United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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Gift From the Fleet. Chaplain john J. Burns, left, and Chaplain Allen Jones both of the lst Marine Air Wing exhibit money orders received from the VALLEY FORGE for the Memorial Orphanage. all faiths. Handicapped by the widespread dispersion of Wing units, he traveled throughout the combat area to establish a close and effective liaison between the chaplains of outlying units and the Wing chaplain's office . . . His talks to civic organizations in Korea and Japan promoted good will and mutual understanding between the Wing com- mand and the populace of these two countries. Dedicated to the humanitarian principles embodied in the precept of his faith, he was instrumental in the purchase of rice land for undernourished Korean orphans and the delivery of tons of clothing and food to needy civilians in the combat zone. His untiring efforts resulted directly in greater health, com- fort, and welfare for hundreds of helpless Korean families, thereby greatly enhancing indigenous friendship for all friendly forces in Korea. With the departure of Chaplain Jones the new Wing Chaplain, Jeremiah F. Gearan, Roman Catholic, took over the spiritual leadership of the command. Another chaplain decorated with the Bronze Star at this time was Chaplain Harry F. Fenstermacher. It is recognized that His endeavors permitted the purchase of rice land for hungry Koreans and the delivery of clothing and toys to needy civilians in the combat zone. Working in close liaison with Korean military personnel, he was instrumental in help- ing to establish the Chaplains Corps for the Republic of Ko- rea Navy. Dedicated to the humanitarian principles embodied in the precept of his faith, his activities resulted in greater health, comfort, and welfare for helpless Korean families and orphans and enhanced goodwill for all United Nations forces. A Letter of Commendation was awarded Chaplain - 208 Joseph F. Cloonan calling attention to the fact that he . . . . provided inspirational guidance in ministering to the spiritual needs of men in the forward area. He was instru- mental in the direction of the successful operation of a spe- cial Catholic orphanage at Pohang, Korea. Enhancing good will through his ceaseless endeavors to aid needy civilians, he personally delivered hundreds of packages of food and clothing to destitute Korean families. Dedicated to the hu- manitarian principles embodied in the precept of his faith, Lieutenant Cloonanis activities resulted directly in greater comfort and welfare for many helpless Korean families and orphans, and enhanced the morale and efficiency of the lst Marine Aircraft Wing. One other award of the Commendation Ribbon was made to Chaplain Francis P. O'Malley which noted that his . . . endeavors assisted in the construction of a school for a Korean orphanage and the delivery of clothing, food, and milk to needy civilians in the combat zone. He gave vall uable and untiring assistance as a member of the Korean! Rehabilitation Board which controls the building of schools, milk stations and sanitation facilities for Korean refugees and orphans. Dedicated to the humanitarian principles em- bodied in the precepts of his faith, his activities resulted in greater health, comfort, and welfare for helpless Korean families and orphans and enhanced goodwill for all United Nations forces. The wing also built chapels. As Chaplain James B. Martin expressed it, Our Marine Air Group has been working its way out of the mud. Fortunately, in 3 months we were able to give the men a newly painted and 100 percent enlarged chapel, seating 154. It is converted to two small chapels for weekly and private devotions. No one under the same circum- stances has a nicer religious arrangement, anywhere in the lst Marine Air Wing. Chaplain Samuel B. Bennett had previously stated that this Chapel-MAG-1 1-was too small, but plans were being made to enlarge it. Forces Afloat The continual problem for chaplains afloat was the matter of coverage. During October through De- cember, at the invitation of RADM, W. D. Johnson, Chaplain Herbert C. Albrecht of the KEASARGE functioned as coordinator for all the ships in Task Force 77. Dispatches were sent out to the ships inviting them to send in requests for services prior to 1200 Friday. Chaplains were then scheduled for the extra services. . . . the admiral issued a regular operational plan for Sundays to move chaplains around in the task force mostly by helicopter. Chaplains were hopping all over the task force in accordance with this Sky Flight Planf'

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The Ist Marine Air Wing For the most part the recognition given to the chaplains of the Wing was for their participation in JONES, A .cnnc . . CDR BURNS, J. J .c..c..n.,.c, . . LCDR LAMPE, J. H ....ccc...,,.. . . LCDR FENSTERMACHER, H. F ,.., . . LCDR O,MALLEY, F. P ,..,.c,... . . LT SMITH, J. R .,.i......., , . LT CLOONAN, J, F ...... . , LT STROMAN, H. w ...... ..L... . . LTJG MCKNIGHT, P. G.1 .......,..,.. . . LTJG 1 McKnight was Paul's relief. In September Chaplain Paul was detached. His Letter of Commendation includes the following comments, He continually gave his attention to sick and wounded patients who were flown to Japan at all hours of the day and night, and greatly assisted the medical oHicers by main- taining an exceptionally high degree of morale among the patients. Lieutenant Commander Paul met and assisted all replacement drafts reporting for duty in the forward area. Chapel-Third Division. A view of a chapel used by marines of the 3d Division. This chapel is located at Camp McNair, Japan, where the 12th Marines was located. Mount Fuji is shown in the back- ground. , 'mv' r ., , ff tiki. T R ' relief work. This will be more fully considered in a subsequent chapter. The roster of the command was as follows, Wing Chap ..,. , . PRESBY CUSJ FMAW ....... . . RC MAG-12 ..,..... . . PRESBY QUSAD 1st9OMMAABn. . . . . EVAN St REF MAG-12 ,..... . . RC MAG-33 .... , . CHRISTIAN MAG-33 ..., . . RC . . NAZARENE . . PRESBY QUSAD MAG-16 ..., It is evident from this that the Wing participated actively in the movement of the sick and wounded and of replacements. Chaplain Lampe was awarded a Bronze Star about this same time. His citation emphasizes the work which was done for needy civilians, Continually seeking ways to aid Korean civilians, he in- stigated and supervised the construction and furnishing of a new orphanage building to house 150 destitute Korean children. His ceaseless endeavors permitted the purchase of rice land for hungry Koreans and the delivery of tons of clothing and toys to needy civilians in the combat zone. Dedicated to the humanitarian principles embodied in the precept of his faith, his activities resulted directly in greater health, comfort and welfare for hundreds of helpless Ko- rean families and orphans, and enhanced goodwill for all United Nations forces. Before the change of Wing Chaplains, Chaplain Bennett, FMF Pac chaplain, on his visit in September 1953 noted the high morale of the chaplains, the new chapels under construction, and other aspects of the command. Chaplain Paul of MSWG-17 had been detached without a relief at Itami. Chaplain McKnight was selected to go there. It would appear that, like other areas where troops were stationed in Japan, problems of morality and intermarriage were present at Itami so that a chaplain was essential. Chaplain McKnight was to continue covering MAG-16 Cat Honshin which was about 15 minutes away by helicopterj. Chaplain D. Gould, Southern Baptist, arrived Oc- tober 1953. Upon the detachment of Chaplain Allen Jones, Wing Chaplain, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. Concerning his work one reads, Thoroughly understanding the problems confronting men in a combat zone, Commander Jones capably administered to the spiritual needs of military and civilian personnel of -207-

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The Flag PIO issued this communique: from CTF 77 TOR PIO X RELIGIOUS SERVICES ON SUNDAY ARE A USUAL ROUTINE FOR FOLKS WHO LIVE ON LAND BUT TO SEAGOING MEN, SCATTERED IN FORMATION WITH A NAVAL TASK FORCE THEY KRE SOMETHING SPECIAL X PARA X TODAY, NITH TASK FORCE 77, OPERATING IN THE FAR EASTERN WATERS ON TRAINING EXERCISES, 'IEARLY EVERY SHIP IN THIS UNIT WAS AF- FORDED AN OPPORTUNITY TO PASS THE WORD THAT RELIGIOUS SERVICES WOULD BE HELD X vIANY OF THE SMALLER SHIPS DO NOT HAVE A IHAPLAIN ABOARD AND HELICOPTERS WERE .ISED TO FLY 6 NAVY CHAPLAINS FROM CAR- KIERS AND A CRUISER TO DESTROYERS OF THE 'ORCE X THE AERIAL SKY PILOTS CONDUCTED 9 SERVICES FOR THEIR SEAGOING CONGREGA- TIONS IN MESS HALLS, RECEPTION ROOMS AND JN HANGAR DECKS X Xdmiral johnson stated that the willingness of the :haplains concerned to travel by helicopter and high- ine in order to conduct services has been an inspira- :ion to all hands. Chaplain Joseph M. Broadley 'eports on his circuit riding during this period While attached to the Staff of Commander Landing Ship 'lotilla ONE, and in the Far East, I followed the practice mf riding on different ships of the Flotilla CLST, ARL, .SMRJ. During October 1953, I spent 2 weeks on the .SMR 401 while it was on patrol along the west coast of iorea. To my knowledge this type ship had not had a haplain aboard for duty, other than to conduct Divine Norship, prior to this time. Chaplain Kenneth D. Killin of the BATAAN car- 'ied a small kit which he had made himself for the murpose of holding services for small groups. A number of chaplains assisted the fleet as they had n the past. Chaplain Thomas D. Parham is men- ioned as conducting Character Education lectures 'or Destroyer Squadron 22. Chaplain Daniel Sil- fer reports that he conducted Jewish services over a erritory extending from the Formosa Straits to Korea. He also found time to coach a football team, the Kokosuka Seahawks. Chaplain Hedges Capers in the SICILY tells of the ine group of Christian laymen which he had on ioard The active participation of the men on the USS SICILY vas unusual. We had a group of approximately 15 who onsistently took part in all worship services. For the Sun- lay services, one man would read the scriptures, another vould lead in the responsive reading. This same practice :revailed in the Tuesday night Bible class. The Thursday iight fellowship hour was conducted exclusively by the men vith previous assistance by me. I used to end this meeting vith closing remarks. The Saturday night prayer meeting was conducted solely by the men. The Sunday evening service was conducted by the men. My only contributions took the form of advice and coaching beforehand. This entire program was carried on while we were at sea and in foreign ports. Hospital ships continued in the area. Chaplain O'Leary in the HAVEN indicates that he aided a number of servicemen of different nationalities. MSTS Chaplain James R. Spaid speaking of the daily newspaper aboard his ship had this item of interest, On a number of occasions we have carried United Nations troops fPuerto Ricans, Ethiopians, Greeks, French, Turks etc.j, and in each instance a special effort was made to condense the world news, fdraw upj schedules of religious and other activities that would be of interest to these men and published fthemj in the regular daily paper in their own re- spective languages. While on board the GEN. WM. BLACK QT-APl35j, we carried the French Battalion from Inchon, Korea to Saigon, Indo-China fduring the last week of Oc- tober 19531. Since these were the only troops aboard we published the entire paper in French and English in columns side by side. In this way the French troops had an op- portunity to pick up a little English and our Military Depart- ment and Crew were able to study the equivalent in French. The men seemed to appreciate this effort on the part of the newspaper staff which also happened to be staffed by French- men with the exception of my yeoman. Chaplain Russell A. Cervin wrote a lengthy pic- ture of the work of the MSTS Chaplain called To Korea and Back? The closing paragraphs capture the feeling of the troops as they went to, or returned from Korea. Early in the summer of 1951 a process of rotation of troops in Korea began. Prior to that time many of our ships returned to the United States without passengers. Before that time everything was going the other way. Since that time we have carried full loads both ways. Embarkation of troops leaving the States for Korea has its sorrows. I've seen women cling to their men and have to be forcibly pried loose from them so they could board the vessel. Just after pulling away from the dock an of- ficer of many years in the Army said to me one day, After being in the Army as long as I have you are supposed to be tough. But I'm not very tough right now. A tear glistened on his cheek as his wife and child were standing on the dock straining for a last glimpse of husband and father. The attitudes of men going to combat are different from those of the men returning from it. On the way over they are somewhat tense as they face an unknown future. There is a certain amount of effervescence in church going which is sloughed off on the way home. Outbound church serv- ices are crowded with habitual churchgoers plus those with foxhole religion. On the way home the men who have always gone to church are present plus a number of others who have found a vital religious experience on the way over -209-