United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

Page 97 text:

Chinese Strike They had not long to wait. Kelly's letter of 25 May reported on events of the previous week. Operation Yo-yo still goes on. Last week conditions looked very dismal. The Chinese ran wild again. All the damage done has not been definitely clarified. It certainly looked as though they were playing for keeps. I will attempt to give you the picture. We were straightening out from the debacle at the end of April by holding a defense line and sending patrols up in the area of Chunchon. Just before dark on the evening of May 15, the 3d Battalion of the 7th Marines moved into a new position along the Chunchon-Wonju road. About 4 o'clock in the morning the Chinese tried to break through in Iorce. The 7th really clobbered them. It was estimated that they suffered over 400 casualties. When they tried to drop back they were caught in a curtain of artillery. Over 60 prisoners were taken by the 7th. If they had suc- cessfully broken through, they were going to fan out and attack our lines from the rear. They did not break through. The South Korean soldiers, who often distinguished themselves by their bravery, sometimes lacked the tenacity to dig in and fight which was displayed by the U.S. Marines. Some of the most difficult conditions faced by the United Nations forces in this 5th Korean campaign resulted from the failure of ROK troops to hold the line. Chaplain Kelly wrote: Somebody said, 'The Chinese yell Banzai, the Koreans yell Pusan, and both take off.' Referring to another bad situation which had devel- oped because of a Communist breakthrough, Kelly wrote: Again we were endangered on our flank. It looked for a while that we were going to fall back to Wonju. Elements of the 3d Army Division came in on the right. Now we are on the move again. If it works it will be very good. If it doesn't it will be curtains. There is a chance that we can cut off the Chinese who broke through. I hope it won't be another Hagaru-ri. I saw some of the results of the Chinese break through the other day. Our 5th Regiment jumped off Wednesday morn- ing, right through the territory where the 38th Army had been clobbered. Word came back that in their advance they found a lot of wounded and dead Army personnel, so I took off to lend a hand with the wounded. We didn't locate many wounded, but we found plenty of dead. Meanwhile Chaplains Groover, Reilly, Rennie, and Goodman had left for home. Goodman, the Division's Jewish chaplain, was replaced by Chaplain Elihu H. Rickel. Chaplain William A. Taylor fAmerican Bap- tistj had also reported for duty with the lst Marine Division. Chaplain Howard J. Groover, was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious achievement . . . while serving with a Marine artillery regiment in Korea from 15' September 1950 to 15 May 1951. The citation reads in part as follows: Although operating under the most severe weather and field conditions, he, without regard for his own personal safety, continually ministered to the needs of the wounded. His presence in the front lines added immeasurably to the morale and spiritual well-being of the men. His outstanding conduct under fire in treating and giving spiritual consolation to the wounded served as a source of encouragement to those around him. Chaplain Kelly reported that 8th Army was hold- ing a memorial service at the UN cemetery. All units of UN forces were to be represented. Kelly was asked to give the invocation. Unit chaplains were asked to hold memorial services in their own areas as military conditions permitted. Again and again, as far as the exigencies of continuing combat allowed, the Marines would pause to pay their respects to their comrades-in-arms who had fallen. Beginning of Advance Kelly's letter of 25 May was written just after the beginning of Van Fleetls forward advance. During the heavy fighting that followed, two more chaplains were cited for the Bronze Star. The first was Henry H. Hayes, for distinguished service on 31 May. His citation reads in part as follows: Serving as battalion chaplain, Lieutenant fjg.l Hayes dis- played outstanding courage and initiative when an adjacent battalion was subjected to a devastating enemy artillery barrage while preparing to move forward. Hearing the cries for aid, he . . . ran through the heavy enemy fire to reach the stricken men. Despite sporadic artillery fire, he courageously moved from casualty to casualty, dressing wounds, organizing stretcher parties, and comforting the wounded. His great personal bravery and unswerving de- votion to duty were an inspiration to all who observed him, and aided materially in saving many lives. The second chaplain cited was John M. Quirk who, hearing that a rifie company of his regiment had sus- tained heavy casualties, assembled a party of Korean laborers to act as litter bearers and after all were loaded in a truck started out on the errand of mercy. The truck struck an antitank land mine. Chaplain Quirk was hurled some 50 feet through the air and landed in a rock-strewn field. He was painfully bruised and cut but not too seriously wounded. Re- porting on the incident to Chaplain Salisbury on 5 june, Chaplain Kelly wrote: Chaplain John M. Quirk, Catholic Chaplain with the 5th Marines, was wounded yesterday. His condition is not too serious, but he will not be available for duty in less than 2 months. He was a victim of a land mine. He received fragmentation wounds in the legs and right arm, a large wound in his left arm, and a contusion which caused quite a bit of swelling on the right side of his face. However, his eye was not injured and they don't think any facial nerves were affected. He also suffered shock. I tried to

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.-

Page 98 text:

get to him, but they flew him by 'copter to a rear medical company. Chaplain Quirk's citation for the Bronze Star con- tains the following further account of what happened: Despite his serious injuries, he attempted to crawl back to the burning truck in order to render aid to the injured la- borers. His bravery and complete disregard for his personal safety were an inspiration to all who observed him. Two days after Chaplain Joseph P. Trodd replaced Quirk in the 5th Marines, a shell landed outside his tent. The chaplain's clerk and a brother ofiicer were wounded by the explosion but, although Trodd was knocked to the ground and badly shaken, he was not seriously hurt. In this same letter of 5 June, Chaplain Kelly com- mented as follows on the military situation as it then existed: In my last letter I told you that we were pushing forward again. Well, we have really pushed forward. We are al- most up to where we were when things broke back in April. However, we are on the right side of the Hwachon Reservoir, whereas the first time we were on the left. The 5th and lst Regiments are moving up with the 7th ready to swing in on the right. Resistance has stiffened very much recently. The regiments have been taking a pounding. The enemy have been using a lot of mortars and some artillery. In a few days with some good breaks we may reach the line where we will defend for a while. That is good, because our men are getting awfully tired. Just climbing these hills day after day is enough to wear them out. The Marines suffered severe losses during the first 2 weeks of June 1951. Writing to Chaplain Salisbury, Kelly reported that in one 36-hour period, some 500 patients had been received at A Medical Company. The work there for the chaplains became so heavy that four attached to other units of the Division as- sisted the three chaplains who were serving with the Medical Battalion. By the middle of the month, however, the daily number of Marines listed as casualties began to decline. Regarding the tactical situation Kelly wrote to Chaplain Salisbury in this same letter of 15 June: The resistance in our area has been very stiff. The enemy have thrown a terrific amount of mortar and artillery. Since they have held high ground with good observation, the mortar and artillery has been very accurate, hence the terrific damage to our men. They must have our locations zeroed in. Up till Wednesday the weather was bad and made air support impossible. They also have the quaint practice of rolling hand grenades down the hills on top of our men coming up. They have heavily mined the area through which we are moving. We have lost 10 tanks to land mines in a very short time. One other award, and an unusual one, was given a chaplain at this time. Chaplain Joseph C. Fitz- gerald, serving with the 11th Marines, the Division's artillery regiment, had utilized every available means of transportation to reach his separated units. He was now cited for the Air Medal for making 21 flights over enemy territory, where the plane could have received fire from unfriendly forces. The period covered was 22 December 1950-9 June 1951. Comic Relief A lighter note in the story of the chaplains' activ- ities during these days of fighting is found in an ex- perience of Chaplain Richard T. Peeters, serving in the 7th Marines. One day a group of Marines were resting a short distance behind the front lines. Sud- denly they were alerted by a shout from Chaplain Peeters: Hey, look what I've got! To the amazement of the Leathernecks, there strode their chaplain up the dusty Korean road with four ragged enemy soldiers following him! In answer to the incredulous queries as to how an unarmed chap- lain happened to be taking prisoners, Chaplain Peeters explained. He was just looking through some empty Korean houses when the four Chinese soldiers ran out with their hands in the air and surrendered. Noticing the cross on his uniform, one of the Chinese kept shouting: You ding hao. You ding haof, In the Mandarin dialect ding haol' means very good. The Chinese may or may not have known of the existence of chaplains with the Marine units. How- ever, the very fact that they noticed the cross on the Chaplain's uniform is evidence that they knew he was a Christian and would undoubtedly exercise mercy in receiving them. After hearing Peeters' account of what must go down in the history of the Chaplain Corps of the U.S. Navy as an unprecedented experience., one of the listening Marines deflated any pride the chaplain may have felt in his exploit by saying: Everyone's takin' 'em today. Chaplain Kelly, reporting this incident to the Chief in his letter of 15 June, added: These lst Division chaplains are a rugged people. Chaplain Peeters, for devoted service from 10 May to 29 June, was awarded the Letter of Commenda- tion. Part of his citation follows: During that period, in which the battalion was constantly in contact with the enemy, Chaplain Peeters' untiring efforts on behalf of the front line personnel were a source of marked pride to the entire command. Time and again on every critical operation, under the most adverse physical conditions and under fire from the enemy, which included heavy enemy mortar and artillery fire of the most intense variety, he worked feverishly at the forward aid stations to help the wounded and minister to the dying. -801