Book Description

From the Preface to Volume 2 - This is the second volume of the narrative History of the Chaplain Corps, United States Navy. Volume I, published in 1949, presents an account of the development of the Corps and of the progress of religion in the Navy from the days of the Revolutionary War to the declaration of a state of national emergency on 8 September 1939. Consideration is therein given to the development and influence of naval regulations, customs, and traditions as they affect the work of Navy chaplains. Light is thrown on such subjects as the social and moral conditions under which chaplains worked and their relations with officers and enlisted men. The volume outlines the problems and difficulties chaplains faced and some of their achievements, and also deals with such subjects as the chaplain's pay, rank, and uniform. Kindred topics of interest to chaplains, as their collateral duties, the church pennant, and the rise of the Reserve organizations, are also covered. A knowledge of this history will be helpful in understanding and appreciating the status of the Corps on the eve of World War II and of its contribution during that great conflict. Included in volume I is an appendix containing the names of 471 chaplains who saw duty in the Navy at some time prior to 8 September 1939. An appendix to the present volume includes the additional names of 2,882 accessions to the Corps from 8 September 1939 to 31 December 1945. This makes a grand total of 3,353 chaplains, whose biographical and service-record sketches appeared as a Government publication in 1948 under the title United States Navy Chaplains, 1778-1945. The present volume continues the narrative history of the Chaplain Corps from 8 September 1939 to the spring of 1949. It includes, therefore, the period of preparation leading up to Pearl Harbor and the story of demobilization following the cessation of hostilities in August 1945. A questionnaire requesting information from the chaplains regarding their work and experiences was included in the Navy Department Semi-Monthly Bulletin of 14 November 1944. About 1,300 replies, out of approximately 2,300 chaplains then on duty, were received. These answers furnished valuable source material in the preparation of this volume.