chaplains with marines in vietnam 1962-1971

8/7/2019 Chaplains With Marines in Vietnam 1962-1971

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h a p l a i n s w i t h M a r i n e s i n V i e t n a m1 9 6 2 - 1 9 7 1

I n t h e f i e l d h o s p i t a l s a n d o n t h e l i n e ,U . S . N a v y c h a p l a i n i n V i e t n a m c o u l do u n d w i t h t h e M a r i n e s w h o n e e d e dm m o s t . H i s m i n i s t r y a n d c o m p a s s i o nt e n d e d i n t o t h e v i l l a g e s , a s w e l l a s h eg h t t o p r o v i d e a i d a n d c o m f o r t t o a l lh o s e v i c t i m i z e d b y t h e h a r s h b l o w s o fa r .T h e f i r s t c h a p l a i n a r r i v e d i n c o u n t r yi t h M a r i n e M e d i u m H e l i c o p t e rq u a d r o n 3 6 2 , i n A p r i l 1 9 6 2 . O v e r t h ee x t n i n e y e a r s , m o r e t h a n 7 0 0 o t h e r sl l o w e d i n h i s f o o t s t e p s . T e c h n i c a l l yt h e c h a p l a i n w a s a n o n -m b a t a n t ; b u t h e c o u l d n o t s e r v e t h ea r i n e s o f h i s u n i t w i t h o u t s h a r i n g t h ea r d s h i p s a n d d a n g e r s t h e y f a c e d o n aa i l y b a s i s .I t w a s n o t u n k n o w n f o r a c h a p l a i n t or a v e i n t e n s e f i r e , i n o r d e r t o b e a t t h ed e o f a g r i e v i n g i n f a n t r y m a n w h o h a ds t l o s t h i s b e s t f r i e n d i n c o m b a t . W i t hl l a n d p a t i e n c e , h e h e l p e d t h e s u r v i v o ri n h u m a n t e r m s w i t h t h e p a i n o f i n -i t a b l e y e t s t i l l t r a u m a t i c l o s s e s i nt t l e , e v e n w h i l e h e c o m f o r t e d t h eo u n d e d , t h e s i c k , a n d t h e d y i n g . .I n t h e r e l a t i v e s a f e t y o f t h e r e a r a r e a s ,e c h a p l a i n ' s e f f o r t s d i d n o t d i m i n i s h .e p r o v i d e d c o u n s e l i n g o v e r a w i d e r a n g es u b j e c t s , t o i m p r o v e a n d e n n o b l e t h eM a r i n e s . H e b e c a m e a b u i l d e rd r e s t o r e r o f o r p h a n a g e s , s c h o o l s , a n ds p i t a l s t h a t h a d b e e n d e s t r o y e d o rm a g e d . A t l e a s t 4 6 n e w c h a p e l sm e v i s i b l e a c r o s s t h e l a n d .A s e x e m p l i f i e d b y t h e c h a p l a i n w h oa p o s t h u m o u s a w a r d o f t h ee d a l o f H o n o r , a c o m m o n b o n d o fi f i c e l i n k e d t h e U . S . N a v y c h a p l a i ni t h t h e M a r i n e s h e s e r v e d . I n t h i s , t h ea p l a i n r e m a i n e d t r u e t o h i s h e r i t a g e :

r e a t e r l o v e h a t h n o m a n t h a n t h i s ,h a t a m a n l a y d o w n h i s l i f e / o r h i s f r i e n d s .


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CHAPLAINS WITH MARINE SIN VIETNAM

1962-197 1b y

Commander Herbert L . Bergsma, CHC, U .S . Navy

HISTORY AND M USEUM S DIVISIO NHEADQUARTERS, U .S . MARINE CORP S

WASHINGTON, D .C .1985


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Volumes in the Marine CorpsVietnam Series

U .S . Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1964, The Advisory and CombatA ssistance Era, 19 7 7

U .S . Marines in Vietnam, 1965, The Landing and the Buildup, 19 7 8U .S . Marines in Vietnam, 1966, An Expanding War, 198 2U.S . Marines in Vietnam, 1967, Fighting the North Vietnamese, 1984

In Preparation

U .S . Marines inU .S . Marines inU .S . Marines inU .S . Marines inU .S . Marines inU .S . Marines in

Vietnam, January-May 1968Vietnam, June-December 1968Vietnam, 1969Vietnam, 1970-197 1Vietnam, 1971-1973Vietnam, 1973-1975

Functional Histories SeriesU.S . Marine Corps Aviation In Southeast Asia, 1962-1975, in preparation

Library of Congress Card No . 77-604776PCN 190 003091 00


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FOREWORDThis is the first of a series of functional volumes on the Marine Corps ' participation in the Vietnam War ,which will complement the 10-volume operational and chronological series also underway . This particula r

history examines the role of the Navy chaplain serving with Marines, a vital partnership of fighting man andman of God which has been an integral part of the history of the Marine Corps since its inception .The first Marine aviation units to support the South Vietnamese Government forces entered Vietnam i n1962 and with them came their chaplains . When major M arine ground forces were first assigned to Vietnam i n1965, the number of assigned chaplains increased apace . By 1968 the III Marin e Amphibious Force, occupyin g

the five northernmost provinces of South Vietnam, numbered over 80,000 Marines and had under its com-mand the better part of three Marine divisions, a greatly expanded Marine aircraft wing, and a U .S . Armycorps of multi-divisional strength . The number of Navy chaplains serving ashore with Marine units exceede dall past experience, and the scope of their ministry had expanded into new and sometimes troubling fields .When the American involvement in the war gave way to Vietnamization, Marine units phased down i nstrength, eventually departing the country from 1969-1971 . Then, as today, they stood ready in the Pacific, o nboard ship and at bases in Okinawa, Japan, Hawaii, and California, to provide, as needed, a ready force t omeet their country's call . And with them, as always, stood their chaplains, in peace or war ready to provide thecounsel, comfort, and religious experience that are so much a part of military life .The author, Commander Herbert L . Bergsma, Chaplain Corps, U .S . Navy, is a minister of the Christia nReformed Church and a graduate of his church's affiliated Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary i nGrand Rapids, Michigan. After serving a congregation in Michigan, he became a Navy chaplain in 1965 an dserved two tours in I Corps in Vietnam with Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 74 supporting the III Marin eAmphibious Corps . Subsequently, Chaplain Bergsma served at Mare Island Naval Shipyard ; with Destroye rDivision 11 2 ; on board the destroyer tender USS Bryce Canyon ; at the Marine Corps Air Station at Kaneohe ,Hawaii ; at the Marine Corps Development and Education Command, Quantico, Virginia ; and with Sub -marine Group 2, Atlantic Fleet . In 1976 he earned a master of theology degree in homiletics at Princeto nTheological Seminary . Promoted to captain, he is at present serving at Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton ,California .

E . H . SIMMONSBrigadier General, U .S . Marine Corps (Ret . )

Director of Marine Corps History and Museum s

III


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PREFACEThis work was begun in 1977 with agreements between Brigadier General Edwin H . Simmons, U .S . Marin eCorps (Retired), Director of Marine Corps History and Museums, and Chief of Chaplains Rear Admiral John J .O'Connor, Chaplain Corps, U .S . Navy. Detailed arrangements were made by Mr . Henry I . Shaw, Jr ., ChiefHistorian of the Marine Corps, and Captain Carl Auel, CHC, USN, Director of Professional Development an dReligious Programs in the office of the Chief of Chaplains .General Simmons and his staff provided office space ; research suggestion s ; editorial, design, and produc-

tion assistance ; and administrative support .Commander Herbert L . Bergsma, CHC, USN, who served as Head, Chaplain Corps History Project durin gthe years 1978-80, completed the first draft . Mr. Shaw and his staff continued Chaplain Bergsma s work ,bringing it through the review, editorial, and production stages .Commander H . Lawrence Martin, CHC, USN, Head, Chaplain Corps History Branch, and others reviewe dthe manuscript. Chaplain Martin additionally served as photographic editor .The approach of the writer was to provide basic history of the war in Vietnam and to use it as the framewor kfor dealing with the overall experiences and contributions of the chaplains involved and for highlighting th ework of some individual chaplains. For the former, he used books, articles, and news releases ; for the latter h eused chaplains' end-of-tour reports, interviews, and correspondence addressed to the Chief of Chaplains an dthe Chaplain Corps historian .No attempt was made to chronicle the known work of every chaplain who served, or even of those who sub -mitted materials concerning their work . What is presen ted is that which was judged most significan t historical -ly, most representative of the whole, and most interesting .Concurrent with the preparation of this volume is that of another which is expected to be a companion t oit Chaplains With U.S . Naval Units in V ietnam 1954-1975 to be published by this office under th eeditorial management of Chaplain Martin and the authorship of Rear Admiral Withers M . Moore, CHC, US N(Retired) ; Chaplain Bergsma ; and Lieutenant Timothy J . Demy, CHC, USNR . With the publication of thesetwo volumes the history of the n aval chaplain cy in all the wars in w hich our country has been en gaged will havebeen treated .

NEIL M . STEVENSO NRear Admiral, Chaplain Corps, U .S . Navy

Chief of Chaplains

V


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AUTHOR' SACKNOWLEDGEMENT S

The risks of writing the history of almost-current events are great . Being too close to them chronologicall ymay reduce objectivity and surely open the author to the legitimate differences of opinion of many who live dthe experience . Yet, being too far from the events either chronologically or experientially invites a revisionis tperspective or sugar-coated reminiscences which may be profitable for entertainment and human interest, bu trarely for the elucidation of the times as they were .

If the history in question is of the Vietnam conflict a writer's problems are compounded . The attitud etoward this event is anything but unified even today. Neither the nation, her churches, nor the chaplain corp sof her military services manifest a singular approach or categorical understanding of it . I have tried therefore t oavoid opinions, taking positions, or interpreting circumstances . I have attempted rather to show the texture o fchaplains' contribution to the Marines : their sense of fulfillment in their calling, the personal and often emo-tional investment in their people, and the broad fabric of the clergyman in uniform .

To facilitate the achievement of these goals I chose a chronological rather than a topical approach . Thisrenders the volume less handy as a reference work to find " what the chaplains did then in a case like this , " bu tI hope preserves it as a cohesive framework of this momentous ten-year period . Hopefully all the topics ger-mane to the Chaplain Corps were exposed within this chronological treatment and should, in any event, pro-bably not be treated as a reference out of the context of the entire milieu in which they took place .One piece of advice I received from an institutional historian when I began the writing was, "mentioneverybody's name ." With mild apologies, I did not . It was not only impossible but unnecessary . Many of ussimply arrived and served, following the pattern of those who preceded us, without uniqueness, without in-novation, without distinctionas history measures distinctionbut with infinite faithfulness . We are notmentioned because we did not serve at the time or in the place of focus upon which events turned . Yet inmany ways it should be to those " unmentioned" to whom this and any history is dedicated, for they constitut eits impact . The world may never know. We know .

I am particularly grateful to those many individuals who helped to contribute to the following pages . Muchof my gratitude goes to chaplains who responded to questions, questionnaires, and interviews . Their perspec-tives were invaluable . Appreciation is also extended to the profession al writers at the M arine C orps History an dMuseums Division, Dr . Graham Cosmas and Mr . Jack Shulimson, whose chapter reviews and comments wer eof the most patient, sensitive, and substantive kind ; to Second Lieutenant Thomas E . Mead, USMC, wh oprepared the index included wth these pages ; and to Mrs. Catherine A. Kerns, who typeset the volume anddealt with many author's corrections, and Mr . William S . Hill, who designed and laid out these pages .But special laurels are reserved for the Chief Historian of the History and Museums Division, and my friend ,Henry I . Shaw, Jr ., whose guidance and tenacity were a lesson in professionalism .

HERBERT L . BERGSM ACommander, Chaplain Corps, U .S . Navy

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PART III THE CO NFLICT BROADENS5Chapter 6 Calming and Coordinating (January June 1966)7Comb at Action in Early 19667NSA an d MC B Chaplains at Da Nang0Administrative Adjustments31st Marin e Division Arrives at Chu Lai41st M arine Aircraft Wing C haplains, January-April 19668The Buddhist Revolt2Easter an d Passover in I Corps4Chapter 7 Teaching and Preaching (June-September 1966)9Hearts and Minds : The Personal Response Project9Meeting the Needs of Worship08Chapter 8 Risking an d Reachin g (June-December 1966)1 7Operation Prairie1 9Arrivals : New and Old2 2M ore Growing Pains2 41st Marin e Division C haplains2 8Seabee Chaplains in I Corps, October-December 19663 1Christmas 19663 3PART IV THE HEIGHTS AND THE DEPTHS3 5Chapter 9 Encouraging an d Givin g (January-December 1967)3 7Combat M inistry-Early 19673 7The C haplain C ivic Action Program4 0Easter4 1Summer Combat4 3" Greater Love Hath No M an4 9I C orps Pacification Efforts5 1Changes and Administration5 3Chapter 10 Agonizing and Reasoning (January-December 1968)5 5M inist ry Along the DM Z5 6The Ter Offensive5 8The Siege of Khe San h6 2The 27th M arines64The Ministry of M ercy66The 3d Marine Division Memorial Children's Hospital6 7M inistry G rows at the Force Logistic Comm and69Dealing with Debate7 3Chapter 11 Sweat ing and P ray ing (1969-1972)7 7Activity in the Field7 8Redeployment Begins8 2Personal Response C ontinuity8 3Civic Action and the CAP M inistry8 5New Concerns in Counseling9 1Chapel Construction9 4Reflections98

Notes0 3


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X I I I

S o u t h V i e t n a m

L a o s

N o r t h

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V i e t n a k D M Z_ ' \ f N . I C o r p s T a c t i c a l Z o n eq g H au a n g ' d gk i l o m e t e r s

h uB a lT h u a / S o u t hh n C h i n aD a N e n g S e aQ u a n g N a m J v J

T aC h uQ u a n g T i n

1 ) Q u a n g N g a i. / \ g a iL

1 ' (

I I C O P S' 1


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PART ITHE DRIFT INTO TURBULENCE


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Photo Courtesy of Chaplain Samuel Baez


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CHAPTER 1"Ministering in a Mini-War" (April 1962-February 1965 )

Helping "Those Who Want to Be Free"Relocation to Da Nang Chaplains' Routines Stabiliz e" . . . T o Preserve the Freedom and Independence of South V ietnam "

The kinship between chaplains and Marines is a sold as the United States itself. Both the Chaplai nCorps and the Marine Corps were born in Novembe r1775, and the admiration each has for the other ha salways been an important factor in their history . Th elate Lieutenant General Homer Litzenberg, USMC ,said, "We are a peculiar breed of cat, and we like tohave Navy . . . Chaplains with us who understand u sand who like to be with us . " ' Perhaps this affinit yhas been fueled by the mutual concern of Marine sand chaplains for the worth and dignity of the in-dividual and the common understanding that thi sconcern is never greater than when the individua lhas committed himself to a cause larger than himsel ffor which he may have to lay down his life . Since th eMarine Corps has no Chaplain Corps of its own ,Navy chaplains have shared these motivations an dbeliefs with them and have encouraged, comforted ,and endured the stress of separation and comba twith the Marines .

It was in 1914 that chaplains first were assigned t ofull-time duty with Marines . In that year a chaplainwas ordered to the Marin e Expeditionary Force of th eAtlantic Fleet . In 1917 chaplains were sent to the 5t hMarines and the 6th Marines to serve with the moverseas . Thus began a ministry to combat troop sthat has become an essential ingredient in NavyChaplain Corps and Marine Corps history . MostMarines would agree with General Matthew B .Ridgway who referred to chaplains and combat whenhe said : "When the chips are down, the men tur nmore and more to their chaplains, and the bigger th eman, the greater good he does . His influence goesright down in the heart ." 2Tin Lanh Evangelical Church, Soc Trang . Under th eleadership of Chaplain Samuel Baez, Shufly Marine sconstructed a ceiling in the church, which involve dthe labor of5O volunteers over a periodoffour week sand the contribution of more than 300 dollars.

In W orld War II the six chaplains who wen t ashor ewith the Marines at Guadalcanal were the first Nav ychaplains to see combat in that conflict with Marine son the offensive . Chaplains accompanied the Marin eon every subsequent invasion from the Solomon sthrough the Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas to th efinal operation of the war on Okinawa . The combataccomplishments of chaplains with Marines showedmore conclusively than ever before that the role o fthe chaplains is vital . Fleet Admiral Chester W .Nimitz summed this up nicely on 25 Septembe r1946 with this statement : "By their patient sym-pathetic labors with the men, day in and day out an dthrough many a night, every chaplain I know con-tributed immeasurably to the moral courage of ou rfighting men ." 3

It is apparent that the Marine Corps recognize dthis need for the reinforcement of moral courage ,because after World War II a Marine division's com-plement of chaplains was 16, but by the time of th eKorean outbreak in June of 1950, the table o forganization of a division called for 26 chaplains ,plus those assigned to attached units . The Corps ' re -quest for more chaplains was in itself acknowledge-ment of their worth to Marines . 4In 1962 sufficient chaplains were serving in the 3 dMarine Division and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing ,which were to supply the initial units entering Viet-nam, to fill most of the table of organizatio nbillets . * S With a few exceptions these chaplains weredetailed to the division and wing generally and th esenior chaplain would assign them to the units h edetermined would be most valuable for the chaplai nand the unit . The senior chaplain was also able t oadjust assignments so that the best possibl edenominational coverage could be achieved .

*The table of organization lists what a specific unit requires tofunction ideally. Money and personnel constraints often hampe rthe ideal from being reached .

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4 CHAPLA INS WITH MARINES IN VIETNA M

As the tension in Vietnam mounted in the early1960s it was reasonab ly clear to the chaplains servin gthe 1st Wing at Iwakuni, Japan, that at least one oftheir number would be going to Vietnam should aunit or subunit be ordered there . Finally in Apri l1962 the decision was announced .The ministry of Navy chaplains to Marine person-nel ashore in Vietnam began 12 April 1962 . The ar-rival of Lieutenant Earnest S . Lemieux (Methodist )inaugurated what was to become the most com-prehensive religious coverage ever given to Navy -Marine personnel under warring conditions . TheVietnam conflict marked the heaviest concentratio nof Navy chaplains ever committed to shore comba tin a single geographical area, eventually involvin gmore than 700 chaplains over a nine-year period . N oAmerican war would ever be fought over a longe rspan of time, demand so much, or disturb so many ;but no one realized that in April of 1962 .

Although the situation in Vietnam " was seriousand unstable at that time, it was not yet viewed as awar in terms of U .S . involvement . The intent of th eAmerican commitment was assistance and defense .Early indications were that additional helicopte rstrength would be needed to support an Army of th eRepublic of Vietnam swift-strike capability . Th eChief, Military Advisory and Assistance Group ,General Charles J . Timmes, USA, recommendedthat U .S . Marine helicopter pilots be assigned t otemporary duty with Army helicopter companie salready in Vietnam for familiarization . When askedto study the proposal, Major General Carson A .Roberts, Commanding General (Air), Fleet Marin eForce, Pacific (Air FMFPac), suggested that th eCommanding General, FMFPac, Lieutenant Genera lAlan W . Shapley, offer a counter proposal that on ecomplete Marine Corps helicopter squadron withsupport units be committed to a mission similiar tothat of the Army helicopter companies . This recom-mendation was approved and a Marine Corp shelicopter squadron with its supporting Marine ai rbase subunit was ordered to Soc Trang, Ba Xuye nProvince, in the Mekong Delta, with the understan-ding that, when the tempo of operations in the nor-thern corps tactical zone permitted, it would ex -change places with the Army unit at Da Nang . Th edecision was approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staffand the Vietnamese Government on 9 April 196 2and Operation Shufly was launched .

The personnel of Marine Task Unit 79 .3 .5, con -

sisting of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadro n(HMM) 362, and Subunit 2, Marine Air Bas eSquadron (MABS) 16, began to arrive at Soc Tran gon board KC-130F Hercules transports from Marin eCorps Air Station (MCAS), Futema, Okinawa, on 9April 1962 and immediately established a functiona lbase . They were joined on 12 April by Chaplai nLemieux . The initial reaction of the task unit to dut yin Vietnam was mirrored in Chaplain Lemieux' s1967 reflection s . He wrote :

I shall never forget that first night . Most of the menwere posted on security watch outside . It really made littl edifference since there were holes in the walls, and the win -dows had given up years before . We had a few cots and afew flashlights . Filth and debris littered the area . After ameal of "C" rations, we settled down to a restless night o fwatching ARVN soldiers and sleeping intermittently . Ilearned that we were in some kind of ARVN headquarter sarea and that the airfield was under the protection o fabout twelve hundred AR VN soldiers who were positione dabout an outer circle of defense . The big question waswhether we could safely entrust our security to peopl ewhose loyalities were uncertain . It was a new experienceand we were all uneasy about it . '

By 16 April, the major body of HMM-362 arrive don station off the mouth of the Mekong River . Th etransfer of men and material from the amphibiou sassault ship USS Princeton (LPH 5) began im-mediately . Embarked as ship's chaplain in th ePrinceton was Commander Henry E . Austi n(American Baptist) . Recalling that experience, h ewrote :

It was my custom to hold daily Bible classes on board th ePrinceton and when we were committed to lift a troo punit, I always held an embarkation service . One hundre dtwenty-five Protestant men of Lieutenant Colonel ArchieJ . Clapp's Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron-362 at -tended the service . Our C atholic Lay Leader, Joseph Tucci ,conducted a Rosary Service for the Catholic men of th eunit . 6

By the end of that day the airlift was complete an dthe elements of Shufly were ready to undertake theirmission the following morning .

The Marine command was located near an ol dWorld War II Japanese airstrip, surrounded by pat-ches of flat, sunbaked brown earth, laced with occa-sional glimmering squares of water-filled rice pad -dies . One building, a tin-roofed hangar of Japanes econstruction and sturdy enough to have withstoo dspring and fall monsoon rains for nearly 20 years, re-mained standing but in barely useable condition .


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M INISTERING IN A MINI-WAR 7

mander in Chief, Pacific (CinCPac), FMFPac, an dM A C V . Permission to visit Vietnam was difficult t oobtain and could not be acquired for routine, recur -ring visits . Although the United States was not asignatory to the 1954 Geneva accords, the natio nvoluntarily maintained a posture of no appreciablebuildup or increase in U .S . military population i nSouth Vietn am, or any acceleration of military activi-ty . The situation was further complicated by th eagreements then in force with the Government o fJapan ; United States military units stationed o nJapanese soil (for example, the 1st MAW was a tIwakuni) were forbidden to engage in military activi-ty against any other Asian nation .

Helping "Those Who Want to Be Free "On 12 July 1962, exactly three months after th e

first chaplain came ashore in Vietnam, Chaplai nRickel sent Lieutenant Commander Samuel Bae z(United Presbyterian) to relieve Chaplain Lemieux,

who returned to Iwakuni to complete his oversea sduty. During his months of duty with the subunit ,Chaplain Baez made a sizable impact upon it, an dperhaps a still more remarkable impact upon th elocal Vietnamese . Following the excellent exampleof his predecessor, and during a lull in operation ac-tivity, Chaplain Baez concentrated on expanding th epeople-to-people effort . Within a few day s of his ar-rival, he arranged for Shufly Marines to sponsor tw obenevolent projects among the people of Soc Tran gand Ba Xuyen Province . The first was con struction ofa ceiling within the Protestant Church at Soc Trang .

Immediately after Chaplain Baez had arrived h eparticipated in a rare type of pulpit exchange . Dur-ing his trips through Soc Trang Chaplain Lemieu xhad discovered a Protestant church, which he wa sable to visit twice . The pastor and his son, also aChristian clergyman, were hospitable and friendly .One Sunday, therefore, when both chaplains wer epresent, a dual exchange was effected . With a

Chaplain Samuel Baez enjoys Christian fellowship with the Reverend Nguyen Dang ,pastor of the Tin Lanh Evangelical Church at Soc Trang, and his wife and daughter

Photo 1st Marine A ircraf t Wing


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MINISTERING IN A MINI-WAR 9

Republic of Vietnam, or North Vietnam . TheMarines had become used to flat, canalled ,segmented delta land at Soc Trang; the terrain at D aNang was completely different and varied vastly .White sandy beaches bordered the coastline, backedby a narrow coastal plain which rose toward jungle -covered mountains with inaccessible peaks of 6,000feet and higher . The terrain was a new experienc eand a fresh challenge for the men of the task unit .

Because of the difference in terrain, the climat ewas almost the exact reverse of that at Soc Trang .The monsoon season, which so heavily affecte doperational ability, occurred in the winter at D aNang, extending from September to March . In th eextreme south it occurred during the summer . Highaltitude, high temperatures, high winds, couple dwith low ceilings, fog, and heavy rains presente doperational problems not experienced in the delta .

Weather was not the only problem to irritate th etask unit . Security also proved to be awkward . In-itially, a permanent sergeant of the guard was detail-ed to maintain a security force of men from Subunit2 and HMM-163 . Posts were manned around th eflight line, the hangar, the motor pool, the com-munications area, and the billeting compound . Thisarrangement was workable but caused problems i neffectiveness and morale . Marines who served al lnight as security guards often were expected to putin a full working day at their regular jobs . The com-mand, realizing the problem, initiated a request vi aComUSMACV to FMFPac for a permanent securit yforce . This resulted in the assignment to Vietnam ofa security platoon from the 3d Marine Division o nOkinawa . As harassment continued the platoon wa sincreased to a reinforced company .

The chaplain was active in the support of securit ypersonnel during this initial, difficult period, bu twas hampered by another problem area that affecte deveryone : transportation . The barracks compoundwas three miles east of the runway and connected b yincredibly poor roads . Still further away were th emotor pool and the communications section . Th eremarkable foresight of Shufly's first commander ,Colonel John Carey, had caused the task unit to besupplied with three used school buses which were o nhand when the Marines arrived from Soc Trang, bu tthe chaplain visits to the flight line and the wor kspaces were difficult to coordinate with the bu sschedule, and visits to the men on security watc hwere even more complicated .

Shufly's operational mission at Da Nang wasessentially similar to that at Soc Trang, but ther ewere important differences produced by the terrain ,weather, and general plan on military activity in th eI Corps Tactical Zon e (ICTZ) . In these northern pro-vinces, landing zones for the most part had to b ehacked out of the jungle, so surprise was difficult tomaintain when moving to strike the enemy . Whenflat-bottomed, walled valleys with dangerous win dcurrents had to be used as landing areas, it was no tuncommon for landing zones to be too far from th epoint of need, so effective employment of retaliatorytroops was questionable .The resupply of U .S . Army Special Forces outpost sproduced the single most important shift i nHMM-163's mission, a mission not assigned in th eSoc Trang area . It was clear that strategic hamle tdefense would have to depend largely upon Specia lForces units permanently positioned in the moun-tains and in the jungles whose primary duty was t ohalt infiltration . Chaplain Baez capitalized on thi scircumstance by offering an extensive ministry toSpecial Forces personnel at the outposts .

From the beginning of American involvement i nVietnam, the Chaplain's Division of MACV en-couraged the concept of "area coverage " because o fthe vast dispersion of American person n el . America nNavy, Army, and Air Force chaplains were asked t obroaden their ministries to include internal coor-dination to serve the geographical areas . This wasnot an easy concept to put into practice owing to th eintense loyalty chaplains with Marines tend to buil dwith their specific unit and the resultan tpossessiveness of senior commanders toward the ac-tivities assigned their chaplain . The rapport achaplain builds with "his people" is usually greate rin kind and scope than even that which exists bet-ween a pastor, priest, or rabbi in a civilian setting ,and enormously affects his spiritual impact . Thisrelationship is, understandably, not readil ytransferable to any group or unit the chaplain hap -pens to engage. With some reluctance, the demand sof this strange conflict made area coverage a necessi-ty, and chaplains and commanders supported it t othe greatest possible extent, and it was rare that th epractice was not found of special blessing to th echaplain and to all units .

A second major change to the operational missio noccasioned by the Da Nang deployment was th erelocation of some important hamlets that could not


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be successfully defended . This meant transportingpeople, belongings, equipment, livestock, food, an dfuel to areas more secure . The chaplain was often in -valuable on missions, contributing to the positiv erelationship being built with the citizens of Sout hVietnam, by retaining a warm relationship wit hvillage dignitaries and pursuing an aggressive civi caction program . These two major operationa lchanges presented opportunities for the Shufl ychaplain to make frequent flights with medical an dresupply missions as a part of his routine, and hisministry was enriched by the opportunity to exten dhimself to Special Forces personnel and to the Viet-namese villagers and refugees .On 6 October the men of the Shufly missionreceived a grim remin der of the fact that they were i ngenuine conflict filled with all the dangers accompa-ny ing warfare . A search and rescue helicopter crash-ed and burned 15 miles west of Tam Ky while par-ticipating in a 20-plane helilift of 2d ARVN Divisio nunits . Seven died in the crash, five Marines, a Navydoctor, and his corpsman assistant . These were thefirst casualties suffered by the Marine task unit sincearriving in Vietnam, and they were deeply felt . Theministry of Chaplains Baez and Peloquin gave th eM arines of S hufly occasion to express those feelin gs .Chaplain Baez reported :

A Requiem High Mass an d a M emorial Service were hel dat which over three hundred persons were in attendance .Present were personnel of the Staff, CTU 7 .35 , M ABS-16 ,Subunit 2, HMM-163, the Vietnamese I Corps Chief o fStaff and his party, and several civilians, mostly mis-sionaries who had been helpful in our program . The Hig hMass was conducted by Chaplain A . Peloquin andChaplain S . Baez of MABS-16 conducted the Memoria lService . Four of the deceased were Catholic and three wer eProtestants. Letters of condolence, bulletins of the servic eand pictures of the ceremonies were sent to the next of ki nby the respective chaplains .' 9

Chaplains' Routines Stabiliz eAmong the American missionaries present at thememorial service for the victims of the 6 Octobe rcrash was Pastor G . H . Smith, of the Christian andMissionary Alliance Mission, a remarkable man wh ohad already befriended Chaplain Baez and who wa sto become the steadfast friend of many chaplain swho would serve Marines in I Corps . During th eShufly era and the years immediately following ,Pastor Smith was invited to speak to Marine group sabout the Vietnamese people and their religions . His

lecture included the presentation of the film ,'Jungle Beachheads, " a study of the adjustment snecessary when western culture comes into contactwith a Vietn amese village . This became a part of thestandard orientation for all incoming Marines, thu sinitiating a general program which, greatly expand-ed and carefully represented, was to acquire tremen-dous significance in the years ahead . Pastor Smithwas also of invaluable aid to the Marines inunderstanding the cultural situation in which the yfound themselves . He was uniquely qualified t ospeak about Vietnamese customs and religious tradi-tions, since he had been in missionary service i nVietnam for more than 24 years, and had only bee nrecently displaced by the Viet Cong .

Lieutenant Richard P. Vinson (Methodist), wh orelieved Chaplain Baez on 12 October 1962, quickl ybecame involved in what was beginning to be calle dcivic action . He utilized Reverend Smith's insightsliberally . During the period of Chaplain Vinson' stenure with Shufly, Reverend Smith was preparin gto become an official for the Christian Children' sFund of Richmond, Virginia. The site selected fo rhis orphanage, then in the planning stages, wa ssurveyed by a Marine engineer, and the progress o fthe institution was closely followed by many of th etask elemen t 's M arines . Shufly's men already activel ysupported an orphanage in Da Nang which wa smaintained by an American missionary family . OnChristmas day the Marines participated in a "Father -For-A-Day " program which had been arranged b yChaplain Vinson . Each orphan spent the day with aMarine who had volunteered to serve as his "father . "One Marine author observed :

The Vietnamese children were treated to dinner in th emess hall, presented with Christmas gifts, and then joine din singin g carols with the M arines . At the conclusion of th efestivities, Chaplain Vinson presented the director of th eorphanage with a gift in Vietnamese currency equilvalen tto over $800 .00, money which the men of the task elemen thad donated . 2 0From the very beginning, the Marines were con-cerned with civic action and compassion for children

of the land . A supervisory chaplain, Lieutenan tCommander George D . Lindemann (Lutheran )referred pointedly in his reports to the same kind ofevents . Chaplain Lindemann gained his insights on amid-December inspection tour of the Da Nan gfacility sponsored by Wing Headquarters inIwakuni . He spent 19 days with Chaplain Vinson,


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Photo Courtesy of Chaplain Hugh F . Lecky, Jr .The interior of the Shufly Marine detachment's chapel photographed on 4 July 1965 .

" I'm sure I will, " I replied, not knowing at all why Iwould but confident that it was true .

He smiled and then said, " It will break your heart a lo tof times . "

I didn ' t fully realize what they meant until a mont hlater when an Army helicopter was shot down by the VietC o ng . The young pilot, a husband of a few months, wa skilled . His mechanic, flying with him in the plane, wa snever found. That evening we held a memorial service .The small chapel could not hold all who came, and th edriving rain outside was made such a noise on the meta lroofs that much of what was said that evening was no theard . But a need was present that none of us will forget .Suddenly the glamour of war faded with the death o ffriends . At times like that everyone instinctively looked t oGod to heal the broken hearts and to give a word of hopeand promise .

No one longed to be a hero after the first few days in th ehumid, tropical climate where death was only a breathaway, but everyone felt willing to show that we a sAmericans were concerned about the Vietnamese peopleand willing to stake out all in showing this concern .

Somehow this made sense because it had a purpose tha twas as big as Christ himself, " Greater love has no man than

this, that a man lay down his life for his friends . "What a wonderful opportunity it was to have been a

Navy Chaplain preaching and living these timeless truth sin an atmosphere and country where such insights wer enecessary for survival and for victory itself . "The mood was subtly changing during these mon-

ths in Vietnam, and nothing contributed more t othe dark forboding than an event that took plac e13,000 miles from Vietn am, in D allas, Texas . On 2 2November 1963, the United States was dealt a stun-ning blow when its President, John F. Kennedy, wasshot by an assassin and died shortly thereafter .Lieutenant Herman F . Wendler (Methodist) was th eShufly chaplain at that time, having relieve dChaplain Smith in June of 1963 . He served a littl eover a month past the assassination of Presiden tKennedy, and when relieved on 31 December, com-pleted the longest tenure of any chaplain wit hMarines in Vietnam to that point . ChaplainWendler reported the shock and solemn sense of


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tragedy that characterized the attitude of the arme dforces personnel in the I Corps generally and th edeep grief of the men of Shufly particularly . Duringthe period of mourning the chaplain conducte dmemorial services for his own personnel and for Ar-my and Air Force service members in Da Nang .

" . . . To Preserve the Freedom andIndependence of South Vietnam "Seven months prior to the terrible events of 2 2

November, the opinions of officials in the Defens eDepartment were bouyant and positive . Prediction sthat the conflict would soon end could be heard ."The corner has definitely been turned toward vic-tory," a government spokesman said . 2 7

But such was not the case, and deterioration wa sswift . Buddhists, objecting to Roman Catholi cdomination of the Diem government, rioted, and ,some, while the world watched increduousl ythrough media eyes, immolated themselves . The ac-tivities of some 2,000 Buddhists were interpreted torepresent the attitude of the entire country and th eUnited States believed that all Vietnam was

aflame . 2 8 In November a military coup overthre wDiem's government and he was assassinated .

Having received the mantle of the United State sPresidency, Lyndon Johnson immediately was face dwith burdensome decisions concerning Vietnam .Some Americans had begun to see the conflict as acivil war in which America had no honorable in-volvement . Others saw it as a blatant attempt on th epart of Communism to annex the whole of Southeas tAsia nation by nation, an encroachment that had t obe resisted . The troops in Vietnam seemed largely tofavor the latter view and found themselves adoptingincreasingly belligerent attitudes as they saw, thoughmost American citizens did not, the terror an dmaiming carried on by the Viet Cong against in-nocents, as well as atrocities conducted against mis-sionaries . 2 9The darkening mood of the American servicema nin Vietnam was fed by confusion in the direction o fthe war and increased activity on the part of the Vie tC o n g . Chaplain Harrison recorded this eloquently :

The tempo of the Viet Cong activity stepped up . Am -bushes increased around the perimeter of the base . Snipers

The first meeting of all Navy chaplains in Vietnam, photographed in front of the ShuflyChapel in June 1965 . Seated, left to right : Chaplains R . G. DeBock; A . B . Craven ; P .H. Running; P. J Ba k k e r (1st M A W ) ; R . "Q" Jones (III MA F) ; J . J . O'Connor (3d MarDiv) ; W. M. Gibson ; R . J. Usenza; H. F. L ecky . Standing, left to right : R . C . Osborn ;M . Goodwin ; R . W . Hodges ; T. Dillon; E. E. Jayne ; E. V . Bohula ; T . G . Ward.Photo Courtesy of Chaplain Hugh F . Lecky, Jr .


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Photo courtesy of Chaplain Hugh Leck yChaplain Hugh F. Leck y, Jr. , conducts a service fo r men of HM M -163 in February 1965 .

chaplain flying with the squadron also changed .Chaplain Heim had flown only 20 missions duringhis five month ' s assignment . The policy, restatedduring the February-March transition period, wa sthat the chaplain should avoid flying missions excep twhen essential to his duties . While Chaplain Leck yobserved the policy meticulously, he still becam eknown to MAG-16 personnel as the "Heli-Padre, "and, even though flying only "safe" missions, he wa swounded, becoming the first Navy chaplain to b eawarded the Purple Heart for action in Vietnam .

The defense-oriented American involvement wa scoming to a close . In response to Communist ac-tivities, such as the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the

Viet Cong attack on the U . S . Bachelor Officers 'Quarters in Saigon on Christmas Eve 1964, whic hkilled 2 Americans and wounded 109, PresidentJohnson ordered retaliatory air strikes on North Viet-nam. The VC continued their attacks by mortaringthe U.S . compound at Pleiku on 7 February 1965 .By the 27th, the President decided to commit abrigade-sized force to Da Nang with the mission o fprotecting that major base .

On 6 March 1965 the signal was sent to element sof the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) offVietnam shores : "Land at once at Da Nang MEBcommand and control elements, a surface battalio nlanding team . . . ." 3 4 The mini-war was no more .


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CHAPTER 2Supporting Amid Confusion (March-August 1965 )

The 9th MEB Comes AshoreThe III A mphibious Force is CreatedLanding at Phu Bai Chu Lai isB orn T he Seabees A rrive M A G-12 at Chu L ai Chaplain Organization at Da N ang

The events of March to August 1965 in the area ofDa Nang, South Vietnam, bear eloquent testimon yto the combat readiness of the United States MarineCorps . During the first week of March of that year ,only the Shufly detachment with but one securitycompany was situated at the Da Nang airstrip . Bythe end of the summer, Marine infantry regiments ,the 3d, 4th, 7th, and 9th Marines, were in Vietnam ,together with four Marine aircraft groups ; MAG s-11 ,-12, -16, and -36 .

The achievement of this incredibly rapid buildu pproduced understandable, though temporary, con -fusion and the chaplains' sections were not exemp tfrom the headaches of rapidly changing cir-cumstances, expectations, and projections .

In M arch there was on e chaplain servin g M AG-16 ,and, at best, two when a Roman Catholic pries tcould be broken loose from his duties with personne lin Okinawa. By late summer a total of 32 chaplain swere located in the greater Da Nang area, with som e8-10 more projected to report . Writing at the end o fthe period about change in the Da Nang comple xLieutenant Paul L . Toland (Roman Catholic) observ-ed :

This past year I have seen three general phases to thi sMarine operation . From December 1964 to mid-March1965, the operation was relatively small and quiet . Mid -March to mid June saw the arrival of several thousan dM arines and an acceleration in activity . Since mid June thebuildup had been astronomical . There is now a full scal ewar in progress. In the first phase the Marines were offer-ing small helicopter support to the ARVNs ; in the secondphase we had buildup of security and the operation wa slargely defensive; in the third phase the Marines begantheir own great offensive .

Today as I go about the Da Nang area, it is like a dif-ferent country. The airfield which in the beginning servic-ed a single squadron of helicopters and a squadron of U . S .Air Force fighter planes, is a beehive of activity ; planes o fevery description and size come and go . The city of DaNang has been taken over by the Marines, the Seabees, th eAir Force, Army and Navy . American servicemen crowd

the sidewalks ; American vehicles fill nar row streets . Thereare vast camps, compounds and complexes to house th ethousands upon thousands of American Service personnel .Many of the old RVN camps are now taken over byAmericans . Where there were rice paddies and thatche dhuts and grazing cattle, there are now huge America ncamps filled with troops, vehicles and supplies . '

Contributing hugely to the confusion of th eperiod was the continual instability of the govern-ment of South Vietnam in Saigon . After th eassassination of President Diem, a succession ofheads of state paraded to the position of power onl yto prove unable to secure it and stabilize the nationa lstructure. Foremost among the influences that con-tributed to the undermining of confidence in th eSaigon-based government was the often bitter rivalr ybetween Buddhists and Roman Catholics which con-tinued until June of 1965, when it quiete dsomewhat under Vice Air Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky ,who became Premier of the eighth government fo rthe RVN in 20 months .

The 9th M EB Comes AshoreSince mid-1964 battalion landing teams from th e

3d Marine Division on Okinawa had rotated a sspecial landing forces on board the Navy's am-phibious ready groups in Vietnamese waters . BLT sfunctioned within the command structure of the 9t hMarine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB), which varie din size and composition from one to two battalion saccording to the requirements of specific crisis . I nthe north of South Vietnam they were poised agains tthe potential need to defend Da Nang or evacuat eAmerican personnel at Da Nang and Qui Nhon . I nthe south they were positioned off Cape St . Jacque sto support Saigon-based Americans, to bolster th eregularly constituted government, and t odemonstrate the capability of American militar ymight in the area while observing the 1954 Genev aagreements by remaining out of the country in inter -national waters .

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ashore in the five I C orps provin ces . When the entire3d Marine Division, most of the remaining aircraftgroups of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, and Seabe eBattalions 3 and 10 arrived in the spring of 1965, th ecommand structure of the III MAF would be full yformed . Shortly after the reorganization was com-plete, Major General Lewis W. Walt relieved MajorGeneral Collins as Commanding General, III MAF ,and one of his initial acts after arriving in countr ywas to redesignate Chaplain O 'Connor as 3d MarineDivision chaplain, anticipating that the remainde rof his senior staff, temporarily remaining o nOkinawa, would soon arrive in Vietnam, and tha tChaplain Jones, former division chaplain would b eassigned to the new senior billet with III MAF .

Considerably before there was any large-scal ecommitment of chaplains to Vietnam, Chaplai nJones, on Okinawa, ,was identifying problem area sand moving to solve them . The most pressing ofthese areas was chaplain preparation and training ,and the availability of religious supplies . Upon th econclusion of his most demanding tour Chaplai nJones remembered :

As the Division Chaplain on Okinawa, where most ofthe Marine Chaplains remained (early in 1965), it wasnecessary for me to make periodic trips to Vietnam to ob-tain first-hand-information on the chaplain ' s duties ,responsibilities, and hardships . Such information was in-culcated into the continuous training program fo rchaplains on Okinawa as preparation for their ministr yunder arduous circumstances in Vietnam. On these trips Iwas able also to carry religious supplies to the combat are ato be stored and await the arrival of unit chaplains . 'The training program spoken of by Chaplai n

Jones was designed to equip each combat-boundchaplain with a fundamental knowledge of guerrill awarfare, and specifically the working environment i nwar-torn Vietnam within which his ministry was t obe conducted . The division chaplain insured thatplans were formed for all chaplains attached to th edivision to receive two weeks of in ten sive orientatio nto guerrilla warfare . This training was conducted atthe Northern Training Area on' Okinawa unde rsimulated combat conditions . It was arduous andtaxing, but the profitable results were to be i nevidence a few months later in the jungles of Viet-n am . Chaplain Jones reported :

The major portion of our weekly chaplains' conference swere devoted to the chaplains' ministry in the field and th echaplains ministry in combat. Chaplains were instructedon the availability of resources, personal initiative, over -

coming hardships, and related subjects . During thispredeployment period, chaplains held religious weekendretreats for their individual battalions . Ten Protestant andtwelve Catholic religious retreats were held involving ove r1200 enlisted personnel . The weekend prior to the initia lMarine landing in Vietnam, a religious ecumenical retrea tfor 170 Marine officers was held at Okuma, Okinawa .Seventy -two hours after the retreat terminated M arine Bat-talions with forty-eight officers who attended the retrea twere walking ashore in Vietnam to face combat, hardship ,and loneliness . 6

Having organized and supervised these extensiv epreparations, Chaplain Jones would be directed t othe war zone itself in June of 1965, and wouldobserve the fruits of his foresight .

Landing at Phu Ba iThe second enclave* to be established by Marin eCorps ground units in Vietnam was at Phu Bai nea rthe ancient capital city of Hue, in Thua Thien Pro-vince . Three chaplains were involved in the four-da yoperation which began on 11 April 1965 . Two ofthose chaplains were attached to Marine battalions ;Lieutenant Colin E . Supple (Roman Catholic) waswith the 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, which landed th efirst day, and was followed up three days later byLieutenant Commander William A . Lane (SouthernBaptist) with the 3d Battalion, 4th Marines . Thethird chaplain was Lieutenant Edward Wilcox(United Presbyterian) in the Amphibious Landin gShip Dock, USS Vancouver (LPD 2) part of Tas kGroup 76.7 which also included Attack Transpor tUS S Henrico (APA 45), Attack Cargo Ship US SUnion (AKA 106) and Attack Transport US SLinawee (APA 195) . Chaplain Wilcox, whose shipparticipated in the initial landing at Da Nang amonth earlier, recalled :

Once again Vancouver was called upon to perform he rprimary mission, along with Henrico an d Union . Van-couver loaded Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/3 at WhiteBeach, Buckner Bay, Okinawa, and three days later, an-chored two miles from the mouth of the Hue River .Precisely at H-hour, tractor landin g vehicles (LVTs) hit th ebeach and were followed by landing craft carrying lan dvehicles and cargo . Convoys of landing craft in companywith Marine fire teams were dispatched to patrol the riverbanks . The operation was more time consuming tha noriginally planned due to the fact that the staging area wa s

*A n "enclave " was the designation given a protected area im-mediately surrounding the major population centers in the ICorps Tactical Zone (ICTZ) of South Vietnam .


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13 miles up the river . Helicopters were also employed byVancouver to airlift supplies and equipment over th edistance . ,

On the first day of the operation, Chaplain Sup-ple landed with the main body of his battalion a tRed Beach 1 near Da Nang. The landing wa swithout incident, and two line companies of the bat-talion were immediately flown by chopper to th ePhu Bai strip to join the advance party and its equip-ment, while the remainder of the BLT assume ddefensive positions in the hills west of Da Nang .Chaplain Supple remembered, "I went immediatel yto Phu Bai where we set up a defense for the airstri pand an adjacent Army Communications Camp .Never before did the Army welcome Marines mor ecordially! " 8

Chaplain Supple's work assumed the classi cM arine chaplain ' s pattern . The compan ies of 2d Bat-talion, 3d Marines lived on the ground in shelter -halves and proceeded to send patrols throughout th earea . It was cold and damp during those early day sand Mass, confession, and worship were held ou tunder the open sky .

Although the two companies of 2/ 3 remained i nPhu Bai only two weeks, the character of Chaplai nSupple 's ministry broadened immediately . Even asthe Phu Bai enclave was bein g secured, he was aske dby the U .S . Army chaplain in Hue to cover Catholi cservice at a remote Special Forces Camp .

My clerk and I flew by TWA or, to use the ter memployed by Army personnel, "Teeney Weeney Airlines, "from Hue to the Special Forces Camp. Our single engineArmy bird landed us in the jungle about forty miles to th ewest at a small fenced and mostly underground camp con-taining seven Army and about one hundred fifty irregularARVN troops . Only one American was Catholic . Webegan Mass with three people . Just after the Consecration ,nearly all the Vietnamese men trooped in and took over .Continuous loud singing of native hymns, taught by thei rFrench Nuns, was impressive . Talk about participation ,and in the vernacular1 9On Easter Sunday, just two weeks after the initia l

landing at Phu Bai, the 3d Battalion, 4th Marine srelieved the two companies of 2d Battalion, 3 dMarines which returned to the parent body in D aNang. Chaplain Lane landed with his battalio nfollowing a trip up the Hue River . From the city ofHue it was transported to the Phu Bai defensiv eperimeter . Heavy sniper fire plagued the convoy an dthe battalion sustained its first Marine killed in ac-tion .

Chaplain Lane was with 3d Battalion, 4th Marine sfor only a mon th as he had 30 days left on his curren ttour of duty when the battalion landed . That monthwas comparatively quiet, although a reconnaissanc eplatoon under the command of First Lieutenan tFrank Reasoner, who was later to be awarded th eMedal of Honor, was routinely engaged in opera-tions against the Viet Cong .

When he arrived to relieve Chaplain Lane at th e3d Battalion, 4th Marines, Lieutenant Leroy E .Muenzler, Jr. (Cumberland Presbyterian), foun dHue-Phu Bai to be a fascinating area. Phu Bai lie sapproximately 50 miles north of Da Nang along theeastern coastlin e . It was strategically w ell chosen as acoastal enclave in that it was capable of defense andsupport by naval force offshore, and provide dmilitary c over for the historically an d psy chologicall yimportant former home of the Annam kings, th ecity of Hue . The terrain presented the white sands o fthe beachline blending into a strip of coastal plai nand then rising sharply westward through dense ,jungle-covered country to the heights of the An-namese Cordillera running northwest to southeast ,parallel to the coastline of South Vietnam's pan -handle .

The impact of 3d Battalion, 4th Marines on Ph uBai and the contribution that Chaplain Muenzle rwas able to make to the Vietnamese of the area ,would prove to be extremely significant . When thechaplain reported for duty the battalion was stil lengaged in searching and clearing the tactical area o fresponsibility (TAOR) assigned to it . The units werewidely scattered and Chaplain Muenzler's time wa sheavily committed to providing religious coveragethroughout the entire area . The battalion TAOR in-cluded several villages whose population totalle dabout 12,000 people . Medical aid and civic actionteams began going into these villages about the firs tof June . In addition, the chaplain's workload in -creased when the battalion commander formed acivic action council and assigned him to direct its ex-panding humanitarian efforts .

Out of the work of this council a practice evolve dwhich was to become supremely important fo rMarine Corps pacification efforts in Vietnam . It wasnoted that the villagers lived in fear of the VietCong, and for fear of reprisal were hesitant to acceptbadly needed self-help material and medical aid of-fered them by the Americans . It was obvious thatthey urgently required protection if they were to


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make the best use of assistance available to them . Acombined action company, charged to formulate aworkable plan of protection for the village Viet-namese, was established . Within a brief period eac hhamlet was assigned a Marine squad . Riflemen werecommitted to live in the hamlet, with and amongthe Vietnamese, to train defensive Popular Forc etroops and become an integral part of a Popula rForce platoon . They also attempted to implementwhat civic action programs they considere dworkable . Chaplain Muenzler noted, "The Marineslearned enough of the Vietnamese language t oengage in simple conversation . The villagers grew t oknow, to trust and to love the Marines through thisclose contact ."' The combined action concept prov-ed to be sound and workable, and soon attracted theattention of General Walt, the III MAF Com-mander, and in time became a major instrumentupon which the Marine Corps pacification effortswere to be based in the following years .

The heaviest burden placed on the chaplain in-volved in a civic action program as extensive as th eone in which Chaplain Muenzler was active, was i nterms of the time required to discharge the respon-sibility . Both transportation difficulties an dnecessary public relations with local dignitaries at eup vast amounts of time . The in creased civic action ,Chaplain Muenzler reported :

. . . meant that the chaplain was in the villages increas-ingly more frequently . I went to Hue and met theArchbishop, who in turn introduced me to the Roma nCatholic Priest living and serving in the area . Everyone wasimmediately receptive and extremely responsive . The sam emethod was employed in meeting Buddhist religiousleaders and laity . The American Counsul in Hue was mor ethan happy to introduce me to Doctor Ba ' , who took me tothe Dom' Pagoda, and to the area Buddhist headquarters .I toured their facilities in the area, including an or-phanage, and saw a number of areas where we could be o fhelp . Even tually sever al projects were comp leted in the or-phanages at Hue, in a refugee camp then bein gestablishing in our TAOR, and in the villages of the area .This involved a great deal of local traveling on the part o fthe chaplain, as did religious coverage of the combined ac-tion squads living in the villages . Every man , however, hadthe opportunity to attend church services at least once aweek . "At this time, midyear 1965, the Phu Bai enclave

produced a remarkable example of chaplain commit-ment and cooperation. It was nothing dramatic likea life-saving effort or dangerous rescue, simply th eday-by-day dedication to outstanding goals . Lieu -

tenant Paul E . Roswog (Roman Catholic) was com-pleting his tour with the 3d Marine Division o nOkinawa . In view of the rising need for additiona lchaplains in Vietn am, he offered to use two weeks o fthe leave he had expected to take en route to duty a tthe Naval Station, Key West, Florida, to provide ad-ditional Catholic coverage in the I Corps . Divisio nChaplain Jones agreed and made the appropriat erecommendation to the G-1 section . In view of th eneeds he saw upon arrival in Phu Bai where he join-ed Chaplain Muenzler, Chaplain Roswog requeste da three-month extension and eventually a second .His two-week tenure in Vietnam lasted from July toNovember !

That there was profound need for Chaplai nRoswog in Phu Bai is amply demonstrated by a re -counting of the units that he, in conjunction wit hChaplain Muenzler, served in the TAOR . Theseunits included the 3d Battalion, 4th Marines with at-tached tank, antitank, reconnaissance, engineering ,and truck platoons; Company A, 3d Medical Bat-talion ; Force Logistics Support Un it 2 ; four batteriesof the 2d and 4th Battalions, 12th Marines (Ar-tillery) ; and Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron161 (HMM-161) of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing .Also included within the Marine camp perimete rwere the Hue civilian air terminal, the U .S . ArmyEighth Radio Research Unit (RRU-8), an ARVN ar-tillery regiment, and the Dong Da ARVN Basi cTraining Camp .

The units to which Chaplains Muenzler an dRoswog traveled each day were located within a 1'hmile radius of the center of the compound . C haplainRoswog reported, however, that the average jee pmileage for a day on which he did not leave th eperimeter was 30 miles . He was quartered in thefield hospital to facilitate care of the wounded and t oafford more efficient unit coverage which he share dwith Chaplain Muenzler . Each chaplain wa savailable at all times for religious counseling an dministrations to the troops throughout the area . As apractical matter, however, Chaplain Muenzle rassumed responsibility for the units on one side o fthe highway which divided the compound, an dChaplain Roswog covered the others . ChaplainRoswog served the field hospital and the medica lbattalion, the artillery units, and the helicopte rsquadron . Chaplain Muenzler was available to th einfantry company, the units attached to reinforce th ebattalion, and the detached support platoons . While


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(Roman Catholic), Lieutenant Commander WilliamA . Lane, and Lieutenant Commander George S .Thilking (United Churches of Christ), remainingwith their units through a training period onOkinawa and eventually landing over the sands ofChu Lai .

Chaplain Byrnes landed with Lieutenant Colone lJoseph R . " Bull" Fisher in the first wave of b oats tha tcarried their battalion to the shore . The sand was softand marching was difficult. "Had it not been for theLVT ' s, tank and other vehicles, most of the me nwould have been marching into the night just t oreach the Command Post . It was quite an experiencefor all of us . There were no lights, no fires, no noise .We ate cold C rations and remained on the alert . " 1 5

Since Chaplain Byrnes, with the 2d Battalion, 4t hMarines was the only Catholic Chaplain ashore a tChu Lai, he set about coordinating his religiou sministry with Chaplain Thilking with the 1st Bat-talion, 4 th M arines positioned several miles away bu tabout equal distance from the beach, and the 4t hMarines Regimental Command Post which wa sstrategically deployed between them and closer tothe beach for security. This positioning was for-tunate at the outset of the enclave since it allowe dboth chaplains to cover all units with relative ease .Even so, Chaplain Thilking who rotated out of coun-try in just 33 days, his tour with the brigade ended ,recorded 35 helicopter flights and countless trips b yjeep and foot in the discharge of his ministry .

Chaplain Thilking noted, as did Chaplain Byrnes ,that worship services at Chu L ai were first held un de rthe open sky . In the midst of heavily wooded groun din the 1st Battalion area, Chaplain Thilking found aconfiguration of five trees with arching limbs form-ing a natural, open-air cathedral . He pointed out th elocation for his commanding officer Lieutenant Col-onel Harold D . Fredericks . That evening at the of-ficers' meeting the colonel announced that all of-ficers and staff NCOs who were available were t omeet the chaplain under the trees with the ap-propriate instruments to clear away the dense under -brush . On Saturday morning a sizable grou pprepared the area and on Sunday, 16 May, the 1s tBattalion chapel was used for both Protestant an dC atholic worship services . 1 6

The initial mission for the Regimental Landin gTeam (RLT) 4 was the protection of the area withi nwhich the projected airstrip was to be built . It was amonumental task, trying to construct a stable strip

on the huge expanse of shifting sand . Joining the 1stand 2d Bat talion s, 4 th M arin es in RLT 4 were the 3 dBattalion, 3d Marines with Lieutenant CommanderEugene M . Smith (Presbyterian Church in theUnited States) as Chaplain, and Naval Mobile Con-struction Battalion 10 (NMCB-10), the unit whic hwould actually build the strip . Later Chu Lai wouldbe the home of the 1st and 3d Battalions, 7thMarines ; 3d Shore Party Battalion, Naval BeachGroup, supported by the Force Logistic Supply Unit ;companies of the 3d Reconnaissance Battalion ; andCompany A, 3d Tank Battalion . But for now therewas RLT 4, the airstrip to be built, and the Seabee swere ordered to do iton the double .

The S eabees ArriveOn 7 May 1965, in coordination with the am-phibious landing of RLT 4 at Chu Lai, the firs tSeabee battalion to make an amphibious landing in -to a shooting conflict since World War II, move dacross the beach . Lieutenant George M. Sheldon(Episcopal), battalion chaplain of Naval Mobil eConstruction Battalion 10, became the first Seabe echaplain to enter South Vietnam .

Chaplain Sheldon reported that the Seabees too ktheir "C an Do" motto very seriously . In keeping wit hthe decision to establish shoreline defense enclave swhich had the capability of air support and vertica lenvelopment, NMCB-10 threw itself into the con-struction of a modern, jet-capable airstrip an dhelicopter pad, on the sandy beachfront . The Ch uLai airfield developed rapidly into the projecte d8,000-foot runway with taxiways and suppor tfacilities capable of accommodating two jet fighte rsquadrons of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, the nslated for immediate in-country deployment . Inrecord time, 29 days later, the strip was opened fo rlimited air operations and received the first planes o fMAG-12 . When General Krulak notified hi ssuperiors in Washington of the operational capabili-ty of the airstrip in so short time, he received a on eword message in reply, " incredible!"'7

Since chaplains were providing a kind of com-plementary, cooperative religious coverage acros sorganizational lines, MCB-10's chaplains regularl ycared for Company B, 3d Medical Battalion, an dprovided Protestant coverage for the hospital .Cove rage there included a crisis ministry to casualtie sand the conduct of religious services appropriate t othe need of patients, medical officers, and corps-


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men . In return catholic chaplains attached to nearbyMarine units brought the ministry of their church t othe Seabees .

Although the location and situation at Chu La inever lent themselves to extensive people-to-peopleprojects, Chaplains Sheldon of NCMB-10 and Smit hof the 3d Battalion, 3d Marines cooperated inbenefiting an orphanage in Quang Ngai and refugeecamp sponsored by the Roman Catholic Churc hsouth of the perimeter . Both of these efforts re-quired the passage over roads controlled by the Vie tCong at the time, and necessitated the use of a con-voy of trucks from the 3d Battalion, 3d Marineswhen materials were delivered . NMCB-10 also dugsurface wells and drainage ditches and did extensiv econstruction work for the Chu Lai New Life Hamlet ,a Vietnamese relocation effort .

With the remarkable buildup of Marine battalion sand support units, the need for new construction wa skeenly felt and the commitment of Mobile Construc-tion Battalions to Vietnam continued . On 26 Ma y1965, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 arrive dat Da Nang to begin construction of cantonments fo rthe field hospital of the 3d Medical Battalion . Addi-tional projects included cantonments for the 1s tMarine Aircraft Wing headquarters, lately arrived incountry, and for a permanent Seabee camp fromwhich the new Seabee battalion could proceed withits part of 150 million dollars worth of constructio nplanned for Vietnam during 1965 .

Lieutenant Edward E. Jayne (United Methodist )accompanied the battalion of 20 Civil Enginee rCorps officers and 600 professional con struction m e nashore . He wrote :

Following a full eight-month deployment on the islandof Guam, MCB Three was ordered to execute a tota lmountout operation to Da Nang, South Vietnam . Thismovement was one of the first full scale Seabee mount-ou toperations utilizing both air and sea services since Worl dWar II . Approximately thirty C-130 aircraft were used totransport the advance party to Da Nang for the purpose o fselecting a site for MCB Three 's base camp and initiatingconstruction . The main body of the battalion departe dGuam on the LSD 's Point Defiance and Belle Grove an dthe USS Talledega .1 8

For the first two months MCB-3 ' s Sunday worshipservices were conducted in the messhall, which wa sthe only early building of sufficient size to accom-modate the worshippers . The Seabees chaplai nusually enjoyed exceptional attendance at worship

due to the professional closeness of the members o fthe battalion and the practice of keeping the entir ebattalion quarters within the perimeter of the cam pas much as possible . The camps thus tended t obecome more permanent as did the daily pattern o fthe Seabees . Chaplain Jayne conducted the Protes-tant services and the C atholic M asses were covered b ythe chaplain from the 2d Battalion, 3d Marines ,Lieutenant Edwin V. Bohula . In keeping with th epractice of . crossing unit lines to provide broaderreligious coverage, Chaplain Jayne offered his ser-vices to the Force Logistic Support Group (FLSG) ,which was w ithout a chaplain . For three months, un-til the first unit chaplain was assigned to FLSG ,Chaplain Jay n e con ducted worship services, a weekl yBible study, and daily counseling sessions . He alsogave professional assistance to the 7th Engineer Bat-talion which was without a chaplain during the earl ymonths of the buildup of the Marine force .

Chaplain ministry to a Seabee battalion was muchlike that which was offered the men of the U .S .Marine Corps, but it did differ in one major respect .A Seabee was ordered to spend a number of years at-tached to one unit, and he deployed with that uni tand not as an individual . The result was that aSeabee could deploy two or three times during hi syears with a certain unit ; regardless of how manymonths he'd already spent away from his family .Before and during Vietnam, Seabee deployment susually resulted in the constructionman's being withhis family only four or five months a year, for a suc-cession of years . This ' often strained marital ties andcreated personnel problems with which the chaplai nhad to cope . The recurrence of a familiar 'pattern offamily problems over the years demonstrated th eneed for a workable system of communication be-tween the deployed Seabee and his family . Lack ofcommunication had proven to be a major cause ofdeficient relationships in the past . Actin g as persona lrepresentative of his deployed counterpart, th echaplain at the Construction Battalion Center in theU .S ., visited and counseled with the families a thome. Voluminous correspondence, both detaile dand confidential, equipped the Center chaplain t ofunction as a trusted and objective third party t osmooth rough edges of strained family relationships .

Intimate knowledge of the 600 men of his bat-talion which the chaplain derived from extende ddeployments with them, coupled with his long -range facility in dealing with family problems, serv-


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ed to enrich the chaplain ' s religious influence uponthe personal lives of individual constructionmen . I talso served to enhan ce an d maintain the high level o funit morale consistently apparent among the Navy' sSeabees .

MAG-12 at Chu LaiOn 22 May 1965, two weeks after the Seabees, th e

4th Marines and part of MAG-13 landed at Chu Lai ,an d two weeks before the airstrip was ready to receiv ethe first jet aircraft, the first of two Marine aircraftwing chaplains arrived for duty . He was LieutenantRichard A . Long (Roman Catholic) attached t oMAG-12 . Chaplain Long moved into Chu Lai wit hthe group 's Marine air base squadron sent to set u phousekeeping support facilities for the jet fighters .

The squadron had left Iwakuni, Japan on 16 Ma yfor the six-day passage to Vietnam by LST . Th echaplain found the voyage to be profitable as h eemployed the time as he could for ministry . Eac hmorning the working day began with a prayer ove rthe ship's loudspeaker system . He wrote :

I believe the men enjoyed beginning the day with aprayer, and as I looked over the deck from the bridge, Icould see that the men stood with heads bowed in areverent attitude. The captain offered me a compartmen twhere I spent the morning hours counseling with men whowished to see me in private . Then at 1130 I said Mass onthe forward mess deck . Mass was well attended each day .Afternoons were spent moving about the ship, giving th emen an opportunity to talk with the chaplain in an infor-mal atmosphere . By the time we were ready to land inVietnam I had met more men and had come to know the mbetter than I had in four months at Iwakuni . Familiarity inits right perspective breeds, not contempt, bu tconfidence .' 9When the LST beached at Chu Lai, Chaplai n

Long and the Marines of his unit were met by an ad-vance party of MAG-12 who had left Iwakuni tw oweeks earlier . A small compound was alreadyestablished but it did not admit of any office space ,or an y space large en ough to hold services . The formof ministry adopted by Chaplain Long, therefore ,was that time-honored elemental methodologyknown as walking and talking . He recalled :

For two weeks I spent the entire day from 1500 to 190 0walking . My office became the entire MAG enclave, andservices were held wherever a cool spot could be found . Iwalked from one end of the proposed airstrip to the other ,and from the beach to the sand dunes west of the strip . Imerely made my presence known to the men working

under the hot sun sometimes offering a canteen to asweating man, sometimes accepting a canteen from aMarine who was generous enough to offer it . At first th emen would merely return the greeting I gave them ; late rthey w ould ask if I had a few minutes, an d we would sit o na packaging box or in the sand while he unloaded his min dof a problem that was bothering him . Before long itbecame customary to do most of my coun seling this way . I fI missed a particular spot, the following day the me nwould comment on my absence ."

Two weeks after Chaplain Long's arrival in Ch uLai, Lieutenan t Charles L . Reiter (United Methodist )reported as the group's Protestant chaplain . Whenhe arrived the temporary compound was completed ,but conditions were still Spartan and space was at apremium . Havin g to share quarters with six other of-ficers, the two chaplains repeatedly advised futur eplanners to include an all-purpose tent wit hchaplain 's mount-out gear to facilitate worship are aand counselin g privacy . This, they contended, coul dusually be done at least with the wing groups as theirstability was more predictable than was that of th einfantry battalions .

The experience of beginning a ministry with vir-tually nothing, in a place that was, to all purposes ,"nowhere," was frightening to Chaplain Reiter, an doccasioned his reflections concerning the need fo rthe chaplain to be the embodiment of his faith an dnot merely the carrier of the external accoutrement sof it . Once the chaplain had proven his commitmentto his unit and its men, he said, "He need no t. . .give a testimon y ; in fact he need n ot say an y thin gat all . The chaplain's presence is a very amelioratin ginfluence . " 2 1

Chaplain Organization at Da NangAlthough this period was characterized by confu-

sion and rapid change in all the enclaves, it was i nthe Da Nang area that it was felt most seriously . Un-til the arrival of C haplain Jones as Force C haplain II IMAF, the burden fell most significantly on Chaplai nO'Connor, the senior and supervisory chaplain wh ohad the responsibility for coordination of the NavyChaplain Corps ministry throughout the entire ICorps Tactical Zone which included the thre eenclaves and all isolated units . In the relatively slo wpaced beginning of the Marine commitment to com-bat, chaplains pooled their efforts and wen tanywhere and everywhere, wherever there wer etroops and whenever they were needed . With the ar-rival of more chaplains, it was obvious that specific


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Photo courtesy of Chaplain H . F . Leck yChaplain O ' Connor offers Mass in the Cathedral at Da Nang on Memorial Day, 1965 .responsibilities had to be assigned and a comprehen-sive concept of organization established .Since March, battalions had operated in -dependently of their parent regiments, an dsometimes, when operating in the vicinity of anothe rregimental command post, were attached to it fo rpurposes of operational coordination . Describingorganizational conditions as he saw them, Chaplai nO'Connor said :

A regiment has become a "sometime thing ." Element sof one regiment may be in three different enclaves. The ti-tle of regimental chaplain has substantially les ssignificance . It is useless to think of a regimental chaplai nas a coordinator of battalion chaplain activities . On th eother hand the concept of sector or area coordinators i sdeveloping . 2 2

Because organizational structures and condition swere as Chaplain O'Connor described them, h emade a continuing effort to establish a "pool" ofchaplains, responsible directly to the divisio nchaplain. It was believed that only thus coul dmobility and flexibility be achieved to meet thehighly fluctuating needs of the expanding war . Thepool concept was realized and proved feasible . Thedivision chaplain was in a position to rotat echaplains among units ; to broaden their professiona lexperience ; to relieve a chaplain of one faith by achaplain of another, periodically, in order t oestablish equity for all faiths ; to hold chaplains ofvarious faiths available to be dispatched to an area o ra unit where a sudden need had arisen ; to "ease" achaplain out of a difficult command relationship,


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where, because of personalities, neither the chaplai nnor the commander was profiting, though each ma yhave been quite sincere; to position chaplains in ac-cordance with their talents and, perhaps with thei rdesires, as far as possible .Supporting this concept still further, Chaplai nO'Connor reported :

It should be noted in this regard that many curren t(Marine) Tables of Organization are chaotic . Units o fseveral thousand persons, e .g ., Force Logistics SupportGroup, may have no chaplain in the T.O . An entirely newconcept, a Base Defense Group of 1,000 men drawn fromall units except infantry to release the latter for forwardlines, has no chaplain in its T .O . The old deep-rooted con-viction that a specific chaplain must stay with his battalionbecause of esprit, knowing the men, etc ., must bedramatically revised because transplacement battalions arebeing fragmented . Every week or two companies aredetached from their original /battalions and attached toothers ; battalions will no longer transplace as battalions ,but on individual orders and on a draft basis .'

While it is true that after the initial period o ffragmentation and confusion experienced by th eMarine units involved in the rapid buildup there wa sa return to the more formal and traditional organiza-tional relationships, many of the moves made accor-ding to the insight of the division chaplain were re-tained as highly profitable concepts . The ability ofthe division chaplain to move chaplains from unit t oun it as the need was perce ived remain ed as establish-ed by Chaplain O'Connor . The concept of areacoverage continued in effect for years to come, an din some instances was employed by the Chaplai nCorps in other parts of the world . The single-unit ,single-chaplain idea did not die, however, and apreponderance of chaplain after-tour reports spea klongingly, nostalgically, and proudly of "my men . "The traditional, formalized command relationship swere married to the area coverage and mission -oriented need in a most stable way .

In June Chaplain Jones, Division Chaplain, 3dMarine Division (Rear), arrived in Da Nang with hi sheadquarters command groups . Chaplain Jones hadbeen among the senior staff officers who remaine dwith the division's rear echelon on Okinawa to pro -vide for a planned and orderly transition of person-nel and equipment to Vietnam as required . On 1 5June, the decision was made that the divisionchaplain transfer his headquarters to the Da Nangenclave .

Chaplain Jones reported :

Shortly after I arrived in Da Nang, General Lewis Walt ,CG III MAF, was made Commander of the I Corps Area .My area of cognizance as staff chaplain for Commander, ICorps, included Wing, Division and Construction Bat-talion Chaplains plus two Army and three Air Forc eChaplains . Since General Walt was responsible to Genera lWilliam Westmoreland for coordination of all Unite dStates M ilitary ac tivities in the I Corps ar ea, it was stron gl yrecommended that, as his advisor on matters of religion, Ibe assigned to his III Marine Amphibious Force Staff a sForce Chaplain . The recommendation was approved . . . .The new assignm ent as Force Chaplain, III MAF placed m ein a better position to lend direction and purpose to al lreligious activities in the area . With this responsibilitycame the authority to reassign chaplains to units or ac-tivities to assure full religious coverage .'"

The first broad policy implemented by the ne wforce chaplain related to the chaplain ' s image as anon-combatant . To preserve that image, pursuant t othe provisions of the Geneva Agreements on militarychaplains, he set forth a broad prohibition againstchaplains carrying any kind of defensive weapons .Each chaplain, was given the option to comply wit hthe policy or be transferred to Okinawa for the re-mainder of his tour . Every chaplain complied wit hthe directive .

Chaplain Jones ' secon d policy related to the provi-sions of instruction in the mores and folkways of theVietnamese people for every chaplain in country .Neither the substantive content of the instructio nnor the importance attached to its disseminatio nwere new . The first Shufly chaplains had engagedthe services of distinguished Christian missionar ypersonnel to instruct both chaplains and newly arriv-i ng Marines . The real innovation was to be found i nthe extension of such instruction without exceptio nto every chaplain, with the intention that he woul dfurther disseminate the information to personnel o fhis unit . Similar efforts based on more careful an dcomprehensive academic research, and broader i nscope, were then being implemented by FM FPac an dthe Chief of Chaplains in Washington . Never-theless, Chaplain Jones' calling upon local mis-sionaries to share their knowledge and insights int otypical Vietnamese thinking and to enhance inter -cultural understanding and respect represented asignificant contribution to Marine Corps an dChaplain Corps efforts in Vietnam .

The third major policy consideration to which th eforce chaplain addressed himself related to th eestablishment of independent unit, division, and


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Department of Defense (USMC) Photo A18711 8Stacks of C-ration cartons serve as both seating and altar for the Protestant service con -ducted by Chaplain Lt L . L . Ahrnsbrak for members of the 3d Platoon, Company G, 2 dBattalion, 3d Marines, at a cleared and sandbagged position on a steep hillside in 1966 .


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Department of Defense (USMC) Photo A 18467 3Roman Catholic Chaplain LCdrJ. P. Byrnes conducts tentside Mass for men of the 2dBattalion, 4th Marines, their weapons and gear left aside, at the unit's base in Jun e1965 . Father Byrnes, in church robes, makes use of a high folding table for the altar .


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CHAPTER 3Growing and Responding (July-September 1965 )

Civic Action Assumes Greater Importance Arrivals and AdjustmentsThe Arrival of the 1st Marin eAircraft Wing The Seabees Continue Their Buildup

On 1 June 1965 10 chaplains were serving Marine sand Seabees in Da Nang . Chaplains Lecky andToland were attached to MAG-16 ; ChaplainsO'Connor, Walker, Running, Craven, Vernon, andBohula were on duty with battalions of the 3 dMarine Division and the field hospital . ChaplainJayne was the only Seabee chaplain in the area . Bythe end of September, however, a total of 32 wer elocated in Da Nang, for a net increase of 22 or on enew arrival every six days . At the same time th enumber of Marine units in the enclave also increas-ed . Thousands of M arines arrived each week ; the tac-tical area of responsibility was rapidly expanding an dnew facilities were feverishly construct

chaplains with marines in vietnam 1962-1971

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