Through a Lens: Celebrating the Marine Corps' 250th anniversary
An opportune occasion to honor all US veterans, including PC(USA) military chaplains, on Veterans Day
Imagine a birthday celebration so huge, there was a party being thrown in each state. With the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s 50 State Cake-Cutting initiative, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Marine Corps is being celebrated in just that way.
A cake-cutting has been scheduled in each state, with one slicing occurring at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia on Monday morning, just five blocks away from the Presbyterian Historical Society. The celebrations will continue into Monday evening, with the 100th Marine Corps Birthday Ball kicking off at the Grand Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia — the same venue that held the inaugural Birthday Ball a century ago.
On the eve of Veterans Day, and on this commemoration of 250 years of the United States Marine Corps, the historical society once again offers up archival images from the Religious News Service collection to honor those who have served.
Religious guidance, advice, and reflection made available in the middle of Tokyo Harbor — that’s what Navy Lt. Bernard H. Boyd was able to provide to his fellow Marines during their service. Here Boyd is photographed sitting cross-legged on the deck of a transport ship, a small book sitting in front of his clasped hands. The book is the Bible, and the men gathered around Boyd double as his pupils as he offers them a lesson or two regarding Scripture.
Before his enlistment, Boyd was a Professor of Bible Literature at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. Though he was no longer standing at a podium in front of a blackboard, Prof. Boyd was still able to provide mentorship, discourse and encouragement all the same.
Navy Chaplain William Larsen is seen here sharing a smile with two young Japanese boys and their mother. This photograph dates to 1945 — Chaplain Larsen had been serving with a Marine regiment in Okinawa, where this image was snapped, since the beginning of the military campaign. Not only did chaplains play a large role within the regiments themselves — the enlisted men being their first priority — but they also provided comfort to the people in the surrounding communities, by way of kindness, conversation and the unwavering belief in the universality of God’s love.
Before enlisting, Larsen, a native of Boston, served as pastor of the Bethany Danish Lutheran Church of Roxbury, Massachusetts.
To be a chaplain is to offer comfort. More than a shoulder upon which to rest a weary head, and more than a figure reading aloud from the Bible, chaplains like Capt. Paul Toland of Boston, seen here on the left, provide emotional, spiritual and mental rest. This image shows Toland, assigned to the US Marine Units at Da Nang, Vietnam, listening to the confession of one of his men in April of 1965, surrounded by sandbags.
“Though far away from home during Holy Week,” the caption reads, “American servicemen of all faiths received spiritual comfort from their chaplains accompanying them.”
Now, this next Marine might not be a chaplain, but he was committed to offering comfort to others all the same. While stationed in Da Nang in 1965, he was fast becoming known as a “Protestant Tom Dooley” because of his work with the hungry and homeless of South Vietnam.
Meet Marine Corporal Lanny Johnson, whose letter to the Los Angeles Times detailing the great need of the Vietnamese went a tad viral. His correspondence, in which he asked for help with providing “practical things” like soap, clothing, toothbrushes, and the like, was reprinted in newspapers across the U.S.
Johnson’s appeal “produced a flood of gifts from the U.S.”, the logistics of which were being handled by Rev. Harold Weatherly, the pastor of Cpl. Johnson’s home church in Pierre, South Dakota. From there, Marine, Navy, and Air Force transport units cooperated in flying the gifts over to Johnson in Vietnam.
No wonder Master Sergeant Catherine G. Murray’s smile is so wide in this photo — she’s just retired! The New Jersey native had enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1943. Fast forward to November 30, 1962, and Murray has become “the first enlisted woman Marine to retire from active duty when she completes nearly 20 years of service.”
Before enlisting, Murray was a civil service stenographer. After enlisting, she became a member of the motor transport team, driving “sedans and five-ton trucks for the Corps during World War II” while moving through 15 duty stations from London to Hawaii. At one point, Murray was assigned to the Marine Corps Schools in Quantico, Virginia, where she was “instrumental in planning and writing many of the military examinations in use.”
Murray even served three tours of duty in Washington, D.C., serving as Secretary to the Director of Women Marines as well as at the Marine Corps Institute. She was retained on active duty when the Armed Forces demobilized, and, when this photo was snapped, was “fourth in seniority of the 30 active-duty women Marines.”
Murray earned many decorations, including six iterations of the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal. Her retirement did not signal the end of her involvement with the Marine Corps, however. Rather, Murray continued to serve her country, becoming the first enlisted woman to join the Fleet Marine Reserves, where she served until 1972.
Upon her death in late December 2017 at the age of 100, Murray’s loved ones wrote of her tendency to wear a Marine Corps pin on her lapel or necklace around her neck as evidence of her immense pride in her service. Murray rests in Arlington Cemetery, where she is surrounded by her fellow veterans.
Master Sergeant Murray was proud to be a veteran. This Veterans Day, we honor all of those who have served and stand beside them in pride and thanks.
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