morning. They refused to allow anyone to leave the lines during the attack to go to Vegas so I decided I had better see what had happened to Easy and Dog Com- panies. Finding that they were not committed to action, I returned to the Battalion Command Post to eat and wash. Early Saturday afternoon Dog Company started out to Vegas to assist in the fighting. Enemy artillery caught them in one of the valleys beside Vegas and they sustained 40 casualties. Returning to the lines again Dog Company brought back the dead and wounded. The men worked frantically to bind up the injuries and evacuate the casual- ties. It all came so quickly and was such a surprise that most of the men still didn't realize what had happened. Ii walked around the group of dazed men who still remained in Dog Company talking to most of them. Many were in a state of shock or stunned by the sudden attack which struck them. It took several hours to clear the wounded and take them to the field hospitals. Once again an ache was in my heart and a wound in the side of the battalion. Night brought sleep for me and a few other fortunate men who did not or could not stand a watch that night. The first rays of sunshine brought Palm Sunday to Korea. As I climbed Vegas hill to see the men of Easy Company I thought, What a different Sunday this was than the one that had been planned. No human choir was to sing for my men that day, only the chorus of enemy shells singing around them. No sermon telling of Jesus' entry into Jeru- salem filled their hearts. But they were to feel the eternal Presence of God as they crouched in the trenches or hid in their rabbit holes for hours during the nights and days ahead. No one had to ask them to pray. They did it naturally as a man would cry out for help if he were helpless. Easy Company that Palm Sunday morning was digging into the debris-filled mountain top. The sun was warm and kindly Chaplain Gives Lecture. Chaplain Matthew J. Strumski delivers an educational lecture on character to marines in Korea. -168- l