United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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quarters, Chaplain Ingvoldstad's report of the. work of chaplains received' special attention. On 24 October 1950 Lt. Gen. Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, wrote to Chap- lain Salisbury QChief of Chaplainsj , saying in part: I have recently read the report of Chaplain O. Ingvoldstad, jr., on the operations of the lst Marine Brigade in Korea from 14 July to 12 September, and consider it outstanding. If this report has not been brought to your attention, I sug- gest you read it and I am sure you will agree with me that the advice obtained therein should be passed on to all chaplains operating with Marines in the field. It is the first time that I have ever seen anything in writing relative to what chaplains should do in combat and I think the notes jotted down by Chaplain Ingvoldstad may well be reproduced in pamphlet form to be included in instructions for young chaplains, especially those going to duty with Marines. In his letter of acknowledgment of 30 October, Chaplain Salisbury called Ingvoldstad's report an excellent piece of work and stated that it is our plan to have it reproduced for use by chaplains going into such combat. On 29 October the Division Chaplain, Robert M. Schwyhart, sent a letter to all regimental chaplains attached to the lst Division requesting each to com- with the purpose of preparing a Standing Operating pile facts and information based upon experience, Procedure Qreferred to as SOPQ for chaplains. The material gathered was edited by Chaplain Schwyhart and submitted as a recommendation to the Force Chaplain, FMF Pac, for approval. The result was Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, General Order 19, dated 28 March 1951, Subject: Standing Operating Pro- cedure for the Chaplain Service of the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. This order extended over eight mimeographed pages and spelled out in detail the duties expected of a Navy chaplain serving with the Marines. fSee appendix C.j A similar order was subsequently drawn up for Marine chaplains serving in the Atlantic, which appeared as Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, General Order 41, dated 31 July 1951. Letters of Condolence One section of the SOP for chaplains, FMF Pac, read as follows: When practicable an individual picture of each grave with the appropriate chaplain standing by in benediction should be taken, so that families may secure copies if desired. This was done as far as possible throughout the Division Chaplain's Headquarters. The division chaplain was located in this tent which is at the command post of the division. I ak I , . i ,Eh H 2' 9 r if f ' , f. f . 1 -- f . ,y,. .135-f . x - ,- , W , I 5' iii if kkgx C. F V, ,. ,. Wvggqq, V K. ,Q ..- . 1 V We .... :w-.,v Q -va 'fr 'L I S -W .s.' i ' ,' ,, . J, K .gt H I 1,1 i kg: kk ,,,:,,,. Wi,.,Q., 51 . 'i I . t ' . aut? as rsr - A 1. I so I r . 1' 1 .ara + 1 f ' es 'gs v 1 s rrrr 'bij' N My - 0 gy ,,y,, .,,. . 1 I -Y z L V W .jew 1 , H xr .f . it '. . 'ala . ,, .,,, . 1--W - , ,..,,. A u Kiwi' as .,,, 1 ' .La V - .W ,. -13-

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V einem, Worship at Sea. A weekday mass is held aboard the HELENA while in Korean waters. The officiating chaplain is John J. McGowan, Jr. chaplain. John J. McGowan, Jr., was relieved in the HELENA by Chaplain Jerome J. Sullivan in Septem- ber. Chaplain Benjamin J. Davis served in the JUNEAU from March 1949 to March 1951, 2 years being the. normal tour of ship-board duty. Chaplain Barnes sent to Chaplain Salisbury further information concerning naval activities in the Far East. He wrote: At Yokosuka the buildup is like a mushroom g something like 7,000 there now, and to go higher. Supply is bringing in staff to serve 10,000. The dispensary is now a hospital, the wings IformerlyJ occupied by dependents being rapidly re- converted to wards. By the end of September they expect to have a 2,000-bed capacity. There were 431 casualties there the day I arrived. He continued: At Sasebo the harbor is full of ships. It looks like Pearl lduringJ the last war. Chaplain McGann called a meeting on his ship the 7th. There were nine of us in attendance: McGann, Cook, Vaughan, Knapp, Wolf, Curry, Zoller, Meade, and myself. Chaplain Francis L. McGann, then Assistant Fleet Chaplain on the stafi' of Commander Service Force, Pacific Fleet, was in the Far East area on temporary duty with Commander Service Division 31. Matthew A. Curry was aboard the cruiser WORCESTER, being detached shortly thereafter. Robert A. Vaughan and August J. Wolf were both in destroyer tenders, the DIXIE and the PIEDMONT respectively. Barnes concluded his letter to Chaplain Salisbury: Shortly the ship will put to sea again on further op- erations. I will keep in touch with you and Chaplain fEdward B.J Harp fFleet Chaplain, Commander Serv- ice Force, Pacific F leetJ as opportunity to get mail off is afforded? The fleet too was getting prepared' for the next move: Inchon. Chaplain SOP After each combat engagement Marine line oHicers write a Battle Report, which is afterwards closely studied in order to improve the Corps' Hghting efH- ciency. Such reports were of course mandatory for the line but were not regularly asked of staff components. Although they had accompanied Ma- rines in many engagements, chaplains had apparently never made an official Battle Report. At the conclu- sion of the Marines' involvement in the Pusan Per- imeter campaign, and while aboard ship en route to the Inchon landing, Chaplain Ingvoldstad compiled a summary of the work of the Brigade chaplains from their departure on 14 July from San Diego through operations down to 12 September 1950. fSee appen- dix Bf lj of this present volume.J The value of chap- lains thus incorporating their experiences and activi- ties into official records is revealed by the events which followed. As the Battle Reports of the lst Provisional Marine Brigade were being forwarded to Marine Corps Head- MIQL

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Korean War, having been begun with the burials of those killed in the Pusan Perimeter operations. Under the outline of duties expected of chaplains in combat operations were the following: Duties on Conclusion of Landing and Assault Phase: C15 At the close of operations, unit chaplains will prepare letters of condolence to next of kin of those lost in action. These letters will be properly channeled through the com- mand. The oflice of the Division Chaplain can assist a unit chaplain by looking up the following information relative to each person deceased: Name, rank, serial number. Date of death, place of burial, and religion. C03 fbi Ccj Name and address of next of kin. Cdl Name of officiating chaplain at burial. f2J At the close of an operation, the Division Chaplain, with the approval of the Commanding General, should ar- range for a memorial service to be held at the Division ceme- tery or in other cemeteries where Division dead are buried. Such letters of condolence were faithfully written by individual chaplains and, judging from the responses received from bereaved families, were deeply ap- preciated. Memorial services were held periodically throughout the Korean War, both on division level and also in smaller units. Misxion Completed On 13 September the lst Provisional Marine Brigade was deactivated and reabsorbed into the lst Marine Division, its components resuming their old unit designations and embarking from Pusan to join the main body of the Division being embarked from Kobe. For its outstanding and heroic performance of duty on the field of battle during the period 2 August 1950 to 6 September l950', the Brigade was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation by Syngman Rhee, President of the Republic of Korea. It was also given a Presidential Unit Citation by the Presi- dent of the United States for extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea from 7 August to 7 September 1950 On the eve of the Inchon assault, the following 28 Navy chaplains were attached to the Division: Division Chaplain-Robert M. Schwyhart. Headquarters Battalion-Garson Goodman and William N. Lyons. Division Troops-Howard H. Groover, Ernest A. Ham, William M. Hearn, Aarne J. Juntunen, Patrick A. Killeen, Preston D. Parsons, Robert L. Patton, Charles S. Pigott, Joseph G. Power, William A. Rennie, Eugene I. Van Ant- werp, and Lawrence R. Phillips. Regimental Units: lst Marines-Glyn Jones CRegimental Chaplainj, Kevin J. Keaney, land James W. Lewis. 5th Marines-Orlando Ingvoldstad, Jr. fRegimental Chaplainl, Bernard L. Hickey, and William G. Tennant. 7th Marines-John Craven fRegimental Chaplainj, Cornelius J, Griffin, and Kester M. Hearn. 11th Marines-Otto E. Sporrer CRegimental Chap- lainj, Robert A. Bonner, Barker C. Howland, and God- frey J. Reilly. Goodman was of the Jewish faith. Griffin, Hickey, Keaney, Killeen, Reilly, Sporrer, and Van Antwerp were Roman Catholics. The others were Protestants. Chaplain Ernest A. Ham was left with the Administra- tive Rear Echelon at Camp Garver, near Kobe, Japan, primarily for the purpose of giving assistance to Ma- rine casualties in the hospitals at Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto. Among those left behind were also some 500 17-year-old Marines, who by order of the Secretary of the Navy had been removed from the troop list just before the Division embarked for the Inchon am- phibious landing? M Montross and Canzona, op. cit., vol. II, p. 76. -14-