This was the view of a chaplain working under battlefield conditions, doing his faithful duty, and the soldiers under his care. . . it is from the greatest generation but it could easily be today as well. . . Kudos to those who wear the uniform proudly in service to our country and our values and to the chaplains who serve them -- especially those in the LCMS.
Here is a photo of a Korea era Lutheran Chaplain giving Holy Communion..
I have added it to the video of the Roman Catholic Chaplain saying Mass.
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WWII chaplains were previous noted in the June 6, 2014, Pastoral Meanderings blog, "My favorite picture of D-Day," featuring another Romanist chaplain conducting what orthodox Lutherans, in their Confessions, refer to as a "dragon's tail."
A later comment in that blog included a picture of Lutheran Chaplain (Cpt.) Paul C. Lutz (1905-1983), conducting a service somewhere in southern Germany in the spring of 1945. Lutz was a Lutheran pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Lime Spring, Iowa, who became a chaplain in WWII, serving U.S. troops through Italy, southern France, and eventually into Germany’s Bavaria.
If you can find a video of a WWII Lutheran chaplain leading Holy Communion on the battlefield, I will post it in place of this video. I couldn't.
Maybe there were more Roman Chaplains than Lutheran Chaplains in WWII, or had more access to movie cameras at that time.
I did find a photo of a Lutheran Chaplain (Cdr) Martin J. Doermann officiating the Lord's Supper on Thangsgiving Day, 1968, during the Vietnam War. It's in Chaplains with Marines in Vietnam 1962-1971 (Commander Herbert L. Bergsma, CHC, U.S. Navy, 1985, p. 76).
Doermann is now retired and is listed in the ELCA roster.
I've also ask CHI Associate Director Marvin Huggins if their archives have any videos or photographs of WWII LCMS chaplains leading Holy Communion.
Closer but not quite WWII is a photo in the Fall 2006 issue of CHI's Historical Footnotes (Vol. 51, Issue 3, p. 8) showing LCMS Chaplain Martin W. Baumgaertner giving Holy Communion to members of a Fifth Air Force communications detachment in a bullet-scarred chamber in Korean circa 1950.
Here is a photo of US Navy Chaplain O. David Herrmann, Omaha, Nebraska, shown officiating a worship service for US Marines on June 24, 1944, during the Battle of Saipan, using a destroyed Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go/Type 2 Ka-Mi light tank for an altar.
The Battle of Saipan started on June 15 and lasted until July 9, although sporatic fighting by pockets of Japanese resistance continued for several months. During the battle, 30,000 Japanese soldiers were killed. A thousand Japanese civilians on the island committed suicide, many by jumping off cliffs. The toll was high for the U.S.: 2,949 Americans killed and 10,464 wounded, out of 71,000 who landed. Numerous Americans in that battle were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions above and beyond the call of duty.
BTW, during the Battle of Saipan, one Marine was shot in the buttocks by a Japanese machine gun. He survived and was awarded the Purple Heart. After the war, he became an Academy Award winning actor on TV and in films.
In looking at the photo, supposedly of WWII Lutheran Chaplain O.David Herrmann, more closely, there are some oddities that caused me to check more closely, especially since the photograph appeared on the cover of Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly (Vol. 79, No. 4, Winter 2006).
First, the cassock of the chaplain, was more common to Roman chaplains, not Lutheran chaplains during WWII. Second there was a crucifix on the altar, rather than the regular cross in the Protestant Chaplain case, like that of WWII Lutheran Chaplain Milton S. Enstmeyer, shown on p. 203 of the CHIQ issue.
Third, the Chaplain's case is on the left side of the Japanese tank (right side of the photo). Enlarging the photo, one can clearly see the name, "J.E. WIEBER" on the case.
Joseph E. Wieber was a Navy (Roman Catholic) Chaplain who served in the Pacific theater during WWII.
Well, it looks like its one less photo of a Lutheran chaplain.
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