Roy Morden oral history interview

1980-05-17

Morden, Roy; Dove, Kay

Oral history interview with Roy Morden conducted by Kay Dove on May 17, 1980. Roy Morden (March 5, 1915 - October 8, 1990) was an Army colonel chaplain during World War II and the Occupation. He was born in Carlsbad, NM and received his bachelor's degree in social sciences from Northwestern University, later receiving his degree in theology from the University of Chicago. He worked for the Salvation Army before applying and getting accepted for a commission in the U.S. Army as an Army chaplain in 1942. Morden then attended Harvard University for the U.S. Army Chaplain School. During the war, he was sent to the Philippines, where he was in the 31st Infantry Division in combat, remaining in combat until the end of the war. After, he volunteered to go to Japan as an Army chaplain for the Occupation, staying there from 1945-47. As chaplain, Morden provided advice, support, and solace for those in the Army. While in Japan, Morden took a Japanese language class for U.S. servicemen taught by Jean Morden, whom he would later marry in 1948 after leaving Japan. Soon after their marriage, him and Jean were stationed in Washington and then in Europe for three years. In 1990, Roy Morden passed away at the age of 75.

University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)

Oral histories

Japan--History--Allied occupation, 1945-1952

Japan; Maryland; Bethesda

Postwar Japan

Special Collections and University Archives

English

Collection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the University of Maryland Libraries at http://www.lib.umd.edu/special/contact/home.

Recording: 01:43:00 (audiocassette; mp3); Transcript: 33 pages (PDF)

This oral history interview is part of the Marlene J. Mayo oral histories. A guide to the full collection of Marlene J. Mayo oral histories is available in our archival collections: http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/42478.
Accession 2009-209-GWP
An interview transcript is available.

Filename: prange-087576