United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

Page 95 text:

Ordnance Battalion ....,. lst Amphib. Tractor Bn. . lst Shore Party Bn .,.,... lst Motor Transport Bn .... lst Service Battalion ...... lst Combat Service Group. . . lst Marines ,.... 5th Marines ...,, 7th Marines .,... 1 lth Marines .... 1 Awaiting orders. 2 Awaiting relief. Kelly Reporting A vivid picture of both the military situations and ROSTER OF CHAPLINS Continued T.B.Uber ............,..,.,... . G. C. Bingaman .... . K. d'A. Engle .... J.P.Trodd..... . A. juntunen . . . . W. N. Lyons 2 .... A. 'M. Kulinski ..... . . . J. D. McDonald.. . . H. E. Austin ..... C. S. Pigott ..... K. H. Capers ...,.... . . . J. E. Hollingsworth. . . . L. R. Phillips 2 ...., S. K. Johnson .... -I. M. Qduirk ....... J. S. Ferris ........ E. I. Van Antwerp 2. . R. L. Patton 2 ...... . . . C. Fitzgerald. . . .. H. H. Groover. . . H. E. Waters .... LT... LUTH LTJG. EVAN st REF LTJG. PE LT... RC LT... LUTH LCDR .,,. A BAP QAJ LCDR ..., .. RC LCDR .... A RC LT... BAP QAJ LTJG. BAP tsp LTJG ..... A PRESBY CUSAD LCDR .... .. BAP tsp LT... CONG LT... PRBSBY KUSAJ LT... RC LT .... .. METH LT ....... ,. RC LTJG ,..., .. METH LCDR .... .. RC LTJG ..... ., DISC LTJG ...., .. BAP qsp Battalion, lst Marines bore the brunt of some heavy fighting. Kelly, describing this situation, wrote: the chaplains, activities during this period may be gained from the regular letters written by Division Chaplain Francis W. Kelly to the Chief of Chaplains. Chaplain Kelly's letter of 27 April reflects the situ- ation which developed after the Chinese Communist forces launched their big drive. He wrote: We have come through a tough time, and we don't know what next. So far we have had no casualties amongst our chaplains although they have been exposed to terrific pres- sure. Everything was going along smoothly. We were ad- vancing steadily when suddenly the Reds cut loose. We had two regiments on the front and one well back in reserve. The 7th had been on the lines with the lst Cavalry Division. When we reached the Kansas line, the lst Cavalry was replaced with our 5th Regiment. It was planned that the lst Regiment would replace the 7th, so that they would get a rest. Our CP lcommand postl had moved up to about four miles behind the lines because such progress was being made. Our lst Regiment was about 5 miles behind the CP. On Sunday everything was moving up. I started out to find an Army Battalion of the 17th Field Artillery but they were on the move. In looking for them I ran across Van Antwerp moving up with the 7th and Fitzgerald with the llth. I also ran into the 5th moving up. Fortunately for me I didn't stay overnight in that area because . . . things really broke loose in that spot. All of China seemed to descend on us on that Sunday night. In a desperate effort to contain the Chinese Com- munist forces penetration of the front lines, the lst The lst Marines were rushed up Sunday night and two battalions really ran into a terrific condition. The Chinese tried to smash through the area held by the lst Battalion of the lst Marines, but were unsuccessful. It looked for a while another Hagaru. We had no idea how many enemy had poured through on our left or how far they had gone. The ROK I6th1 Division left a complete sector unguarded. Another View of that night of fury is furnished by the Bronze Star citation of Joseph D. McDonald, Regimental Chaplain, lst Marines. Serving as regimental chaplain, Lieutenant Commander McDonald displayed outstanding courage and initiative when the battalion to which he was attached was subjected to vio- lent attack during hours of darkness by a numerically superior enemy force. Having relinquished his foxholc to a wounded man, he fearlessly and with complete disregard for his own safety moved in and about the sick bay area, which was sub- jected to almost constant enemy mortar and automatic weap- ons fire, to render aid and spiritual assistance to the wounded. He repeatedly gathered urgently needed men to assist as stretcher bearers, and on at least two occasions, when adequate bearers were not available, moved courageously to the line through withering enemy fire to help carry casualties to the aid station. During the attack the following morning to break out of an enemy encirclement, he was continually found at the side of a wounded man, although this required that he move back through the column toward enemy-held ridge lines and through increasing enemy fire. When offered vehicular transportation, he refused it, and was among the last to leave the area where the enemy was closii n, leading wounded -771

Page 94 text:

Advance to the Punchbowl The UN counterstroke got underway on 22 May. By 27 May the Marines were fighting in a sector east and south of the Hwachon Reservoir, advancing toward Yangu on its eastern tip.5 During the First part of June the Division was moving through moun- tainous country with peaks rising to 3,000 feet. The terrain was cut by deep ravines with precipitous sides, roads were practically nonexistent. The enemy had dug in along the ridges behind well-protected log bunkers. The sides of the valleys were so steep that artillery was frequently ineffective, though tanks par- alleling the infantry advance poured Hat-trajectory shells upon the entrenched bunkers. Nests of resist- ance had to be cleaned out by hand-to-hand combat, much of it at night. Yet the advance continued toward an objective north and east of Yangu, a cir- cular mountain-rimmed valley which became known as the Punchbowl. Losses were heavy, especially among the Korean Marine regiment, whose personnel coul.d expect no mercy from their Red compatriots. During the first 10 days of June, in fact, lst Mar Div personnel losses were higher than during any full month of the year so far. The lst KMC Regt suffered more than 500 casualties from all causes during this period, and the lst Marines had 67 KIA lkilled in actionl and 1,044 WIA fwounded in actionl from 1 to 30 June, most of them in- curred during the first 2 weeks. This was a higher total of battle casualties than that reported by the regiment in the Chosin Reservoir operation? In the west meanwhile I and IX Corps had exerted continuous pressure toward the Iron Triangle. By 11 June, Operation Pile driver had brought a force consisting of the U.S. 3d Division, the ROK 9th Divi- sion, and the Philippine Battalion into Chorwon and another consisting of the U.S. 25th Division and the Turkish Brigade into Kumhwf Soon the apex of the Triangle, Pyongyang, was secured also, but since the whole area was so completely dominated by sur- slbid., pp. 15Ff. Also Miller et al., op. cit., ch. V. 6 Montross, Advance to the Punchbowl, p. 21. 7 Miller et al., op. cit., p. 111. ROSTER O Headquarters Battalion .,.. . . , F. W. Kelly. .. H. H. Hayes.. lst Engineer Battalion .,.. . . . K. M. Hearn 1 W. B. Leonard lst Tank Battalion ..... . . . W. M. Hearn 2. , . lst Medical Battalion .... . . . .e G. Reilly. . . W. A. Rennie. G. Goodman 2. See footnotes at enc table rounding heights, neither side attempted to hold it thereafter. First Anniversary The end of June 1951 found the United Nations occupying the most favorable line they had held since the Chinese intervention. Beginning at the mouth of the Imjin River on the west, it ran through the middle of the Triangle, over the mountains and along the southern rim of the Punchbowl, and northeast to the coast at Chodo-ri. The Communists held 2,100 square miles less than when they had begun their ag- gression a year before. Lynn Montross has written: S By the most conservative estimate considerably more than a million Chinese and North Koreans had been killed, wounded, or captured, and losses of enemy equipment in- cluded 391 aircraft, 1,000 pieces of artillery, and thousands of automatic weapons, machine guns, and mortars. North Korea, which had been the industrial region of the peninsula, lay in ruins everywhere, its cities and factories and power plants pounded into rubble by UN bombs and shells. In fact, the aggressors in Korea were defeatedf' The best proof of this lies in the hints of a desire for truce talks which now began to be given out by the enemy. Summarizing the contribution of the Marines to the first year of the Korean War, Montross states that of a total of nearly 50,000 who had served so far in the combat theater 1,385 casualties had been returned stateside for hospitalization, 80' reserves sent home for release, and 7,352 men rotated to stateside duty. On 21 April,- on the eve of the Chinese Communist push, Kelly submitted the following roster of the 29 chaplains then attached to the 1st Marine Division. Recent arrivals had been Keene H. Capers, John E. Hollingsworth III, Arthur M. Kulinski, William B. Leonard, Jr., and Thomas B. Uber II. 10 R Montross, Advance to the Punchbowl, p. 22. 9 Montross says the enemy was not yet beaten in June 1951, though he had good military as well as political reasons for wishing to have a breathing spell Cibid., p. 235. Cagle and Manson both give it as their opinion and quote Gen. Van Fleet to the effect that the Reds were dehnitely whipped, but since the UN forces were not to be allowed to prosecute the war to a successful conclusion, the inevitable result was stalemate Cop. cit., pp. 308--3101. N Montross, Advance to the Punchbowl, p. 22. F CHAPLAINS ,. . CDR .... , . RC . , . LTJG ..., . . Disc . LT .... . . METH LT .... . . PRESBY CBIBLEJ . LTJG .... . . BAP my . . . LT ,... . , RC . . . LT .... . , METH . . . LTJG .... . . JEWISH 76-

Page 96 text:

Marines through heavy fire to a position from which they could be evacuated. His great personal bravery and con- stant material and spiritual assistance throughout the battle were an inspiration to all members of the command. Chaplain Kelly's account continues: Nobody knew when a horde of Chinese would overrun us. No one got much sleep with artillery and machine guns going all night. Tuesday morning the CP was moved back 5M miles .... That night we were in a CP with an artillery perimeter. About 200 yards away from us 8-inch field guns fired all night in three directions, and a battery of Marine artillery were facing southwest. An ambulance evacuation point was set up. Reilly, Capers, and Hayes covered that. Trodd from Motor Transport covered the hospital. The next day Reilly went back to the hospital and Trodd and Capers covered the casualties coming through. Casualties are mod- erate considering the situation. As we have seen, the Chinese Communist forces breakthrough obliged the UN forces to fall back in orderly retreat. Chaplain Kelly concluded his report to the Chief: Even though we are still dropping back, the morale is high. The lmenl are dead-tired, but still fighting. We expect the CP to move back tomorrow. I am proud of the work of the chaplains in this tough operation. Chaplain Kelly's next letter to Chaplain Salisbury was dated 7 May. By that time Chaplains Van Ant- werp and William Hearn had been relieved. Chap- lains Harold H. Cummings fPresbyterianj, Ross H. Trower QLutheranj, Richard T. Peeters C Roman Catholicl , Jesse L. Swinson CMethodistl , and George R. Brosius fLutheranj had reported for duty. Regarding the military situation Kelly wrote: Things have settled down considerably. Our Command Post has stopped moving. For the past week we have been settled in one spot. The week before that we moved four times. We are getting to be like a bunch of gypsies. Our front is moving north again. Contact with the enemy has been very light. Our patrols are fanning out without much contact. These Chinese are odd people. They must crawl into the ground. One day they are running all over the place. The next day you can't find them. From our intelligence we know that they have tremendous numbers in North Korea. Most of the outfits are identified and their strength estimated. All we have to do is to guess when and where they will hit. The only thing we can be fairly certain is that it will be at night. Damaged Church. Marines examine a church atop a hill in Chunchon area which was shelled when the war passed through the area. Memorial Services at the Front. The lst Marines hold a brief service in memory of their fallen comrades. Participants are ffrom left to rightj Pfc. Marvin Blankfield Uewishj, Chaplain Henry- E. Austin CProtestantj, Chaplain Joseph D. McDonald fCatholicj and Chaplain Keene H. Capers QProtestantj. -73.-