United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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AJ --v Interpreter. Kim Hae Jong interprets for Chaplain John H. Muller as he delivers a Monday night sermon to his congregation of 200 at the Song Won Leper Colony. Joint Sunday Service. A Korean and an American Navy Chaplain join in conduct- ing religious services for American and Korean marines in Korea. ROK ensigns who were aboard a destroyer for train- ing. They expressed an interest in his religious min- istry as it might pertain to theml' and requested assistance in English grammar and speech. For 2 months they met and discussed these subjects. Chaplain Crabtree tells of meeting Lieutenant Colonel Choi, who was in command of a battalion of the Korean Marine Corps and who was a sincere Christian. In March 1953 Lieutenant Colonel Choi invited the chaplains and the commanding officers of the units in the area to attend a Korean Memorial Service. '6This service generated unity, understand- ing, and good will among Koreans and Ameri- cans . . . Chaplain Robertson for a time conducted services for the Korean Marine Corps Tank Company before they were assigned a Korean Chaplain. The services of Chaplain Ruleman held for an attached Korean Marine Tank Company are described as follows: . . . Seated cross-legged on immaculate mats with shoes removed and carefully lined along the center aisle, were 75 Korean Marines, among the toughest fighting men in the world. Captain O, commanding oHicer, had told them all men should be present and should remain quiet. He re- mained for the service and joined in the warm hearted singing from the United Nations Hymnals printed in both Korean and English. . . . Lt. Hong, the interpreter, was raised as a Presby- terian Christian who hopes to study in America after the war and return to Korea to build a new school. Chaplain E. F. Ernst made a trip of 160 miles by jeep twice a month to visit the island of Kangkwa to preach to the American troops attached to the 2d Guerilla Partisan Pact which was composed principally of North Koreans Fighting on the side of South Korea. The Korean Service Corps The Korean Service Corps was a quasi-military body consisting of inducted laborers organ-l ,ized in 1951 under the control of the ROK army. Prior to that time Koreans were hired directly for certain tasks in the U.S. military installations. The men of the Corps generally worked 10 hours per day and in emergencies 14 hours. A rest period of 24 hours was given every 15 days. The period of en- listment was for 6 months. The Corps was composed of men who failed to qualify for the arrned forces of Korea because of age or some other disability. Some remained in the organization after the 6 month's pe- riod because of the scarcity of employment on the outside. The lst Division had about 5,000 of the Corps attached to it and in addition hired 650 civilian work- ers. The main tasks of the members of the Corps were to carry supplies, evacuate the wounded, and to do general police or manual labor about the camp. Chaplain Capers in his work with the Corps secured hymn books with parallel English-Korean. Through the aid of Pak 25 a large church attendance was at- tained. Chaplain Muller notes the large percentage in his group that had not attended a Christian service cf.p. 231. A ' -232-

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Chung Im Protestant Church. This small church at Chung Im, Korea, was financed with gifts of marines. The Koreans spoke of it as Parker Memorial Church. Distribution of Scripture. Chaplain E. R. Barnes is pictured with Korean children who have just received a copy of the scriptures. states that many times I have lugged gear over the side only to have to lug it back to another port until I was able to find some kind soul who would deliver it to Korea. In addition to food and clothing there was the distribution of the Scriptures. Chaplain Taylor tells of giving Korean New Testaments to civilians and to Korean Marines serving with his unit. Chaplain Barnes distributed Bibles to Korean children. There was a call for Greek New Testaments by refugees on an island who had established a Bible class. Building Churches As has been mentioned before, a number of churches were built.22 It should be noted that Chaplain Rains helped in the design and building of a church, Chap- lain Horvath worked to open a Korean chapel and Chaplain Spohn lent a tent to a young minister so that he could organize a new church in a nearby community. And so it goes, some were temporary structures, others were rather impressive. One of them was the Chung Im Protestant Church which was financed by Marine gifts. Civilian Worship There were any number of contacts which chap- lains made in the conduct of worship services. To :ite a few, Chaplain Mulligan visited another island, Cheju-do, where prisoners were kept, and held serv- 22 The work of Chaplain Muller and .others has been previously mentioned. ices. In the case of Chaplain Martineau, he was adopted by a refugee group as their priest, since the regular came to them only twice a year. The Interpreter Very few chaplains could speak Korean, as a result great use was made of interpreters. One chaplain in answering his questionnaire spoke of his Uinterrupterf' Although this is probably a misspelling it is all too true. One preaches for a minute or two and then waits for the translation, and so it goes. Chaplain Wolfe used a Korean Marine Chaplain 5 Chaplain Capers had the services of a son of a Methodist Ko- rean pastor named Pak.2i' Chaplain Forney states that his civilian interpreter was introduced to Christianity, accepted Christ and was a great help to him. Almost entirely on his own the Korean learned to play the pump organ. Chaplain Crabtree says that it was the work of the Marines at an orphanage in Kang Wha Do that won his interpreter to Christianity. Were all the facts available, the story of winning Koreans, interpreters and others, to Christianity by the chap- lains would be quite revealing. For example, in the case of Koreans, Chaplain Muller lists 1,256 conver- sions 24 during his tour of duty. On Land and Sea Chaplains were in touch with Koreans aboard ship as well as on land. Chaplain Symons writes of two 25' Cp. pp. 232f. 2' In addition 106 American servicemen conversions are listed by this chaplain. 231 - M

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before.26 Chaplain Uber tells of good attendance from the 120 men attached to his unit. Chaplain Brosius tells us of Pak and Lee. It is presumed that it was the same man to whom Chaplain Capers made reference. The first mention of these two civilian la- borers was when they volunteered to leave North Ko- rea and embarked with the 1st Division from Hungnam in December 1951. Chaplain Brosius spotted Lee in his first service with the group be- cause of his beautiful baritone voice. He was used in the choir henceforth. Pak repaired an old smashed Japanese organ which he practiced upon assiduously. Both managed to be assigned to work in sick bay. Pak gave much of his life's blood for an American marine. In September 1951, during the battle for Hill 749, one of our men tripped off a Communist shoe box mine just a short distance from our battalion forward aid station. The enemy spotted the explosion, and began dropping mortar rounds into the general area. Without stopping to think twice of their personal safety, Pak and Lee grabbed a stretcher and ran through a mined area ahead of a corpsman. They began evacuating the marine, and in so doing Pak also set off a mine and was critically wounded. He lost a leg, was partially blinded and received many severe wounds in his efforts to assist one of our men. Lee remained with us as a faithful 20 In Ch. V of his book Wearing the Cross in Korea. assistant up until the time I left the lines. These two men were truly God's own, serving to the best of their ability where their duty called. Chaplain Felder obtained a series of phonograph records in the Korean language. These records in- clude hymns, scripture passages and sermons. As a result of these records several men volunteered to conduct further Korean services. As a result of these services, other Korean services were started in other units. Two of these units were C and DU Company of the lst Engineer Battalion. These were two outlying companies serving the in- fantry regiments on the lines. These services brought about a better understanding between the Koreans and the American servicemen as was evidenced in their contacts with one another. On Christmas at Midnight 1951 the Koreans worshipped at the midnight services with American personnel. At the conclusion of the midnight services practically all personnel in attendance walked to the side of a mountain where a public address system had been rigged previously. From here the Ameri- cans and Koreans sang Christmas carols together. They sang carols alternately, that is the Americans would sing one in English and the Koreans one in their native tongue. A solo was sung by a Marine major and a solo sung by a Korean Christian. A truly inspirational Christmas Serv- Final Tribute for a Korean. Taps is sounded at a funeral service conducted by Chaplain joseph Gallagher for a member of the Korean Service Corps who was killed in action while carrying supplies to frontline infantrymen of the 1st Marine Division. - 233 - .-N A '