United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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1 Severance Hospital. Chaplain Kenneth D. Killin visits the orphaned sick and crippled children at Severance Hospital. X relief problems. There were many institutions that tried desperately to cope with the needs. One of these was the Sam-Ae Children's Home. This orphanage had 365 children many of whom came from North Korea. It was located in an old Jap- anese Buddhist temple. The lst Division gave this group assistance. Severance Hospital was a recipient of aid from the MAW. Comdr. Calvin T. Doudna, chief medical oflicer, took a special interest in this institution, which had been founded in 1884- and is partially church supported. It had trained almost one-third of the doctors in Korea C1,300j and 500 nurses. Three invasions of the city had left its first modern hospital in shambles. Wiped out were the maternity ward, three nurses' residences, the auditorium, the main classroom of the medical school and other buildings. The situation was further complicated by the scar- city of usable equipment. The prewar bed ca- pacity of 150 had been built back to accommodate 66, but crowds, mostly destitute, appeared daily for help since the reopening of the facilities in 1951. Dr. Florence J. Murray stated nearly 125 patients are treated daily at the clinic. No one is turned away without aid . . . although we cannot afford all the medicines and supplies needed and considered necessary in a modern hospital? Some supplies were delivered by Commander Doudna and Chaplain Kenneth D. Killin. A number of the 1st Division chaplains speak of contact with Methodist missionaries. One was Dr. W. E. Shaw whose son had been a Naval Intelligence 220 -

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Korean Lepers. One hundred forty of the 300 patients of Son Ke Won Leper Colony crowd into their small church for Sunday services conducted by Chaplain Muller. The girl on the left is collecting the church offering. Operation Love. Chaplain Martineau shows Whang In Sun a part of a bolt of white English wool sent by the BOXER as a part of Opera- tion Love which brought over 30 tons of clothing to Korea. Chaplain Muller tells somewhat in detail his work at Ascom City and environs in his book 'SWearing the Cross in Koreafi S He restored the brick chapel there for worship which he calls second to none in Koreaf' Through the contributions of an aunt, Della Muller, the Hrst Christian church was erected in a Korean Veterans' Camp QWha Rangj. Chaplain Muller tells of the new building constructed for the Yaktai Church and a framed tent church for the Sixth Presbyterian Church at Inchon, and also for a new church at Ta-nam-lee. Chaplain Muller performed outstanding work with the leper colony at Song-Ke-Won, about 2M miles from Ascom City. At his first service he had 150 present. Through gifts of the men at Anscom Chapel and a group of Army personnel at Inchon Chapel and friends in the United States, together with a small gift from the lepers themselves, a chapel was con- structed and dedicated on 23 November 1952 with an attendance of 405. Chaplain Muller also conducted a successful work in the Prisoner of War prisons. Kim QMok san-nimj , Muller's interpreter, planned to become a minister and it was the ambition of the Ma- rines of Muller's unit to help him do so. Chaplain John W. Robb, when he went to Mem- phis from duty with MSTS, showed colored slides and because of the interest created in that U.S. city money 'lThe Society for Reformed Publications, Grand Rapids, 1954. See also p. 260. was sent to the Kae Sung Orphanage. The LOS AN- GELES also contributed to the Sung Kwang Orphanage which was established by Capt. Joseph Bolan, Jr., UNCACK representative in Inchon. One of the cleverest young hoodlums of the city was per- suaded by Bolan to recruit other boys to clean the ground for this orphanage and thus aided in its estab- lishment. Also noteworthy was 6'Operation Good Willi' which brought assistance to the Star of Hope Orphanage QCatho1icj. Chaplain Edward R. Martineau, Chairman of the Armed Forces Assistance to Korea Program, spurred by the success of his 1953 Christmas party set in motion his HOperation Lovew with mimeographed letters being sent to the United States. Beginning on the east coast with 60 barrels of clothing the operation ended in the fall with over 30 tons at Inchon harbor for distribu- tion by the chaplains of the 1st Marine Division? Seoul Chaplain Theobald, who had sailed into Inchon Harbor on the Hagship of the 7th Fleet for the libera- tion of Korea in 1945, states concerning the capital city, after seeing it again in 1955, HNow, the streets and buildings of Seoul bore little resemblance to the ones I saw in 1945. How could this little country ever recover from such complete destruction?,' Because of its size and importance Seoul had many 9 See also p. 64. -219-

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officer and had lost his life while serving with the Marines. Chaplain Rennie found a prospective Methodist minister among the Korean workers following the lst Medical Battalion and had the satisfaction of seeing him make a start in that direction. Chaplain HOH' organized aid for a building program of a Methodist church. Chaplain Prickett enlisted help for the Nam-Buk Orphanage. The 7th Motor Transport Battalion assisted a Methodist Orphanage, and their Chaplain, Robert W. Smith, delivered money to Korean pastors to be used to build a church. This same unit sponsored the procurement of weaving machines which would pro- duce rice bags. The plan was to purchase enough material to make 1,000 machines. The recipients were to be the people of Puja-Gun County. The first machine was presented by General Pate to Lee Chong Song. L'Gun-Sun or chief of the county. Chaplain Smith indicated that the machines would produce six bags a day and increase the villages' monthly income by 320,000 Chaplain Patrick Adams speaks of monthly visits to Seoul for a Day of Recollection whenever it was feasible. As a result of these visits liaison was estab- lished with the priests and nuns of Seoul which re- sulted in quantities of supplies being directed by the chaplains to Catholic orphanages and other institu- tions serving the needy. Chaplains Kuhn and Duggan are known to have worked for St. Paul's Catholic Orphanage in Seoul? The largest church in Korea was the Young Nak Presbyterian Church. It would be assumed that this church operated the Young Nak Presbyterian Orphan- age, which was under the supervision of the Reverend and Mrs. Edward Adams, and which cared for about 130 children most of whom were under 6'years old. Chaplain E. V. Lyons, in reporting the nature of the assistance program of the regiment, points out the value of having servicemen see the way missionary work is carried out and in having them take a part in it them- selves. Chaplain McCabe, as well as Chaplain Lyons, also speaks of helping the Young Nak Orphanage. There are many accounts of Christmas parties being given for children. As Chaplain Newman indicates, for the first time, the children had an opportunity to meet Santa Claus. Wounded children were among those brought aboard the HAVEN for a visit, with Chaplain TuFft acting as host. Bishop Ro of Seoul was presented with money for the needy of South Korea by some units. Pyongteck I Chaplain O'Malley writes about the two orphan- ages, the Catholic and the Episcopal, at Pyongteck. Two thousand dollars was raised to purchase 500 sec- tions of rice land to support the orphans when the ' P. 164. Nam-Buk Orphanage Chaplain A. D. Prickett and Cpl. John A. Buxton visit the orphanage to bring clothing for the children. The institu- tion is located in Seoul. Gift. Chaplain Robert W. Smith is shown giving money to the pastors of the Korean church at Kumchon-ni. A Korean Army chaplain is pictured on the right. The money was donated to help complete the church building which is under construction in the background. -221-