A Conversation
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8
The War Cry | NOVEMBER 2015
Christianne M. Witten:
What led you to
join the Navy Chaplain Corps?
Eli Takesian:
In 1949, at age 17, I joined the
Marine Corps. Eight months later, following a
profound spiritual experience, I dedicated my
life to Christian service. My long-term plans
were to enter college and seminary.
At age 19, I was shipped with the 14th Re-
placement Draft to the war in Korea. Thus began
a new phase of life: military combat, exposure to
foreign cultures and religions, etc.
In Korea, I began to ask "why" in fresh ways,
about many things: God, justice, war, killing,
suffering, truth, biblical teaching, etc.
I went to see the battalion chaplain, to ask
some blunt questions about some philosophical
matters I was wrestling with. The chaplain's
bland response was filled with simplistic an-
swers. I left his presence broken. That had much
to do with my becoming a Navy chaplain several
years later, illustrating how a negative experi-
ence can have positive results.
CW:
What led you to serve in Vietnam?
ET:
Toward the end of my tour aboard destroyers
(1966), the Chaplain Corps detailer offered a
year of post-graduate study. I turned it down,
opting instead to volunteer for Vietnam,
specifically requesting infantry Marines. I felt
compelled to be with troops in combat and to do
for them what the chaplain in Korea failed to do
for me. On 5 April 1967 I was in Vietnam and
assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines.
CW:
How did you help Marines navigate
the challenging questions that surface
during war?
ET:
Troops posed the same gut-wrenching ques-
Reflections of a
Navy
Chaplain &
Vietnam Vet
by CHRISTIANNE M. WITTEN,
Chief of Chaplains Public Affairs
Honoring Our Veterans:
T
he late Navy chaplain Eli Takesian
served in Vietnam
from 1967 to 1970, a period that included one of the
bloodiest battles of the war, the Battle of Hue City.
He later went on to become the Eighth Chaplain of the
Marine Corps from 1982 to 1986.
EN,
fairs
akesi
a
n
n
served in Vietnam
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