Shipboard Communion
During the Pacific campaign the Marines became very familiar with troopships, or attack transports as they were designated by the
Navy. The President Adams was typical of the class, converted from civilian cargo use in 1941. Capt. Felix Johnson took command in early 1943 in time to move troops to Guadalcanal and Bougainville. His crew of sixty-five officers and six hundred enlisted contained only one career Navy man: himself. His executive officer was a New York broker, the 1st lieutenant was a Sears Roebuck salesman, the engineer was a power plant worker from California, and the navigator was an ROTC graduate from Yale.
In darkness on November 1, 1943, the President Adams entered Empress Augusta Bay on Bougainville with twelve other attack transports and eleven destroyers. Her troops were to go ashore at 7:30 a.m. the next day with the rest of the 3rd Marine Division. Knowing the island was heavily defended there was a lot of apprehension among the Marines. Captain Johnson described the actions of the Navy chaplain during the night:
I had a wonderful young Baptist chaplain from Texas on board, a junior lieutenant. Before the men landed he had something like twelve hundred men to give communion to, so he was up the whole night before they debarked. I remember that he came up on the bridge about four o’clock saying, “Captain, would you like to have communion? I can give you four minutes’ worth.” That was the most impressive communion I ever had.202
We know that the purpose of communion is to strengthen our union with Jesus Christ. Bread and wine are taken as symbols of his body and blood, in accordance with the tradition established by Jesus himself at the “Last Supper” with his disciples. Countless young Marines on this night received this reassurance through a Navy chaplain. For some, it would be their own “last supper.” We should all approach this sacrament with the same sense of urgent necessity.
Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”
—Mark 14:22–24
Marine jungle fighters on Bougainville. (National Archives)