US Military Chaplains and Their Equipment in the World Wars1

By Sarah C. Luginbill

July 7, 2025 | Military Chaplaincy Review, 2025 Edition

Read Time: < 7 mins

By 1942, the Army Chaplains Corps was not just its chaplains, but also their gear. Chaplains relied on physical equipment to accomplish their duties; in turn, these objects represented the chaplain’s responsibilities and identity. At the center of a chaplain’s activities, especially on deployment, was their field equipment that often comprised of only a chaplain’s “kit:” a single suitcase designed to carry the most essential ritual objects for Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish services. The War Department did provide some of these kits, but Army chaplains largely depended on their home parishes, local congregations, or national religious organizations to secure necessary devotional objects and complete kits.

Indeed, by World War II, civilian efforts to furnish military chaplains with essential religious equipment was well-established. After the United States’ entry into World War I in April 1917, civilian organizations such as the Young Men’s Christian Association, Red Cross, Jewish Welfare Board, and Knights of Columbus regularly equipped U.S. military chaplains with Bibles, rosaries, and Torahs to distribute to soldiers. Local charity and social clubs, congregations, and private donors gave money and altar supplies to be included in the chaplain kits. Proper ecclesiastical equipment was especially imperative for Catholic chaplains, who needed ritually consecrated altar stones, chalices, and holy oil to perform absolution and last rites for Catholic soldiers on the battlefield.

By World War II, the War Department’s Bureau of Chaplains attempted to assist with efforts to equip chaplains with basic items, but the majority of chaplains’ equipment still originated from civilian individuals and organizations. The April 1941 Army Technical Manual allocated a large field desk, portable typewriter, chaplain’s flag, folding organ, and a set of Army and Navy Hymnals for each chaplain, but no actual religious equipment.2 Army chaplains could apply for $40 to purchase any further religious equipment specific to their faith, but many waited long periods for approval and found the allotted funds too limited for their needs. In addition, any items purchased with the $40 were considered government property and not that of the chaplain himself.3

An Army chaplain’s duties necessitated constant movement, especially on deployment, but adequate transportation for chaplains and their gear was a perpetual issue throughout both World Wars. By 1918, a handful of Army chaplains in Europe had managed to borrow a horse or motorcycle with which to travel between assignments, while the majority often journeyed on foot for several miles a day. The lack of transportation, beyond inconvenience, interfered with the amount of materials that a chaplain could manage and therefore impacted his range of ministry. The employment of Ford trucks finally happened in early 1919, when the Jewish Welfare Board supplied all remaining Jewish Army chaplains with the vehicles, “making them the envy of all the chaplains in France.”4

Still, the itinerant Army chaplain remained a concern for the American public. While the 1942 Army War Show presented the notion that every chaplain had a Jeep and fully-stocked trailer at his disposal, in reality the “truck-and-trailer arrangement” on display was only provided to each Division Chaplain. Responsibility for the transportation for rest of the Army’s chaplains fell to individual commanding officers, but most chaplains found this inefficient and inadequate to their needs.5 The problem was somewhat alleviated by a February 1944 War Department circular, which authorized the exclusive use of certain vehicles by all chaplains but did not provide said vehicles.6

The increasingly pluralistic nature of the U.S. military chaplaincy by World War II paralleled the growing identity of the U.S. as a nation of tripartite faith: Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism. In the Army Chaplain School, chaplain candidates studied daily with men outside of their own faith while being trained in the performance of fundamental Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish services.7 As the U.S. military chaplaincy itself became more pluralistic, so too the objects in their service were expanded to include items needed by all three religions. When describing the 1942 Army War Show chaplains’ exhibit, Irene Hawkins noted that “the [temporary] chapel is made so that it can be rearranged in a few minutes to serve the three major denominations.”8

In April 1942, the visual association of an Army chaplain with his gear was furthered by Farm Security Administration photographer Jack Delano, who took a series of snapshots at the U.S. Army Chaplain School in Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. The photographs captured chaplains in their daily routine, learning tasks such as first aid, map reading, and graves registration. Among the images of chaplains practicing these skills are a handful of Catholic priests saying Mass, utilizing the items from their Mass kits. The kit suitcases for each chaplain sit behind them, illustrating that everything on the altar will be packed and portable. The Delano photographs emphasized training of chaplains not just in their Army duties, but also with the objects needed in the field.

The chaplain’s kit often became an item of personal significance to the chaplain, signifying his connection to his faith and his military flock. Many chaplains who served in World War I, including Naval chaplain William Augustus Maguire,9 kept their Mass kits after the conflict and even used them in World War II as well. The lengths to which chaplains went to maintain their kits testifies to the personal and communal value of the equipment beyond practical use. When chaplain Francis L. Sampson parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, he became separated from his Catholic Mass kit that sank into a river. Sampson dove into the river five times to retrieve it before reuniting with his unit.10 In January 1945, Army chaplain Clarence A. Vincent reported that during a particularly intense German counterattack, he lost everything except the clothes on his back and his camera. A few days later, he successfully returned to thensame location, still under enemy fire, to rescue his chaplain’s kit.11 The importance of the items were worth taking risks.

The 1942 Army War Show framed the material culture of devotion as a necessary part of warfare, integral to the success of the U.S. military. As Irene Hawkins remarked to her readers, “as the army travels so does the field chapel and chaplain.”12 Yet while the War Show assured the American public that their chaplains were outfitted properly, the War Department was not the main resource for field equipment for chaplains in either World War. The reality of obtaining and transporting devotional items, especially in fighting sectors, was not always guaranteed and relied on civilian organizations and donors. At the center of discussions about chaplains’ objects in the World Wars were issues of portability, civilian reassurance and involvement, and material culture of religion. By 1942, the Army chaplain was not just a man; his role in the military was defined by the equipment in his possession and his chapel on wheels.