Chapter 8. Timely Recognition.
I have been waiting for the Christian Science chaplains to appear
in this story. Here we have it, beginning page 296. And page 298 explains the
process by which one became a chaplain. The chaplains were commissioned with
the rank of a first lieutenant. They wore (and wear*) the uniform of an
officer.
While the most important role of the chaplain was “the maintenance
of … morale” (p. 299, Christian Science Wartime Activities [WW1]), I
can’t resist this list of “duties” performed: They were known to have given
lectures on current events. They also “ran educational classes, gave magic
lantern exhibitions, organized baseball teams, refereed sporting contests, acted
as interlocutors in minstrel shows, arranged dances for enlisted men, sang in
concerts, erected Christmas trees, placed The Christian Science Monitor in
Officers' Clubs and in Red Cross and Y. M. C. A. Rest Rooms, ran canteens, cooked
for boys away from their mess on special detail, assisted as stretcher bearers,
helped surgeons in first aid stations, carried messages back to Division
Headquarters, dug graves, laid boys away, conducted their burial services, took
care of their valuables, wrote to bereaved parents, joked with the boys who
wanted to laugh and weep with those who would cry” (p. 301). Necessity, the
recorder says, really made the chaplain the mother of the army.
Page 307. We hear of Chaplain Arthur C. Whitney marching
with his captain at the head of the company through heavy shell fire. The
captain testified that he felt a security and confidence that he had never felt
before under shell fire. The company did not suffer one single casualty in that
engagement.
For another engagement with a different regiment the French
Government awarded Chaplain Whitney the Croix de Guerre with bronze star.
Page 316. We hear of Chaplain Herbert Beck doing such
splendid healing work that “four army chaplains [had] been healed and [had] taken
up the study of Christian Science.” One said that he “could no longer preach
the old dogmas”. He became a Scientist in civilian life. Healings included abnormal
growth, nervous prostration, and a wife’s tuberculosis.
*For a more recent shining example of Christian Science Military
Chaplains, readers might enjoy a wonderful book about the service of Janet
Horton. Cracking the Camouflage Ceiling: Faith
Persistence and Progress in the Army Chaplaincy During the Early
Integration of Women in the Military tells of her rise to the rank of
Colonel. And of her marvellous demonstrations and over-comings. Janet was the
first woman chaplain to serve The First Church of Christ, Scientist. She served
from 1976 till her retirement in 2004.
Ed. For several blog posts about Horton’s book, see February 2020.
Here is a link
to one such post.
Joyce Voysey
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