United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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THE NAVAL RESERVE PROGRAM Over 2,800 clergymen entered the Chaplain Corps as Reserves during World War II. By the end of 1946 over 2,300 of these Reserves had returned to civilian lifeg 224 had transferred to the Regular Navy, and 220 were on extended active duty. Unless a chaplain, who was sep- arated from active duty, actually requested com- plete severance from the naval service, he was kept in an inactive status. Only 180 Reserve chaplains resigned their commissions before the outbreak of the Korean hostilities in June 1950. Little was done in a systematic way by the Chaplains Division to keep in touch with the Reserve chaplains on inactive duty before 1948. The first effort to encourage the organization of volunteer units of Reserve Chaplains for train- ing duty was explained in Multiple Address Letter No. 13, dated 3 March 1948. The purpose of the Naval Reserve program for the Chaplain Corps was To provide a pool of Reserve officers who are ordained clergymen qualified to represent their respective denominations in the Naval Reserve and available for mobilization in the event of an emergency or a major war effort. The organized units of Reserve Chaplains were to have not less than 10, nor more than 100. When funds were available, some Chaplains received two weeks' training duty with pay upon their own application. In some instances Chap- lains served on training duty without pay. Public Law 810, which became effective 29 June 1948, provided a great incentive for all Re- servists to maintain an active relationship with the Navy by providing retired pay for those who qualified. Volunteer components of Reserve Chaplains were organized in most of the Districts in 1949 through the sponsorship of the various Some of these components District Chaplains. dissolved after the Summer of 1951 because those Chaplains who were the most interested in keeping alive their Reserve training were the ones who voluntarily or involuntarily returned to active duty. By July 1951 a total of 426 Reserve Chaplains were enrolled in these components. In October 1949, Chaplain Thomas J. Mullins was ordered to the Division to inaugurate aChap- lains Training Program. Under his direction a number of training seminars were held for Re- serve Chaplains beginning with one conducted in San Francisco from 17-28 April 1950 with twenty in attendance. Two other seminars were held in Norfolk, Virginia, 15-26 May with 50 present. This program has continued through the years following. In most cases those attending had duty orders with pay although some attended on a vol- untary basis. Two of the seminars held in 1952 gave special attention to the training of senior Reserves for supervisory duties in case of gen- eral mobilization. Among the correspondence courses offered by the Navy to Reserves were the following of spe- cial interest to chaplains: The Navy Chaplain using two texts, The Navy Chaplain and The Chap- la.in's Manual, 24 credits, and History of the Chaplain Corps, using Volumes I and II of 1 History of the Chaplain Corps, United States Navy as texts with 12 credits allowed for each volume. Thecourse on The Navy Chaplain was started in May 1950. By the end of January 1953 some 373 had completed the course. At the same time 222 had completed Volume Iof the History of the Chaplain Corps and 90 had also gone through the second volume. These two courses were started in June 1950 and May 1951 respectively. The outbreak of hostilities in Korea provided the emergency in our national defense for which the whole Reserve training program of the Navy had been designed as a partial answer. The Chaplains Division, acting upon its traditional policy of calling only volunteers to duty, was not willing to recall any to service without their consent. The only exception, if indeed it might be called an exception, were the Navy Chaplains attached to the organized Marine Corps units. District Chaplains were directed to contact all Reserve Chaplains in their respective areas to present the immediate need for more chap- lains under the grade of Commander and below the age of 50. The Reserve Chaplains were given one of three choices, as outlined below in a typical letter mailed by Chaplain Joshua Goldberg, District Chaplain, Third Naval District, under date of 17 August 1950: ' l. To make yourself available for immedi- ate duty, if you are within the age and grade limits. 2. To notify us that you are available at this time, but wish to continue in the Reserve and are ready for call to duty in case of mobilization. 3. To submit your resignation to the Secretary of the Navy, via the Commandant Third Naval District, if you are not available for duty at any time, due to personal obli- gations and commitments. Each District Chaplain was requested to make a concrete report to the Chief of Chaplains on the status of each Reserve Chaplain within his District by 15 September 1950. Answers were received from 2,198 Reserve Chaplains whose addresses were known to the District Chaplains. By 1 July 1951 the Navy had recalled to active duty 160 Reserve Chaplains who volunteered and who came within the age and grade limits. The breakdown of this number by rank, District, and denomination is as follows: BY RANK BY DENQMINAIIQN LTJG 1 30 BaptistQA1 5 LT : 79 BaptistKS1 7 LCDR : 51 Catholic 63 T' Cong. Christian 5 Total 160 Disc. of Christ 4 Episcopal 6

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Captain J. Floyd Dreith, Assistant for Planning, Pers Jlb Lieutenant Commander John H. Craven, Head of Ecclesiastical Relations Branch, Pers J11 1 Commander Paul W. J. Dickman, Head of Personnel Branch, Pers Jl2 Lieutenant James K. Snelbaker, Head of Distribution Section, Pers Jl21 Commander John T. McLaughlin, Head of Reserve Section, Pers Jl22 Commander Robert W. Coe, Head of Procurement Section, Pers JlZ3 Lieutenant Commander Joseph J. Tubbs, Head of Logistics Branch, Pers J13 Commander Charles J. Covert, Head of Training Branch, Pers J14 Admiral Thornton C. Miller, ChC, served as Chaplain Corps Inspector from September 1949 to January 1953. Chaplain Ernest L. Ackiss was called back to active duty from retirement in July 1951 to work on some special projects within the Division. The first of these was the preparation of the chaplain's program to be fol- lowed when and if universal military training became a law. He assisted Chaplain Harp in revising the Chap1ain's Manual, which was re- published in 1952, and also worked on the Char- acter Guidance Program. In December 1952 Chaplain Ackiss was appointed by the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Chairman of a committee to study the problem of sexual perversion in the Navy. He retired from active duty a second time at the end of February 1953. GROWTH OF THE CHAPLAIN CORPS During World War Il, the Chaplain Corps had a quota of one chaplain for every 1,250 person- nel, This quota was changed by the Officer Per- Sonnel Act of 1947 to one chaplain for every 800 personnel. On 31 December 1941, 205 Reg- ular and Reserve chaplains were on duty which was only 44W of the authorized quota. When hostilities ended in August 1945 the Corps had 2,787 chap- lains on duty, of whom 96,41ZJ were Reserves. This number represented 8671: of the quota, the highest point reached during the War. On 1 January 1947 the Corps had 486 chap- lains on duty of whom 192 were Reserves. The total number slowly but continuously declined until June 1950 when 432 were on duty. This was the lowest number on duty since June 1942. The expansion of the personnel of the Navy follow- ing the outbreak of the Korean hostilities demanded a corresponding expansion of the personnel of the Chaplain Corps, The following table shows the number of chaplains on duty on the dates As of 1 January 1953 two Negro chaplains were indicated: USN USNR TOTAL 1 July 1950 348 88 436 1 January 1951 249 210 559 1 July 1951 368 276 644 1 January 1952 387 320 707 1'July 1952 387 412 799 1 January 1953 397 495 892 The above statistics show that during the two and a half-year period, the number of Regular Navy Chaplains increased by 49, whereas the number of Reserves on duty showed a net gain of 407, almost a five-fold increase. Chaplain procurement as of 1 January 1953 was in excel- lent condition. The chaplains on duty then filled all authorized billets for the first time in the history of the Corps. The total number of chap- lains on active duty in the Navy is determined by Congressional appropriations. The actual assignment of billets is determined by allowances established in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. The success of the Chaplains Divi- sion in having enough chaplains on duty to fill all authorized billets by 1 January 1953 is due in large part to the willingness of several hun- dred Reserve Chaplains to return to active duty. The upper age limit of 35 for Regular Navy appointments was not changed during this period under review. The age limit for Reserve ap- pointments was 33 for Lieutenant Cjunior grade! and 39 for Lieutenant. Beginning on 1 January 1933 the Navy discontinued the policy of com- missioning chaplains as Lieutenants in the Re- serve. The upper age limit of 32 for Reserve appointments as a Lieutenant ljunior grade, will remain fixed except for veterans where it is adjustable up to 36 on a month by month basis of previous service. Thus a Reserve applicant who was a veteran of two years had a two-year extension on the limit of 32 for non-veterans. Although six chaplains were commissioned in the Reserve during 1946, they were not then called to active duty, Several of these were called to duty in 1948. Chaplains commissioned in 1947 were at once called to active duty. The following chart shows the number of new acces- sions to active duty within the Corps for the years indicated: 1946 - 5 1950 - 13 1947 - 9 1951 - 93 1948 - 25 1952 - 117 Total- 273 1949 - 11 on active duty, Thomas D. Parham, Jr., aveteran of World War I1, and Edward J. Odom, Jr. Chaplain Francis Lee Albert, who expects to be retired in June 1953, will be the last of the 42 chaplains who served either as an Army or a Navy chaplain in World War 1, to be separated from active duty. By 1 January 1953 only 38 of the 94 chaplains on duty 1 January 1940 were still on active duty. In other words, only 4.2'7o of the Corps on 1 January 1953 had more than 13 years active duty with the Navy chaplaincy. Of the 192 chaplains on duty at the time of Pearl Harbor, only 87, or about 1074: were still on duty 1 January 1953. Such statistics emphasize the comparative youth of the present Corps.

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,BY DISTRICT BY DENOMINATION QCont'd1 lst 15 Ev, Miss Covenant 1 3rd 35 Evan and Rfmd 2 4th 20 Lutheran 7 5th 7 Methodist 28 6th 16 Nazarene 1 8th 8 Presbyterian USA 22 9th 31 Presbyterian US 4 llth 13 Presbyterian United 2 12th 6 Bible Presbyterian l 13th 8 Afr. Methodist Epis. 1 PRNC l Russian Orthodox l Total 160 Total 160 A total of 1,486 chose the second category thus indicating their desire to remain in an inactive status for the time being but that theywere willing to accept active duty in case of a general emer- gency. This number included 140 who volunteered but who for various reasons were rejected. Between 1 July and 31 December 1950, resig- nations were accepted from 218 Chaplains. Dur- ing 1951, an additional 368 resigned and in 1952, 34. Resignations from 1 July 1950 to 1 January 1953 totaled 620. This paring of the roll was considered by the Chaplains Division to be most desirable as it left a residue of approximately 1400 Reserve Chaplains available for general mobilization should such become necessary. THE V-12 P The need for more chaplains in the present emergency caused the Chaplains Division to turn to the former V-12 theological students, who had received all or part of their professional training during World War II at Government expense, in the hope that some of these men would volunteer. The V-12 program was launched in February 1943 and before it was closed over 450 Protestant theological and pretheological students were en- rolled. Neither the Catholics nor the Jews per- mitted their students to apply for enrollment. Before the V-12 program was discontinued, 62 had come into the Chaplaincy from this source. The program was functioning to provide approxi- mately 100 new chaplains to the Corps each year had the war continued. Two former V-12 students, T. C. Herrman and P. W. Chalfant, entered the active service of the Corps in 1948 thus bringing the total of former V-12 students who became chaplains to 64. In the demobilization period following World War II, the V-12 enrollees were dischargedwith- out any special effort being made by the Navy De- partment to link up these potential chaplains with the Chaplain Corps. A factor to be remembered is that these V-12 theological students had not then completed their seminary work and were not ordained. They could not, therefore, qualify for a commission as a Reserve Chaplain. Regardless of the number of terms the V-12 students had spent in study or the amount of the subsidy re- ceived, all were completely severed from any official connection with the Navy. The procurement of USN Chaplains and the voluntary return of USNR Chaplains to active duty were not sufficient to meet the needs of the Navy. Reluctantly the Chaplains Division decided that involuntary recall was necessary. The first to report for duty on this basis were three chaplains who were members of the class that began its in- doctrination in October 1951, The policy of in- voluntary recall continued for about one year and, with but a few exceptions, was limited to the ranks of lieutenant, junior grade, and lieutenant. The last chaplain involuntarily recalled to duty re- ported the first part of January 1953. Altogether 119 were recalled on this basis. If a chaplain involuntarily recalled had had a year's active duty between December 1941 andSeptember 1945, he could be released after 17 months additional service. Non-veteran chaplains involuntarily re- called had to serve for 24 months. The number of Reserve Chaplains on active duty increased from 88 on l July 1950 to 495 on 1 January 1953, or a netincrease of407. Assum- ing that all of the 119 chaplains involuntarily recalled were still on duty at the latter date, this means that 288 chaplains then on duty had re- turned. To this number should be added a few Reserve Chaplains who may have come on duty and had been released between these dates. ROGRAM Following the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in June 1950, the Navy found itselfin need of offi- cers. Believing that since the V-12 students had not only been given deferment from active duty in World War II but had also, in some cases, received considerable financial aid in pursuance of their professional training, the Navy Department turned to these men with the hope that they would recog- nize a moral obligation to serve their country in the present emergency. The Chaplains Division has long held that a clergyman serving in a mili- tary capacity under duress is a liability rather than an asset to the Corps. Therefore, the Chaplains Division was unwilling to do more than to invite all former V-12 theological students to acceptacom- mission in the Corps and go on active duty. On 2.2 March 1951, Chaplain S. W. Salisbury addressed a letter to about 180 former V-12 the- ological students whose addresses were known to the Chaplains Division calling attention to the fact that the Navy then needed 200 additional chap- lains. Chaplain Salisbury wrote: Our records indicate that you received part, or all, of your theological training at the expense of the U. S. Government under the V-12 Program. The need for which the Gov- ernment provided your education is before us. I can assure you that, at this time, we need you if you are an ordained minister. Only 23 replied and of these onlyafew indicated a willingness to apply for active duty. Only one