United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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Leathernecks left. The contributions were made by MAG-12 and other interested people. In a recent letter Chaplain O'Malley states that the name of the Catholic Orphanage was Holy Angels. He also states The orphanage building we put up was a two story affair. The marines had donated approximately S1,000g then the Army allowed the orphan youngsters to salvage loose cement from broken bags in boxcars. There were close to 130 orphans at this location. The kids lived in squalid hovels prior to the erection of the building. Clothes wise and for food we relied on help from the States, and also garbage'l from the marine kitchens. Chaplain O,Malley was not earth bound in his re- lief work for he relates that . . . being with an air group I did have access to the use of a helicopter. Maj. John Lavoy did the piloting and we wandered far and wide around the area giving help to refugees. Our method of delivery was simple. Our engine noise flushed refugees out of their caves, then we dropped food and clothing. We also used the helicopter to take serious medical cases back to our base for emergency treat- ment by our doctors. Major Lavoy and his 'copter certainly were angels of mercy to thousands of refugees. Chaplain Paul La Duca also aided the Catholic institution mentioned above which cared for 125 orphans. Chaplain Joseph H. Lampe appears to have spear- headed the creation of the Eden Orphanage at Pyong- teck.11 MAC-12 bought and helped to build the facilities. Here the Marines housed, clothed, and fed 150 orphans with a strong assist from the folks back home. Other clothing was made available and Chaplain Lampe states that it was distributed through the local Presbyterian Church. . . . to some of the more than 50,000 refugees which were in the area, always the pastor made the recipients realize that it was out of the Christian love of the American people which prompted the sending of the clothing, resulting in a new respect for the Christian way of life. Some helicopter pilots came in to get clothing, then go off on a trip, watch- ing for small refugee groups where they could land and dis- tribute the clothing to the very needy. Preaching in Korean churches, sometimes 35 miles or so away from the base, helped us to c'ome.close to the people and let them know we were concerned about them. Chaplains La Duca and Lampe worked hard to meet the needs of the poverty stricken people, faced with another Korean winter. Lampe wrote, The situation here is very critical. Unless we can get much more clothing and provide more food and shelter, thousands of Koreans will die as the treacherous winter takes its toll of the homeless and the hungry. It is hard to de- scribe the suffering of these people. HOn p. 157 Chaplain Weidler is mentioned as being instrumental in establishing a new orphanage at Pyongteck. A playground was constructed by the Marines and through their gifts a 82,000 brick western style dormi- tory was constructed with housing for about 150.12 Pohangdon Chaplain Webb once again entered the launidiry business. This time it was . . . in a small village about 8 miles from K-3 QPohangj. It had been reported that a French bishop lived outside the village, caring for a group of women and orphans. With a guide I found the Most Reverend Germaine Mousset of the Paris Foreign Mission Society and former Ordinary of the Diocese of Taegu in charge of a small number of Korean women who had been on the verge of being instituted as a religious congregation just before the war began and lines of communication had been temporarily severed. Although in the clothing of laywomen they maintained a religious discipline and way of life which was remarkable. And there were, of course, the ever present orphans of war, sickly and hungry. Again a laundry was set up on a fairly large scale, vehicles commandeered for transportation, word-of-mouth publicity effected, and the same successful results achieved. I should like to add here that the Marines of MAG-33 were very generous to this orphanage. Not only did they bring their laundry there Cwhen it could have been brought to other and nearer laundriesl but when I requested dona- tions of money these were given willingly and freely by Ma- rines of all sects, both officers and enlisted men. During a period just less than tive months which I spent at K-3 Bishop Mousset reported that he had received in actual Americaninoney Cchangediinto Korean wonl a sum slightly more than S2,000. This splendid generosity is indicative of American charity for the unfortunate everywhere and is one of my warmest memories of the men of Marine Air Group 33. Chaplain Webb tells of overcoming the language barrier through the use of Latin. But he still felt handicapped for according to him, . . . I told Bishop Mousett that my lack of remembrance of many words severely restricted my sinning for I could only commit those sins for which I knew the words, otherwise in my confessions to him I would be making sacrilegious con- fessions and adding another burden of sin. In the course of the war at Pohangdon the Catholic Orphanage 13 was damaged by Communist artillery. This institution had been directed by Father Des- Landes of Vichy, France, for 31 years. He had also established an old people's home and an institute for the blind and crippled. A number of tiny refugees from Seoul, Chongju and Suwon and from all parts of Korea found their way to this center. The Pohangdon Catholic Orphanage feeds and clothes about 150 chil- dren from 3 months to 17 years of age. A number 12 This evidently has reference to Eden Orphanage men- tioned above. 13 Also called Po Hang Catholic Orphanage and Little Flower Catholic Orphanage. -222-

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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-

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w 'if' K Orphans Will Keep Warm. Chaplain Lampe distributes clothing to orphans of Eden Orphanage. MAG Eden Orphanage. An interior view. Note the American newspapers used to cover the ceiling. of gifts were presented to the orphanage one of which was a late model station wagon presented by Chap- lain F. Gearan. In 1952 MAG-33 gave enough money to build the first Catholic church in the town, St. Michaels. It was well constructed and met a great need. The first pastor was Father Aloysius Kim Dou-Ho. Later, on 19 September 1952, Gen. Clayton Jerome received a very gracious letter from Father Kim ex- pressing appreciation of clothing distributed by Chap- lain Parker. In it he says that the clothing was dis- tributed to over 300 poorer housesf, They have been deprived of their estate, family, and every- thing comfortable by this war, accordingly they were so starvating, desperate, and degraded that they might be in- clining their mind to communism. But those who have never touched were receiving your gifts, fruit of your love, in tears from deep emotion from no their own neighborhood, but American marine corps who are fighting for us. Seeing these scene, I could find again the Christian love which they had been lost, and through which they can see our Lord in their warm hearts that made their tears shed. Therefore we must notice that your American young men at active services are the combatants who kill the Red by the bullets, in contrast with this, your people in the relief work are the Crusader of love who protect these people from the Communists by the Christian love flinglish translation of the Koreanj. The Wing also wasinstrumenfal in the construction of a Protestant church called the Ochun Protestant Church, at Ochun, Korea. On 29 October 1952 Jung Duck Soo wrote a letter to Chaplain Cleaves thanking him for Urelief goodsi' and signing the letter Clergy- man of the Ochun Churehl' which would indicate that the church was well established by the autumn of that year. Another recipient of aid from the lst MAW was the Agapei Orphanage near Hunghei. The Marines left their name attached to two insti- tutions in Pohang, the U.S. Marine Memorial Chil- dren's Clinic, and the Marine Memorial Orphanage? Chaplain James R. Smith, who served as a director of Cp.p.157. 223 -