United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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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

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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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Preparation for Vegas. Chaplain james Kelly prays with marines from the 2d Battalion, 7th Regiment as they stand by to move out to hit the enemy. to those who still felt and saw its radiance. There were those men who had grown cold with death and now only felt the warmth of heavenly sunshine. We began the slow and difficult task of bringing the dead down from the top trenches. Every man in the trench would help as the stretcher was carried down the trench line. In the trench I saw faces I had known before-men of Easy Company- tired, dirty, afraid, and heart-sick from the loss of friends and buddies. When 1030 came I thought of the church service that I should be conducting back in the reserve area for the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines. These men on Vegas needed the reassurance that God hadn't forsaken them. They needed so much that only God could give. Sunday morning and part of the afternoon we searched the hillsides of Vegas looking for the dead who had been left behind in the excitement of the fighting. I collected men who were not busy fighting wherever I could find them and formed them into stretcher teams. My friend Sergeant Matthews was still lying out there somewhere and I wanted to bring him back again. We failed to find any trace of his body. More than a week later he was found and recom- mended for the Medal of Honor for his heroic deeds. We found other men, broken bodies sprawled behind bushes in hideous ways hardly recognizable as men we had once known. Since we were under enemy observation, we worked rapidly and in small teams of four. The hill having been cleaned of its burden of human flesh as far as we could go, our sad procession started in with our heavy loads. Once again the church music was lacking-only the voices of tired men calling out commands or cheering each other on. What an entry was being made by these men who had found the eternal peace that they had fought to gain. If only the world could see the sorrow in this scene! The light melted into another period of darkness again and with the night came increased enemy activity. Death and injury once again touched the hilltop of Vegas. It was late that night before I found my way out to the hill. Stretcher teams were going back and forth between the hill and the wire which marked the main line and safety. Most of the Marines were exhausted from the days without sleep and the emotional strain of the battle. Finally an opportu- nity to help presented itself-they needed someone to show a group of 48 Korean stretcher bearers the way to Vegas. One Marine thought he knew but wasn't certain. Quietly I offered him my services and stepped in front of the long line of men to start the journey out to pick up 12 wounded Ma- rines. The Marine asked me where my weapon wasg my comment was, I have none., He said no more but still -169-