In the late 1930s, as World War II approached, Captain Roland William Faulk was serving at the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines on board the battleship the USS Idaho (BB-42). He would go on to serve in the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) at the end of the war and the immediate postwar period; as chaplain at the Recruit Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland; as fleet chaplain for the Pacific Fleet; and at the Eleventh Naval District. Faulk's recollections of service during World War II are important because of his observations concerning Rear Admiral Robert Workman, wartime Chief of Chaplains, and because of Faulk's role in recruiting chaplains through the V-12 program. He has much to say also on collateral duties of chaplains and on the Navy Relief Society.
In this audio selection from his oral history, Captain Faulk serves up a unique, chaplain’s-eye view of the 2 September 1945 Japanese surrender ceremony on board the USS Missouri, and recites the well-received prayer he composed for the historic occasion.
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