REDMOND, PAUL J.

The Rev. Paul J. Redmond of Carmel, a retired Catholic priest who served during World War II as chaplain of the elite Marine Raiders, died Saturday [June 1, 1990] in the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. He was 91.

Mr. Redmond, who was awarded the Army Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct with the Marine Raiders, was named last year as honorary chaplain of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. A. M. Gray.

He was with the first wave of Marines during the 1942 assault against Japanese-held New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. While on the islands, he was assigned a 19-year-old Marine as a bodyguard. The bodyguard was Oail Phillips, known as “Bum,” who later became football coach of the San Diego Chargers, Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints.

At Bairoko, also in the Solomons, Chaplain Redmond crawled through enemy lines to administer last rites to wounded Marines.

Father Redmond was born on March 27, 1899, in New Haven, Conn. He was ordained a priest in 1930, after obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Providence College in Rhode Island and doing graduate work in science at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and Columbia University in New York, N.Y.

During his lengthy career, Father Redmond was a professor of biology at Catholic University, national director of the Holy Name Society and editor of the Holy Name Journal.

In addition to his service as a Marine chaplain in World War II, Mr. Redond also was a Navy veteran of World War I.

After World War II, he moved to the Monterey-Fresno Diocese and became director of Catholic Charities.

Mr. Redmond was a chaplain of China Lake Mission, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Fresno and chaplain at Soledad Prison before he retired.

He also founded the Infant of Prague Adoption Agency and served on the President’s Committee on Employment of the Handicapped from 1948 to 1972.

He is survived by a sister, Marion Margaret Redmond of Carmel.

A vigil service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Carmel Mission. Mass will be celebrated at the mission at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The family has asked any memorial contributions be sent to the Father Paul Redmond Scholarship Fund, c/o Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, P.O. Box 3008, Princeton, NJ 08543.