THE BUREAU of NAVAL PERSONNEL CAREER PUBLICATION L I

I' THE BUREAU OF NAVAL PERSONNEL CAREER PUBLICATION L i- DECEMBER 1968 /Ii I~ I i '. i DECEMBER 1968 NUMBERNav-Pers-0 623 VICE ADMIRAL CHARLES K. DUNCAN, USN TheChief of Naval Personnel REAR ADMIRAL M. F. WEISNER, USN TheDeputy Chief of Naval Personnel TheBureau of Nav- a% CAPTAIN H. W. HALL, JR., USN Publication,is Dublished monthlv bv the :*:.it AssistantChief for Morale Services TABLE OF CONTENTS Features Navymen of Good Will: A Tribute tothe Chaplains .............................. 2 USS OCallahan: Namesake of Medal of Honor Winner ........................ 4 HelpingHands-I: Navy Team Rescue.................................................... 8 HelpingHands-ll: Corpsman inKorea .................................................. 9 &Hollywood, Navy Style-It's at NPC........................................................ 4la/ New Developments in the Exploration of Inner Space ............................ 16 USS Sacramento: One-Stop Shopping Center .......................................... 20 YRBM 17: Self-contained Fix-It Shop ...................................................... 25 LPH 10 Does Double Duty in WestPac...................................................... 26 Changes in the Fleet: Hail and Farewell .................................................. 28 HS 8 Says Good-By-"Roger, and Out" .................................................. 31 OlympicMedalists: Barrett, Hough, Robinson and Wrightson ................ 32 Departments Today's Navy .......................................................................................... 34 Letters to the Editor .................................................................................. 38 Servicescope: News of Other Services .................................................... 42 Bulletin Board Good Duty Comes by the Yard at Puget Sound ...................................... 44 Tests Try Out Self-Scoring Answers .......................................................... 46 New NEDEP Program Offers College, Commission .................................. 47 Aeronautical Maintenance Duty Officer Specialty .................................. 48 Now Is the Time to Check on Service Insurance ...................................... 50 Special Roundup Courses in Damage Control and Firefighting.......................................... 52 TaffrailTalk .................................................................... 64 John A. Oudine, Editor Associate Editors G. VernBlasdell, News DonAddor, Layout & Art AnnHanabury, Research GeraldWolff, Reserve 0 AT LEFT: ON CAMERA-TheUnited States Navy Band and its Sea Chanters (rt.) dressed rin 1820 Navyuniforms perform before the cameras at Novel Photographic Center, NS, Washington, D.C. NavyBand leader LCDR Anthony A. Mitchell(left) leadsthe group.- -Photo by Ken Duggan . 0 FRONTCOVER: DECKED-OUT DECKS-Navymen, like their counterparts ashore, decorate theirhomes during the Christmas season, and the result is ablaze of colorfrom the masts andrailings,of Navy ships throughout the world. USS King (DLG 10) andUSS Dahlgren (DLG 12) areshown displaying their season's greetings while tied to thepier. Cover picture wassupplied by Photographic Laboratory, U.S. Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Va. chaplainsever committed to one rier and cruiser; destroyertypes and On anotheroccasion, Chaplain combatarea. This means that virtu- ships of the amphibious, service and Leckylanded at Ba Gia theday af- ally every Navyman and Marine who mine forces are visited regularly un- ter the outpost had been overrun by serves “in country”has access todera the circuit rider program. guerrillas. Ignoring the enemy fire, chaplain. he administered he chaplain. a last rites over pilot YPICAL OF MANY chaplainswho and then began first aidtreatment The chap1ain is a figure Tserve in Vietnam is LCDRHugh for others who had henhit. on the battlefield andoften can be F. Lecky, who, every chancehe got, Seen hitching rides by went on airbgrnemedical evacuation At this point, an enemy round exploded near the chaplain and shrap- jeep Or truck* He accompaniesMa- missions. Heflew more than150 rine battalions into combat;he pro- helicopter missions andbecame ne1 tore into his leg. Theheli-padre vides theopportunity for formalwor- known as ‘‘He1i-padre.” pausedonly long enough to cover his woundwith a battle dressing, and he is nearby to ‘Omfort the ChaplainLecky Once snatcheda wounded and dying; he understands refugee child from the arms of a VC thenlimped from manto man to theconfused, the depressed and the guerrilla who was usingthe child to continue his first aidtreatments. lonely. grenades. hand two conceal The Offshore,chaplains serve with “heli-padre”pushed the VC away HE BRONZE STAR Medalawarded every type command. At least one andran with the childto safety in T to LT Nathan 0. Loesch of River chaplain is assigned to eachcar- his helicopter. Assault Flotilla Onefurther symbo- This summer saw the commis- carrier duringthe war, Franklin sioning of uss O’Callahan (DE launchedher fighters for sweeps O’Culluhun: 1051) at Boston, Mass. The ship is againstHonshu and shipping in now based at San Diego, Calif. Kobe harbor. A single enemy plane Numesuke O’Callahan commemorates a mem- swoopeddown through clouda ber of the Navy Chaplain Corps cove; anddropped iwo armor- Chupluin whoreceised the nation’s highest piercingbombs. Of award for extraordinary heroism The first bomb struck Franklin’s “. at the risk of his life, above flight deck centerline. It penetrated Awurded and beyond the call of duty.” tothe hangar deck and exploded, The Medal of Honor was award- demolishing the forwardelevator The Medul edto the late CAPT Joseph T. andcombat information and air O’Callahan,a Catholic priest, for plot centers. Firespread through heroismon board the carrier uss the second and third decks, sweep- Of Honor Franklin (CV 13) duringWorld ingamong parked andarmed War 11. planes. Everyone in thatpart of Enemybombs hadturned the the hangar deck was killed. ship into what was described as a The secondbomb struck the “raginginferno of exploding gas flight deck aft, tearing through two tanksand ammunition.” Franklin decks and fanning fires which trig- was so severely damaged that few gered ammunition, bombs androck- who saw her thought she could be ets. Explosions blew the after saved.Only thefirefighting and elevator upand to one side. damagecontrol efforts of hersur- Almost immediately, theentire vivors pulledher through. Here’s ship was enveloped in flamesand what happened: heavy blacksmoke. On19 Mar1945, after maneu- Franklin’s commanding officer, vering closer to the Japanese main- CAPT L. H.Gehres, was knocked landthan had any other U. S. down on the bridge by the first ex- plosion. He struggledto his feet Chaplain’s Namesake Goes to Sea. and ordered full right rudder, hop- ing the wind on the port side would keep the flames away from planes on the after flight deck. Making his way inboard, the captain saw that the after part of the ship alsowas on fire. He ordered the carrier toport, bringing the windto thestarboard beam, and slowed to two-thirds. Bombs in the planes then began a long series of violent explosions. The Task Force commander advised CAPTGehres to issue the order “Prepare to AbandonShip,” but 4 ALL HANDS lizes the type of action the chaplain facestoday. On 4 Apr 1968, Chaplain Loesch was on board a heavily armored assault monitor, moving with some 20 other craft and a battalion of Army infantrymen in the Mekong Delta. The boats were easing up the nar- row Ba Lai River whenthe VC open- ed fire with rockets, recoilless rifles, automatic weapons and small arms. Two Navymen were killed instantly and 23 otherswere wounded. Chaplain Loesch‘s boat, third in the column, took a rocket hit in the bow and was rakedwith machine gun fire, butthe twolead assault support patrol boats were hit much theCO replied thathe thought DAYS OF SAIL-Chaplain of early Navy holds service topside. Franklin could be saved. As soon as somemeasure of communicationwas regained (all radiocommunication had been lost), CAPT Gehres directed all but key officers andmen to abandon ship. Manytook tothe water immediately; others were blown over the side ordriven overboard by fire. Destroyerswhich hadbeen following the carrier picked up sur- vivors. Chaplain OCallahan,then a lieutenant commander, was one of manyheroes among 106 officers and 604 enlisted menwho volun- teered to remainon board. His Medal of Honor citation stated thathe “. calmlybraved the perilous barriers of flame and twist- edmetal; groped his waythrough smoke-filled corridorsto theopen flight deck andinto the midst of DURING WW Il-Cruisermen attend religious service on fanta’il. violently exploding bombs. “He organized and led firefighting crews into the blazing inferno, directed the jettisoning of live ammunition, andmanned a hose to cool hot, armedbombs.” Nearlythousanda men were killed orwounded, but Franklin survivedand Chaplain O’Callahan was creditedwith a major rolein saving the ship. CAPT Gehres later described the chaplain as “the bravest man I ever saw.” On 23 Jan 1946, President Harry S. Truman presented Chap- lain O’Callahan with the Medal of Honor. It was the first (and at this writingthe only) time in the his- tory of theArmed Forces thata military chaplain had received the nation’s highest decoration. TIME OUT-Marines take time for worship during Korean conflict. DECEMBER 1968 5 NAVY CATHOLIC CHAPLAINholds Mass while at sea. was installed aboard Navy ships. More formalized training for the Today’s chaplainsare no less in-

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