United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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Memorial Services, Inehon. Chaplain Otto Sporrer offers the requiem prayers First Marine Division holds memorial services for its fallen heroes at Inchon. Conducting services are chaplains rep- resenting the various faiths. These shown are Cfrorn left to rightl Chaplains John Craven, Orlando Ingvoldstad, Jr., Glyn Jones, Garson Goodman, Bernard L. Hickey, and the Division Chaplain, R. M. Schwyhart. Chaplain Glyn Jones reads the service. .Q -U Chaplain Robert M. Schwyhart, USN gives the closing prayer.

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the dates 15 September-11 October 1950, and a Ko- rean Presidential Unit Citation for the period 15-27 September 1950. On 8 October a Memorial Service was conducted at the cemetery established by the 1st Marine Di- vision at Inchon, in honor of the United Nations per- sonnel who lay buried there. Some 3,000 Marines from the Division and the lst Marine Aircraft Wing were present. Chaplains representing the three ma- jor faiths-Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish- took part, with Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, USA, as the main speaker. Chaplain Casualties Three chaplains-Ingvoldstad, Tennant, and Bon- ner-were wounded in the Inchon-Seoul operation. Chaplain Ingvoldstad was slightly wounded in his right arm by shrapnel from an exploding missile which killed two men and wounded eight others. He received treatment at the 5th Marines Aid Station and was able to maintain an uninterrupted duty status. Chaplain William G. Tennant, also in the 5th Ma- rines, was wounded by mortar Hre on 22 September while in the act of aiding wounded personnel. Writ- ing on 27 September from a Naval hospital base in Japan to Chief of Chaplains, S. W. Salisbury, Chap- lain James E. Reaves gave the following account of the incident: You may have gotten word that Chaplain Tennant has been wounded. Last Friday afternoon he tangled with a 120-mm. mortar shell. He will have to have an operation on his left arm for the removal of fragments and possibly some repair work, but so far we have no word as to how long a con- valescence period he will have. He lost- a great deal of blood from a facial wound but is doing very nicely. His men tell me that he did a magnificent job there on the front at Seoul. A sergeant by the name of O'Sullivan told me that Tennant was up with a man who had been badly hit when he fthe sergeantj began yelling for him to get down and crawl back to where he was dug in. He said Tennant ignored him and continued to help the man who was down. About that time one shell fell and got Tennant and the next got the ser- geant. At that time his outfit had 29 wounded and 7 killed outright. Every officer and man I've talked with has praised Tennant to the skies. Chaplain Tennant was air-evacuated the following day to Fukuoka, Japan. His wounds required treat- ment in a hospital for about a month. Chaplain Law- rence R. Phillips was transferred on 23 September from the 1st Combat Service Group to the 5th Ma- rines as Tennant's relief. For heroic achievement during operations against the enemy in the Fight for the Pusan Perimeter and in the Inchon Landing, Chaplain Tennant was awarded the Bronze Star. His citation reads in part: Without regard for his own personal safety, he repeatedly exposed himself to the enemy fire to administer solace and spiritual guidance to the wounded and dying. Courageously and with no regard for personal fatigue, he constantly moved among the assault units to assist in the evacuation and care of wounded Marines. Although warned to take cover, he re- mained with the assault unit helping to care for and give spiritual ministration to the wounded Marines until he was wounded by enemy mortar fragments and evacuated. His actions throughout this period were an inspiration to all members of the regiment. The third chaplain to be wounded in the Inchon- Seoul campaign was Robert L. Bonner. On 27 Sep- tember Bonner was riding in a jeep near Seoul when it ran over a land mine. The resulting explosion in- flicted second and third degree burns on his face and lacerations on his wrists, and impaired his hearing. Within 3 hours he was received at the Division Hos- pital and the same day air-evacuated to Fukuoka. Chaplain Bonner later received the Silver Star medal for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving as a chaplain with a Marine artillery regiment in Korea from 15 September to 27 September 1950. The following quotation from the citation gives additional information about the incident: Lieutenant Bonner, though not required to do so, regularly visited elements of his regiment attached to front line units, courageously exposing himself to enemy small arms and mor- tar fire in order to encourage and minister to the men. While returning to his regiment after one visit he was seriously wounded when the vehicle in which he was riding struck a land mine. With the vehicle in flames, he risked his life to remove three wounded comrades. Despite his own severe burns and painful wounds he then walked more than half a mile to a battalion aid station to obtain medical assistance for his comrades. Only then would he consent to treatment for his own wounds. His courageous conduct and disregard for personal safety combined with his constant concern for the officers and men in his spiritual keeping were an inspiration to all who served with him. Combat Ministry Some 3 weeks following the landing at Inchon on 15 September were spent in combat. The chaplains found it necessary to adapt their ministry to the exist- ing circumstancesf For the most part, large gather- ings of men for religious services could not be held. Chaplain Ingvoldstad mentioned, in his answer to the Chaplains Division questionnaire, holding as many as seven religious services in one day for small and sep- 7 See Chaplain O. Ingvoldstad's report of chaplain activities in one regiment, from 30 August to 7 October 1950, app. B125 of this present volume. 535332 0-so--3 '- 19 -

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arated units prior to the Han River crossing. Once he held a service below an embankment while enemy bullets whistled through the trees overhead. Chaplain john H. Craven, a Southern Baptist, baptized three men by immersion in evaporator tanks of the troop transport the day before they landed at Inchon on 21 September. Following debarkation five more men were baptized in collapsible rubber water tanks used by the Combat Engineers in Inchon. Craven was Regimental Chaplain of the 7th Marines, newly organized in Japan and composed of officers and men from the former 6th Marines, 2d Marine Division, including its 3d Battalion, which had been in the Mediterranean at the outbreak of the war, and others drawn from posts and stations in the United States, plus nearly 2,000 recalled Reserves deemed combat-ready? Chaplain Barker C. Howland in his questionnaire contributed the following story: Baptizing a man could be a problem if done strictly accord- ing to the tenets of my denomination. One baptism, in par- ticular, I remember which was held right outside of Inchon after the successful conquest of Seoul. The man had gone to a Church of Christ church in Texas. The medical officer attached to our regiment recommended that I not baptize the man down by the shore because he felt the water was polluted. Several of the men in the regiment came through in the pinch and constructed for me a tank made out of gal- vanized iron which they had scrounged. Water was heated lfor it was in October and there in that tank I baptized this lMarine. ' fThe word scrounge had become a common word in the vocabulary of U.S. troops during World War II. No onus was attached to scrounging. It meant simply getting by other than official means something that was needed.j 7Chaplain Joseph G. Power wrote in his question- naire reply: On the morning of 15 September 1950, while the preliminary bombardment of the Inchon coastal defenses was in progress, I served Communion to almost an entire Marine infantry company, and baptized 16 men. Chaplain Craven reported that it was his custom to oFfer Communion at almost every service. Many of the Protestant chaplains carried individual communion sets so that the Sacrament could be administered to small groups or even to but one man. The Chaplains Division would later develop a combat communion kit, but this was not made generally available to the chaplains in Korea until after the cease-fire order of July 1953. On 1 October 1950 all Protestant chaplains con- nected with the lst Marine Division observed World Wide Communion Sunday. Among the services held was one at the Division Hospital at Inchon where 8 Montross and Canzona, op. vit., vol. II, p. 33. Chaplain William A. Rennie was assisted by a choir from a local Korean Methodist Church. At Seoul Chaplain Robert M. Schwyhart preached in the Chodong Presbyterian Church at the invitation of the pastor, the Reverend David Chung. This con- gregation met amidst thc ruins of its former church. Meetings of chaplain and service personnel with Korean Christians were an inspiration for all, and often gave to the Americans convincing evidence of the results of missionary work. As in World War II, chaplains ministering to Marines under combat conditions adapted themselves to existing circumstances and held Divine Services under diverse and often adverse circumstances. Chaplain Craven in his reply to the Chaplains Divi- sion questionnaire summed up the experience of all of his fellow chaplains who saw service in Korea when he wrote: ' Conducted Divine Services under all sorts of conditions: in Korean houses, drug stores, nail factory, city hall, enclosed courtyards, barns, warehouse, railroad stations, theatre building, school building of a Benedictine Monastery, creek beds, rock quarries, shell holes, tents, reverse slopes and open country. The altar was rigged on ox carts, jeep hoods, am- munition crates, metal spools for communication wire and stretchers. I also set up the portable altar set on Korean porches, tables and desks. Many times, of course, services were conducted without setting up the portable altar set. A most unusual setting for Christian worship was provided on 28 September when both Protestant and Roman Catholic services were held in front of the Presidential Palace in the city of Seoul. Chaplain Bernard L. Hickey celebrated Mass and Chaplain Lawrence R. Phillips led a Protestant service, both for the 5th Marines. On the same day, near the city of Seoul, Chaplain Garson Goodman conducted a Jewish service. On the following day, 29 Septem- ber, General MacArthur, President Syngman Rhee, and other high ranking dignitaries met in a solemn ceremony within the capitol building in recognition of the liberation of the city. Heroic Service For heroic or meritorious achievement during the Inchon-Seoul operation, the following eight Navy chaplains were awarded the Bronze Star medal: Division Chaplain Robert M. Schwyhart, Regimental Chaplains Glyn Jones, John H. Craven, and Orlando Ingvoldstad, and Chaplains William G. Tennant, Patrick A. Killeen, Godfrey Reilly, and John H. Markley. Mention has already been made of the citation -21..