Milton Siebert Ernstmeyer

The Reverend Dr. Milton S. Ernstmeyer, a native of Nebraska, graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and was ordained at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, St. Louis, before being commissioned as a U.S. Navy Chaplain for active duty in 1943. With graduate degrees from Nebraska and Harvard Universities, he later received the Doctor of Divinity Degree from Concordia Seminary.

During World War II, he was assigned to the attack transport USS GRIMES (APA172) in WESTPAC, where the ship participated in the Iwo Jima Campaign and the occupation of Japan. While assigned to several Marine Corps units and bases, he also was the Division Chaplain of the Third Marine Division overseas in Okinawa. Other shipboard assignments were on the USS PHILIPPINE SEA (CV-47), Staff Chaplain of the LANDING SHIP FLOATILLA TWO, the USS PRINCETON (CVS-7), as well as with the Flagships of the Sixth Fleet, the USS DES MOINES (CA-137), and the USS SPRINGFIELD (CGL-7). Stateside assignments included those of Staff Chaplain for the Chief of Naval Air Training, the District Chaplain for the Fifth Naval District, the Thirteenth Naval District, and the Naval District, Washington, D.C. Throughout his military career and after, he was supported by his loving wife, Muriel Helen Ernstmeyer, who joined in his ministry to the military members and their families.

In 1972, he requested Navy retirement to accept the call as Executive Secretary, Armed Forces Commission, LCMS, and the next year also became LCMS Staff Member of the Division of Services to Military Personnel, LCUSA. In 1978, he was elected President of the Military Chaplains Association of the USA. In 1983, he retired as Executive Secretary, Ministry to the Armed Forces, Board of Missions, LCMS, and at the following Synodical Convention, was presented the Silver St. Martin of Tours Medal. He was also awarded the Gold St. Martin of Tours Medal.

He prepared devotional material for Portals of Prayer, as well as articles and books, such as the Concordia Publishing House publication of They Shall Not March Alone, a compilation of experiences and vignettes of our LCMS military chaplains from the times of the Civil War until the 1980’s. Since his retirement, “Chaplain Ernie” and his late wife, Muriel, had resided in Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, where they were members of the Lutheran Church of the Risen Christ, and in Williamsburg, Virginia, where they were members of King of Glory Lutheran Church.

They are survived by their three married daughters, six grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

Services will be held 11am on Saturday, February 13, at the King of Glory Lutheran Church, 4897 Longhill Rd, Williamsburg, VA. Burial will be at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery.

Online condolences to the family may be made at nelsencares.com.