United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

Page 83 text:

risen from 15-,000 to 25,000. Perhaps the chaplain had received further information! Still, nothing can dim the luster of what was in fact a notable example of American philanthropy and Christian brotherhood. After the front lines became more established, the cha lains were later able to or anize their relief work P S on a more permanent basis. Individual units of the fighting forces often accepted the responsibility of sup- porting a Korean orphanage in whole or in part. The pitiable condition of the homeless waifs of Korea gripped the hearts of the American service men. Chaplain W. M. Hearn described how the men of his unit sometimes adopted orphans. Hearn wrote: One time when we moved out we had three little girls who had lost their parents. We took them back to a MG fmilitary governmentj unit to be sent to a home, but the whole company were like a bunch of bereaved parents. The fathers in the HQ company who had little girls at home helped to take care of them. When we gave them a bath we found that they each wore five to seven dresses, all of their worldly goods. At another time we left a boy at an orphanage and found him back in 2 days-a walk of several miles. Many times we had Koreans in our church services. One boy was quite dis- turbed by the undignified slouch of our men during services. As he demonstrated, they should sit erect with folded hands or bow their heads and hold their hands together during prayer. --....z,- A Guide. Chaplain R. L. Patton leads two small children to safety somewhere near the front. Many of the chaplains wrote letters to churches, service clubs, relief organizations, and individuals in the States urging them to send clothing, toys, and other needed items to be given to the needy and desti- tute children of Korea, innocent pawns of war. Particularly impressive was the initiative shown by the Marines in contributing money, materials, and labor for the rebuilding of churches, schools, and orphanages. The generosity of the Marines confronted by the needs of civilian Korean refugees proved to be a constantly recurrent theme throughout the story of UN operations there. Marine Air Wing After the evacuation at Hungnam the lst Marine Aircraft Wing had found itself involved in the re- location problems of the 5th Air Force. Only a limited number of usable fields were available, and with the fall of Kimpo in the January Communist offensive Far East Air Forces, the senior air com- mand, had pulled many of its units back to Itazuke, Japan, including the jet aircraft which could not operate from any of the available Korean fields. Headquarters of the 5th Air Force, as well as that of 8th Army, were installed at Taegu. Maj. Gen. Field Harris, Commanding General of the lst Marine Aircraft Wing, settled both his Wing headquarters and those of both Marine Aircraft Group 12 and Marine Aircraft Group 33 at Itami, the Air Force base near Osaka, Japan which had been assigned the Wing in August 1950 by agreement be- tween Commanding General, Far East Air Forces and the Commander, Naval Forces Far Eastfo Itami had been all along the Wing's center for personnel re- assignment, supply, and repair. On 10 January 1951 there began a giant airlift of personnel replacements from the West Coast, and eventually Itami became the air terminal for Marines en route to the Division in Korea. After helping cover 8th Army's withdrawal in western Korea, operating off the carriers SICILY, BADOENG STRAIT, and BATAAN, the tactical squadrons were at Itami for repairs and training. When in February they returned to combat the 10 Brief notices in Lynn Montross, 'KButtoning up the Offensive: The Marines in Operation Killerf' Marine Corps Gazette fFebr-uaxy 1952j , pp. 35fg Montross, Advance to the 38th Parallel: The Marines in Operation Ripper, Marine Corps Gazette QMarch 19521, p. 21. The author was kindly permitted by Mr. Montross, of the Historical Branch, G-3, Marine Corps Headquarters, to read the first draft of vol. IV, the official Marine Corps his- tory of operations during the period here under consider- ation. Ch. I fAddendum: Redeployment of the lst Marine Aircraft Wingj and ch. II are concerned with the Air Wing. -65,

Page 82 text:

vary and circumstances change, but the Word of God standeth ever sure. Special Services Chaplains have long been concerned with morale activities as well as their more distinctively religious ministry. Indeed, on occasion some commands have seemed to treat their Chaplain Section as a glorified recreation department. Sometimes individual chap- lains have gone along with such an interpretation of their duties 5 under some circumstances chaplains have become involved in serious difficulties because of dis- agreements with their commands over the extent and character of their collateral duties. Since moral char- acter, spiritual vitality, and high morale are likely to be intimately related, written directives are not usually sufficient to define precisely the chaplain's duties within the command responsibility for the total wel- fare of its personnel. Cooperation with Navy Relief and American Red Cross activities, the administration of libraries, the or- ganization and execution of athletic and recreational programs-these and many more collateral duties have fallen to the lot of chaplains. In general those serving with Marines have had fewer such assignments than those serving other naval activities, especially, of course, in ships. A Marine Division has a Special Services Section, operated on every echelon from divi- sion throughout battalion, its duties, like those of the Chaplain Section, are spelled out by ofiicial regula- tions but their implementation naturally varies with circumstances. On 31 March Division Chaplain Kelly wrote to the Chief: I had quite a discussion with our Division special services officer, Lieutenant Colonel Batham, about where there might be confusion or overlapping of our lrespective duties.j I had in mind particularly the recommendation of your meeting of District and Force Chaplains concerning collateral duties. We both are of the opinion that most commanding offiicers have no idea of the large scope of special services. They be- lieve that a special services officer merely arranges ball games, shows and movies. So we decided to draw up a resume of special services duties and chaplain duties, lthenj visit the various command- ing ofiicers and discuss the entire problem. lWe hopedj to give the CO's a clearer view of the importance of special services with the hope that better fitted officers be assigned to that post, who will not have to depend on the chaplain. When asked if the special services officer could be a chap- lain, I agreed with qualifications. And they were, that I would first discuss the situation with the individual chaplains in the smaller units and if they feel that they could first do a 100 percent job as a chaplain land thenl have reasonable time to devote to special services, it would be agreeable. However, with the larger units, such as regiments, I felt that being a chaplain was a full time job. So when we have threshed this out completely, armed with the Special Services Manual, Chaplainls Manual, Marine Corps Manual, and the recommendations of your conference, we will approach the Chief of Staff. If he agrees, we will approach the unit CO's. The two of us appearing together will remove any thought of conflict between departments, or that I am trying to get the chaplains out of something rea- sonably in their department. Colonel Batham is whole- heartedly in favor of this solution and feels that it will beneht his department. Relief Work One of the notable aspects of the work of Navy chaplains in Korea during and especially after hos- tilities was the extensive relief work carried on under their direction for thousands of Korean refugees. Reference was made in his answer to the question- naire by Chaplain Lawrence R. Phillips, a Protestant, to what was doubtless the first work of Marines with Korean orphans. He wrote: Upon entry of Inchon I found the Catholic church with some 40 orphans. Through cooperation with Marine author- ities food, medicine, and clothes were gathered for the im- mediate relief of the situation. Soon such charitable endeavor became a normal part of the work of chaplains and Marines. Chaplain Schwyhart wrote to Chief of Chaplains S. W. Salisbury on 16 February 1951: A great portion of this week has been devoted to the dis- tribution of 800 boxes of Marine Corps League gifts of cloth- ing, shoes, and toys given by the children of American Marines to the children of Korea. In cooperation with the civil affairs ofiicer, we made distribution in 5 cities and vil- lages to an estimated 15,000 children. It was an experience I shall not soon forget. In his reply to the questionnaire Schwyhart enlarged on that particular effort. He wrote: During the first week in February 1951, at which time the 1st Marine Division was in the area of Pohang-dong on the east coast of central Korea, a large shipment of clothing, shoes, and toys arrived by LST from Pusan. This shipment, totaling about 800 boxes, had been collected in east coast cities of the United States by the Marine Corps League and shipped to the lst Marine Division for distribution to children in Korea. The commanding general of the lst Marine Di- vision appointed me to organize the distribution. A staff of several ofiicers and many enlisted Marines aided in the dis- tribution at three local points in the area of Pohang-dong. It was estimated that approximately 25,000 children received some item of clothing, shoes, or a toy on the date of distribu- tion, which was 12 February 1951. The mayor of the city of Pohang-dong and all school principals aided in organizing the civilian community in the distribution of clothing. If the number of distribution centers had been reduced from 5 to 3, the estimated number of children had L54-

Page 84 text:

various squadrons came under direct Air Force con- trol, and were no longer immediately at the call of Marine ground units in accordance with Navy-Marine Corps close air support doctrine. By March first six squadrons were in combat, four operating from Pusan, one from Pohang, and one carrier-based. During the UN counterofifensive they supported other 8th Army units as well as the 1st Marine Division. The lst Marine Aircraft Wing was awarded a Re- public of Korea Presidential Unit Citation for its support of the United Nations effort, from 3 August 1950 to 26 February 1951. The earlier date marks the lst Marine air strike over Korea, by eight Cor- sairs of VMF-214, operating from the SICILY. Air Wing Chaplains Concerning the chaplains Wing Chaplain John P. Murphy wrote to the Chief of Chaplains on 18 April as follows: Since the middle of February MAG 33 has occupied a field near Pohang and Chaplains Uohn H.j Markley and ICharles E.1 Webb are stationed there. The Wing and MAG 12 have been together near Pusan and Chaplain IGeorge W.1 Cummins and I have been there. While we have provided fair coverage we have not done as good a job as we should and would if we were up to TXO strength. There has been a great increase in the number of personnel attached to Marine Tactical Air Control Squadron and their TXO calls for a chaplain. They are scattered all over and it is tough not to be able to care for their small groups. This has left the Marine Wing Service Squadron at Itami with Marine and Naval personnel numbering one thousand to be cared for by Catholic civilian clergy and an Air Force Protestant chaplain. Now a couple of squadrons of MAG 12 have been sent to Seoul and I have not yet decided how best to cover them. It was because of this pressure that the Commanding Gen- eral on 22 March sent the following dispatch to BuPers. From: C. G. 1stMAW To: BuPers Infor: CMC Table organization lst Marine Air Wing presently under- strength two chaplains X Wide dispersion units this com- mand necessitates complement X one Catholic one Protes- tant needed to accomplish mission. Far be it from me to attempt to say what is going to hap- pen in Korea and what future disposition the Air Force is going to make of the lst MAW, but with the present setup there should be, as the TXO provides, two chaplains with each MAG, one with MTACS, and one with the Wing. Further there should be one more chaplain to take care of MWSSI, the Wing's service squadron at Itami . . . There are several Army hospitals in the Osaka-Kobe area and a number of Marine and Navy casualties are sent there. Liai- son work as well as taking care of our own will keep a chaplain as busy as a cat on a tin roof. At Pohang the chaplains of Marine Aircraft Group 33 secured from their Commanding Officer two Quonset huts to be erected into a chapel. There was one hitch: assembling a Quonset hut requires the use of no less than 5,500 screws! Two Quonset huts, 11,000 screws! Chaplain Webb wrote in his ques- tionnaire: About 20 Marines cooperated without hesitation or com- plaint in this thankless task during their off duty hours. fBoth Catholics and Protestantsl, they had been subjected to the very poor acoustics of a large and holey hospital tent and realized its deficiencies in contrast to the relative solidity of the Quonset hut for Divine Services. Noting that these Marines sacrificed their time and energy ungrudgingly, he added: While this kind of spirit endures, we chaplains know that there will always be a definite, concerted core of strength on the side of God. He concluded: I did not remain long enough in Korea to witness the finished product but have heard that Chaplain Cleaves carried the project to a suc- cessful completion. Seaborne Artillery While UN ground and air forces continued their assault against the Chinese Communists, naval forces prosecuted their assigned missions with vigor and suc- cess. According to the authors of The Sea War in Korea 11 there were Hve ways in which the Navy kept the Communists on the run after UN forces resumed the offensive following the forced withdrawals of De- cember and early january 1951. Amphibious demon- strations were made again and again 5 mindful of the decisive nature of the Inchon landing, the Reds were sensitive to the danger of surprise attack and of course never knew, until the critical moment had passed, whether such movements were feints Qas they werel or the real McCoy.U Further contributing to keeping the enemy off- balance were frequent commando raids put ashore and covered by naval gunfire. Heavy bombardment was utilized to lay siege to important Communist ports, notably Wonsan, there round-the-clock interdiction began on 16 February and continued to the beginning of the armistice, on 27 July 1953, the longest such operation in modern American naval ihistory.12 Be- sides Wonsan two other east coast ports, Hungnam and Songjin, in the far north, were besieged. A fourth technique was naval gunfire against the Cagle and Manson, op. cit., pp. 305f. 1' Ibjd., Ch. 12.