The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps was officially authorized on July 29, 1775, and 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the Corps. In honor of this anniversary, we celebrate the legacies of Rev. Hansen Bergen and Father William Carroll, CSsR, who served as chaplains with Base Hospital 50 in Mesves, France, from August 1918-January 1919.
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| Reverend Hansen Bergen |
Reverend Hansen Bergen lived a life dedicated to his country, his fellow Army men, and to the Presbyterian faith. Despite his age, he served in both World Wars and was only pulled out of active service after he sustained a service-related disability.
1 To truly appreciate the dedication he had to his work as a chaplain, it is imperative that we address the elephant in the room: his heritage.
Reverend Hansen Bergen sports a name that holds power in New York. Born on August 21, 1888, in New York, Bergen was the second-oldest son to Reverend Dr. John Tallmadge Bergen and Ellen Grace Dean. Most importantly, he was lovingly named after his ancestral grandfather, Hans Hansen Bergen. That name may sound familiar to those in New York, as Hansen’s heritage can be directly traced back to the very foundations of modern New York.
As the tenth generation of the Bergen family, he was born and briefly raised in the original Bergen farmhouse built on Bergen Island (now Bergen Beach) by founding immigrant Hans Hansen Bergen.2 Hans Hansen Bergen was among the earliest settlers of the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam and was notably one of the first few Scandinavian settlers.2 Despite their deeply established roots in New York, Dr. John T. Bergen, Hansen’s father, felt a calling to serve the Presbyterian Church in the Midwest. As a result, the Bergen family moved out of New York and never truly returned since.
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| Bergen Beach postcard via National Amusement Park Historical Association |
From census and college records, Bergen grew up in Michigan and Minnesota.3,4 He graduated from Huron College in 1912 and received a master's degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1915. His life was particularly eventful following his graduation; not only was he ordained as a pastor for the Seattle-Brighton Presbyterian church,5 but he was also married to his wife, Jessie McCrindle, in 1915.6 Additionally, their marriage license indicates that Bergen’s wedding was officiated by his own father.7
In 1917, Bergen was drafted for the Great War.8 At the time, Bergen and his wife had just welcomed their newborn son into the world. With the inevitable fact that he was to be sent to war, Bergen resigned as pastor for the Brighton Presbyterian Church.9 Bergen was given the rank of 1st Lieutenant and headed to Camp Lewis, WA, where he served as camp pastor before being assigned as the protestant chaplain for Base Hospital 50 in 1918.10 Shortly after the announcement of his position with the Base Hospital, Jessie gave birth to their second child, a baby girl.11
Although a chaplain was optional for Base Hospital 50, Bergen was appointed for service with the Hospital Unit.12 As part of his chaplain duties, he was also responsible for boosting soldiers’ morale. Thus, he was appointed Athletic Officer and was put in charge of the YMCA building associated with the Base Hospital.12
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Chaplain Bergen's notebooks,
UW, Special Collections |
One of his most important chaplain responsibilities was his duty to serve dying soldiers and their next of kin. During his service with Base Hospital 50, he created burial log records for soldiers who were expected to die, allowing him to conduct funeral procedures for both American and French soldiers after their passing. In his burial logs dating from September 1918 to February 1919, Bergen meticulously recorded each individual he tended to and noted their full name, religion, next of kin, cause of death, burial location, and service number. After contacting each soldier’s next of kin, Bergen would cross their name off his log. By the end of his service, he had attended to 315 soldiers: 286 American and 12 French, along with 17 additional burial sermons. Bergen’s two burial logs can be viewed in the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections.
After Base Hospital 50, he worked briefly with Base Hospital 72 until he was discharged.13 From his military records, Bergen served overseas from September 5, 1918, to July 7, 1919, and received an honorable discharge on July 9, 1919.13
Once Bergen returned to the United States, he returned to his family and his position as a pastor for the Presbyterian faith and subsequently accepted a position in the newly built Madrona Presbyterian church in WA.14 Additionally, he accepted captaincy in the Army Reserves during this period of peace.1 Shortly after Bergen’s return, the couple welcomed their third child, a second girl, into their family.15
Sometime around 1932, Bergen moved to Wisconsin to serve at the Eau Claire Presbyterian Church until 1941, the start of WWII.16 From the occasional news article between 1920-1940, Bergen can be found taking a relatively active role in his community with the Kiwanis club and the American Legion.
On September 1st, 1939, Nazi-Germany invaded the neighboring country of Poland. Despite the then-prominent isolationist mindset from the general American public, Bergen, at the age of fifty-four years old, returned to active service in early 1941. By July 3rd of that same year, Bergen was assigned to Camp Croft’s Station Hospital to serve as camp chaplain.17 On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. The US responded to this tragedy by declaring war on Japan and their allies.
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| Artist's impression of SS Argentina, 1938–41 or 1948–58, VIA Wikipedia Commons |
During the war, Bergen was Post-Chaplain at Camp Kilmer, N.J., where he oversaw the processing of chaplains for overseas duty.1 He was later transferred to work on the S.S. Argentina as Transport-Chaplain.1 Shortly after WWII ended, in 1946, Bergen suffered a heart attack in Grenick, Scotland.1 This most likely led to his retirement with service-related disability with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1947.1
Bergen lived a relatively quiet life after he retired from service. Sometime during their retirement, Bergen and his wife moved to La Jolla, California.18 In 1967, Bergen was awarded a Doctor of Humanities degree in recognition of his and his wife's generous donation of $50,000 to his alma mater, Huron College, for the construction of a new chapel and fine arts building.19 Unfortunately, his family could not celebrate this award for long, as just four months later, on September 22, Bergen suddenly passed away. He was survived by his wife, three married children, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.19
