The Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association

ly they would have to retreat. Meanwhile, the
foul weather prevented any hope of air support.
By mid-afternoon, after 7 tortuous and
valiant hours of combat, with no relief in
sight, communications knocked out, and
ammunition nearly gone, Smith decided to
lead his remaining men out. The few undamaged
vehicles were used to transport some of
the wounded. Chaplain Hudson and others
walked and ran assisting other wounded, but
many of the severely injured and all of the
dead had to be abandoned.
Hudson’s group rushed south through the
night and most of the next clay attempting to
make contact with the forward clement of the
34th Regiment, scheduled to augment them.
They waded streams and rice paddies,
climbed hills, sloshed through rain and mud,
resting only 5 or 10 minutes each hour.
Hudson and the doctor circulated among the
bedraggled men trying to instill some
courage and hope. “Many prayers, both audible
and silent, we uttered that night.”
Sections of the retreating unit met at various
points and it became clear that only about
250 of them had escaped. When they finally
met the 34th, more vehicles were secured.
“We were never so glad to see those men and
have rides as on that day,” said Hudson.
Among the early arrivals in the 34th
Regiment was Chaplain Elwood L. Temple,
Presbyterian USA. Arriving with the rest of
the 21st Regiment were Chaplains John L.
Gilman, Roman Catholic, and Gerhardt W.
Hyatt, Missouri Synod Lutheran. Hyatt, a
native of Saskatchewan, Canada, who served
as a transport chaplain at the end of World
War II, became the Army’s Chief of
Chaplains more than 20 years later.
These first few men, leading the long line
of Army chaplains who were to serve in
Korea, encountered the enemy and faced
death many more times in the months that
followed. After a brief rest and first aid for
his blistered and swollen feet, Hudson was
returned to 13 months of combat. “I think
some of the best times were under extreme
disadvantages like these,” he said. “I didn’t
have to hold services then – but I wanted to.
The men and officers knew this. They appreciated
it and came in large numbers.”
Beginning with Hudson, many chaplains
felt compelled to instruct their men regarding
the ideological conflict. “I was always glad
of the opportunity to explain the workings
and effects of Communism as compared to
the life and blessings of being an American,”
he later wrote. “We saw all the horrors of war
and misery caused by Communism. I am still
glad God called me to serve our men in
Korea. I would do it again.”
Rendering the
Highest Devotion
General Dean did his best to slow the
Communist advance while other U.S. and
U.N. forces were being readied for shipment
to Korea. He sent one unit after another to
meet the enemy in their persistent drive
south. Meanwhile, responding to a U.N.
request, President Truman appointed General
MacArthur Commander in Chief of the
United Nations Command. “Dean’s Delay,”
as it was called, was nearly suicidal. Every
effort was met by seemingly endless streams
of the NKA. One of the first heavy battles
raged for 5 days (16-20 July 1950) near
Taejon and the Kum River. Among the men
involved were those of the 19th Infantry
Regiment. Herman G. Felhoelter, Roman
Catholic, was one of their chaplains. He had
written his mother 4 days earlier:
Don’t worry Mother. God’s will be done.
I feel so good to know the power of your
prayers accompanying me. I am not comfortable
in Korea (that is impossible here) but I
am happy in the thought that I can help some
souls who need help. Keep your prayers
going upward.
The chaplain convinced a medical officer
to leave with the others while he remained
behind with the wounded. Several minutes
later from a distance, a sergeant turned and
stared through binoculars at the pitiful group
they had left behind. He watched in unbelief
as enemy soldiers overcame the suffering
men and murdered them all — including the
chaplain praying over them. Only 11 days
after American soldiers had entered the fight,
the first Army chaplain lay dead on the battlefield.
The next day would have been
Herman Felhoelter’s 37th Birthday.
Posthumously he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross.
Chaplain Herman G. Felhoelter, Roman
Catholic, lost his life along with the wounded
with whom he stayed as their unit was
overrun. By the time Felhoelter’s group
reached the top of the hill, it was obvious
they could not continue carrying the injured
and still escape the advancing North
Koreans.
The bloody battle for Taejon ended on 20
July with North Korean forces attacking the
24th Division on three sidles and invading
the city. Even General Dean, injured and separated
from his
men, was eventually
captured and subsequently
spent
nearly 3 years in a
Chaplain Felhoelter
North Korean
prison camp. His
division was eventually
relieved by
the arriving 25th
Infantry and 1st
Cavalry Divisions.
A few days later, the
24th, supplemented with raw recruits and
commanded by General Church, moved to
the southwest to meet a sweeping move
along the coast by an NKA division.
During the fighting south of Taejon and
along the southwest perimeter, Chaplains
Carrol G. Chaphe, Methodist, and Edward S.
Dorsey, Roman Catholic, were cut off from
their units — a harrowing experience
endured by many chaplains during the course
of the War. It took Chaphe 3 days and Dorsey
4 days to get back to friendly ground.
Chaplain Chaphe, a veteran of World War II,
was wounded in the course of one battle.
“We were slapped by one wing of the Red
drive on Chinju,” he said from his hospital
bed in Tokyo. “Our casualties were heavier
than the medics could handle, but they kept
working and I gave them a hand…. A light
mortar dropped in ten feet from me, and
they’re still picking out the metal. When the
medics repair this leg I’m going right back to
those boys.
Also wounded was Chaplain Arthur E.
Mills, Advent Christian, with the 8th
Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division. He
had overheard the remark of an officer that a
group of wounded might have to be abandoned
on the field as the unit withdrew from
a heavy assault. Mills, who had served in
World War II, quickly responded: “This is the
way we did it in the last war!” He jumped
into a jeep and sped off under enemy fire.
Despite the fact that he too was hit, Chaplain
Mills returned with a jeep-load of men.
Besides the Purple Heart, he was awarded
the Silver Star — his second for combat
bravery.
An occasional lighter moment broke
some of the tension in those early days of
fighting. With portions of the 25th Division
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