blacks in the marine corps pcn 19000306200 2 in the marine corps... · served as technical advisor...

CHAPTER 3

THE 52D DEFENSE BATTALION

Many of the troubles that had plagued the51st Defense Battalion in its infancy weregreatly lessened for the 52d. The key to itsrelatively smooth training period was the cadreof 400 officers and men that had spent three tosix months in the 5 1st. They brought theirexperience on the antiaircraft and seacoast de-fense guns, searchlights, height and range fin-ders, and other technical equipment withthem. They were soon joined in the early partof 1944 by the experienced field artillerymenof the 7th Separate Pack Howitzer Battery,which was disbanded on 31 March. The cadreand the pack howitzer men made up morethan a third of the strength of the new battal-ion. The 52d was in far better shape than the51st had been to rely on on-the-job training,using experienced blacks to train others.

The new battalion's commanding officer, anative Floridian, Colonel Augustus W. Cock-rell, had spent a year at West Point and thenfour years as a Marine enlisted man before hewas commissioned in 1922. Cockrell, like manyof his field officers and battery commanders,was already a veteran of overseas service inWorld War 11. He had been executive officerof the 2d Defense Battalion in Samoa when thewar broke out and had commanded the 8thDefense Battalion in Samoa and on Wallis Is-land until August 1943.1 Known respectfully as"old Gus" to the black NCOs who served mostclosely with him, Colonel Cockrell was a goodchoice to oversee the formative months of thebattalion.

In addition to the fact that one out of threemen in the 52d was a Marine with some an-tiaircraft, seacoast, or field artillery experience,there was also another aspect of the battalionwhich pleased its officers. The senior blackNCOs had some time under their belts, cer-tainly not as much as white NCOs of compara-ble rank, but for the most part they had beenaround Montford Point for a year or more.Just as important, they were not trying to

command men they had gone through bootcamp with. They had had some seasoning asmilitary leaders and were more aware of theresponsibilities of their rank.

Not only did Colonel Cockrell have a morefavorable ratio of experienced NCOs and menin the 52d than Lieutenant Colonel Stephen-son had had in the 5 1st, he also managed toincrease the number of men who receivedtechnical school training in their respectivespecialties. When the 52d moved into the Slst'sold quarters at Camp Knox in February andbegan training in earnest, its prospects for ef-fective end results were far better than those ofthe 51st had been. The morale in the newoutfit was excellent, helped on as the 5lst's hadbeen by a distinctive battalion shoulder patchthat set the men apart from the other units atMontford Point. The 52d's colorful insigniafeatured a red shield with a blue diagonal baracross the center supporting four white stars;in the upper left corner was a gold shell burstwith a scarlet "52" on it and in the lower rightwas a gold 90mm gun and mount with a scarlet"USMC" superimposed.

Following the pattern of the 5 1st, the 52dalso took to the sand dunes and scrub growthof Onslow Beach for firing practice as its train-ing program progressed. And like defense bat-talions throughout the Marine Corps it lost itsseacoast artillery group on 12 June 1944 in theuniversal reorganization of these units to an-tiaircraft artillery battalions. Most of the 292officers and men who had manned the 155mmguns were transferred to the heavy antiaircraftgroup, where an additional 90mm battery wasformed. The light antiaircraft group droppedits 20mm guns and added another 40mm bat-tery, and a new searchlight battery was formed.

Shortly after this reorganization, the battal-ion also lost its first commanding officer asColonel Cockrell was transferred to campheadquarters where he was slated to replaceColonel Woods. On 12 July 1944 Lieutenant

23

24 BLACKS IN THE MARINE CORPS

Colonel Joseph W. Earnshaw took commandof the battalion. A native of Kansas andgraduate of the Naval Academy (Class of1927), he had come to Montford Point fromWashington where he had spent two years inthe Planning Division of the Navy's Bureau ofOrdnance. At the outbreak of the war, he hadserved as technical advisor to the Army's com-mander in the Society Islands. Like his pred-ecessor, Lieutenant Colonel Earnshaw was anexperienced artillery officer.2

August 1944 saw the battalion end its train-ing at Montford Point. Its weapons andequipment were cleaned, checked, and turnedin to the quartermaster at Camp Lejeune. Likethe 51st, it would make its move overseastraveling light. As a necessary preliminary tothat move the battalion was completely reor-ganized on 15 August. In effect two nearlyidentical half battalions were formed, eachcontaining a headquarters and service groupand a heavy antiaircraft group with an equalproportion of gun, searchlight, and equipmentcrews and other specialists. Lieutenant ColonelThomas C. Moore, Jr., the battalion executiveofficer, took command of Detachment A, 52dDefense Battalion. Moore, from Georgia and agraduate of Georgia Tech, had served overseaswith the 3d Defense Battalion in the Guadal-canal campaign. He had joined the 52d in May1944 after serving for some time with the Artil-lery Battalion of the Training Center at CampLejeune.3

On 19 August, the two new administrativeunits of the battalion entrained together atCamp Lejeune and headed west.

First to the Marshalls

After an uneventful cross-country trip, the52d arrived at Camp Pendleton on 24 August.Nearly a month was spent encamped in thebarren hills of Pendleton, but it was a monththat included some liberty in the coastal townsand cities. Some of the men from other parts ofthe country learned to like the Golden State somuch during their brief stay there that theyasked to be discharged in California when theylater returned from overseas.4

On 21 September 1944, both administrativeunits of the battalion boarded the transportUSS Winged Arrow (AP—170) at San Diego, sail-ing the same day for Pearl Harbor. Six dayslater, the ship arrived at Oahu and then layberthed in the Navy Yard for a week and a half

75mm pack howitzer gun crew trains on the piece at MontfordPoint. (Photo from Montford Point Pictorial).

with the troops on board. The Winged Arrowgot underway on 8 October, this time headedsouth for the Marshall Islands. Majuro Atollwas its first destination.

Majuro, which was situated on the easternedge of the Marshalls, was the home base forthe scout bomber squadrons of Marine Air-craft Group (MAG) 13 and of the 1st Antiair-craft Artillery (AAA) Battalion which protectedits airstrips. Detachment A disembarked atMajuro on 17 October to relieve the 1st AAABattalion which had been part of the originallanding force when the atoll was occupied inFebruary 1944.

The remainder of the 52d Defense Battalionsailed on to the westward, to Kwajalein Atoll inthe center of the Marshalls. Arriving at thetwin islands of Roi-Namur on the 18th, thebattalion stayed on board ship for several daysbefore landing on the 22d. It relieved the 15thAAA Battalion of its mission of guarding theairfield and installations that housed thefighter squadrons of MAG—31. Like Detach-ment A at Majuro, the half of the 52d at Roi-Namur was soon hard at work test firing theguns it had taken over, holding tracking drills,and in general getting settled into position.

I

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THE 52D DEFENSE BATTALION 25

The prime mission of the Marine aircraft atMajuro and Roi-Namur was to continue theneutralization of the Japanese garrisons thatexisted on Wotje, Maloelap, Mille, and JaluitAtolls. Although no known aircraft still existedat these Japanese bases, the enemy did possessthe ability to repair the airfields there andplanes might be flown in for supply, evacua-tion, or reconnaissance purposes.6 Althoughth possibility of a Japanese air attack was re-mote, it existed, and this was the reason for the52d's presence, with one antiaircraft battalionreplacing two as a reduced scale of air defensewas called for.

Lieutenant Colonel Moore's detachment atMajuro, in addition to its air defense duties,found itself acting as reconnaissance Marines.Monthly after the detachment arrived, patrolsof 60—65 men from the firing batteries wouldboard naval landing craft and check out theatolls, mostly Erikub and Aur, which lay be-tween Majuro and the nearest Japanese bases.These two-to-Six day excursions were generallyuneventful, although a Battery C patrol toTabal Island in December brought in threeJapanese prisoners the natives had taken, anda Battery B patrol to Aur in January broughtback 186 natives to be resettled at Kwajalein.

The battalion's stay in the Marshalls was onlysix months long as the war was moving forwardto the Western Pacific and the 52d, like manyof the Marine units in the islands, was to movewith it. MAG—3 1 was among the units markedfor participation in the Okinawa operation,scheduled for 1 April 1945. Rumors were rifeamongst the men of the 52d on Roi-Namurthat the black battalion would be moving for-ward with them. Relations between the twounits were cordial, even to the extent of thestaff NCOs of both setting up an integratedstaff club.7 But the hoped-for joint move wasnot to be, and MAG-31's ground echelon andits planes departed in March.

The naval activity attending the departureseemed to have attracted enemy submarines,and there was a flurry of action as the 52d'smen outposted nearby islands, patrolled othersfarther away, and manned their guns, butfound no targets. Under a new commandingofficer, Lieutenant Colonel David W. Silvey,who had relieved Lieutenant ColonelEarnshaw on 10 January, the battalion loadedout on 28 April, boarding a merchantman, theSS George W. Julian. Silvey had joined the bat-talion at Montford Point in May 1,944 after

serving with the 6th Defense Battalion at Mid-way since 19418 Since Silvey was junior toLieutenant Colonel Moore, when the battalionreunited he was destined to become the execu-tive officer while Moore took over the 52d.

The reunion was not too far in the future,for Detachment A had made a move also abouta month and a half earlier than the elements atRoi-Namur. On 9 March 1945, the detachmenthad boarded the transport USS DeGrasse (AP—164) at Majuro, taking with it the commenda-tion of the atoll's commander, Captain HaroldB, Grow, USNR, who noted to Lieutenant Col-onel Moore:

Your officers have been most cooperative and yourmen have been examples of deportment, willingnessto work, and military behavior. They have been ofinestimable value to us in our various armed recon-naissance, and we shall greatly feel your absence.9

The destination of both elements of the 52dDefense Battalion was Guam, and the prospectwas not bad for further forward movement tocombat.

Forward to Guam

Detachment A landed on Guam on 24March and went ashore to set up camp nearBarrigada village on the eastern side of theisland just above its narrow waist. It was notlong before regular patrols and ambushes werebeing sent out, for there were hundreds ofarmed Japanese troops still loose in the jungleson the island, men who had gone into hidingwhen the island was seized in July and August1944. Impotent as a combat force, and not veryaggressive unless cornered, these stragglerswere mainly interested in foraging and stayingalive.

Small 10-man patrols and ambush groupswere sent out all around the camp area; the useof larger forces was restricted by the densevegetation which one later patrol commanderdescribed as "thick as the hair on a dog'sback." 10 The patrols made their first contacton 1 April, killing one of two Japanese dis-covered within 1,000 yards of the camp.Further sightings were made in the followingdays, with one of the enemy killed and onewounded on 13 April, another killed on the2 1st, and three wounded on the 26th, when anambush party received return fire, whichwounded one member of the 52d, PFC ErnestJ. Calland.11

Lieutenant Colonel Silvey's group arrived atGuam on 4 May, landed and rejoined the bat-

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THE 52D DEFENSE BATTALION 27

talion. The next day, the 52d, which cameunder control of the 2d Provisional AAAGroup, was directed to undertake intensivetraining to be accomplished preparatory tomovement forward. On 10 May, the formalreorganization of the battalion to its originaltable of organization took place, and Lieuten-ant Colonel Moore took command.

As soon as the rest of the 52d was settled in,the intensified round of training and checkingequipment began with a readiness date formovement of 15 June. The patrolling and am-bushes continued and it was soon obvious thatsome men had a natural aptitude for the job.Sergeant (later Platoon Sergeant) Ezra Kellyfrom Mississippi, a member of the SearchlightBattery, was one of these; he killed the firstJapanese accounted for by the battalion onGuam and accounted for five others in laterpatrols.'2 He was, as one of his seniors re-marked, "really gung ho. Absolutely fear-less." 13

Insofar as the battalion commander knew,the next destination of the 52d was Okinawa.Loading out for the Ryukyus actually startedon 9 July, but the orders were countermanded,and the 52d was directed to remain on Guam,replacing the 9th AAA Battalion. The actualrelief of the 9th began on 24July when BatteryC moved into tactical positions with its 90mmguns.

The cancellation of the orders to move for-ward was unpopular in the 52d. One of thebattalion's clerks, PFC John R. Griffith, re-called, "our morale dropped 99%, for the nextweek or ten days the men stayed around theirtents writing letters and what not—mad at theworld and everyone in it. Instead of being aDefense Unit, we turned out to be nothingmore than a working battalion."14

Events had taken a turn for the worse soonafter debarkation. On 12 July, the battalionbegan furnishing Island Command with work-ing parties which grew in strength until by theend of the month nearly half the battalion wasworking each day, mostly as stevedores. Theassignment, much disliked in the 52d, musthave amused the men in the black Marinedepot companies on Guam, who were heavilycommitted to this physically demanding work.About this time, Sergeant Major "Hashmark"Johnson appeared from Montford Point andnoted with displeasure that "when I arrived the52d Defense Battalion was performing theduties of a depot company at Apra Harbor." 15

The new battalion sergeant major was instru-mental in getting the patrols and ambushesstarted again, in fact, the first one that he ledhimself drew and returned Japanese fire.

The end of the war also saw the end of thetactical employment of the 52d as an antiair-craft battalion. Battery C stood down on 19August 1945 and after that no unit was tacti-cally emplaced. Concurrent with the move ofthe battalion to a new camp area formerly oc-cupied by an Army engineer battalion, the 52dbegan to furnish the 2d Military Police Battal-ion and Island Command with large daily de-tails of men for guard duty. On 30 Septemberoperational control of the defense battalionwas passed to the 5th Service Depot, parentcommand also of the black ammunition anddepot companies on the island. Six days later,the battalion began turning in all of its equip-ment to the depot.

Lieutenant Colonel Moore received word on18 October that elements of his battalion wouldbe relieving the 51st Defense Battalion atEniwetok and Kwajalein, so that the older unitcould return to the States. In November thebattalion split into three parts: Headquartersand Service Battery and the Light AntiaircraftGroup stayed on Guam; a composite groupdesignated Battery A (Reinforced), composedof Battery A and four searchlight sections, wastold off as the relief at Kwajalein; and theHeavy Antiaircraft Group, less two firing bat-teries, plus the Searchlight Battery, was set asthe relief on Eniwetok. Attached to both therelieving detachments were small groups ofhigh point men who would continue on to theUnited States with the 51st for discharge.

Both elements of the 52d sailed on 16November from Guam, on the cargo ships USSSibik (AK—121) for Eniwetok and USS Wyandot(AKA—92) for Kwajalein. After the relief of the51st was effected, the duties of the men at bothatolls were non-tactical; there were guard de-tails and general duty chores connected withthe winding down of the war effort but little torelieve the boredom. No one was unhappywhen word came to return to Guam, since itmeant for most men a further return to home.

Postwar Activities

On 29 January 1946, the attack transportUSS Hyde (APA—173), having picked up themembers of the 52d Defense Battalion in theMarshalls, berthed at Guam. A month of


change and reorganization followed until on28 February one of the postwar Pacific units ofthe Marine Corps destined to be manned byblack Marines was formed. Heavy AntiaircraftGroup (Provisional), Saipan was activated byredesignation of the 52d's similar group. Lowpoint men were transferred into the new unit,and it began moving piecemeal to Saipan.

Before this happened, however, the ranks ofthe battalion were thinned even further by thedeparture of another large group of high pointmen for the States on 1 February. Among thisgroup were a number of the original MontfordPoint volunteers of 1942. When their ship ar-rived in San Francisco on the 22d, they re-ceived a pleasant surprise. The receiving bar-racks were not segregated, nor were those atCamp Pendleton when the men arrived therefor processing for discharge.

One gunnery sergeant from Louisiana, Alex"Buck" Johnson, even found himself bossingall-white police details, which he regarded as awelcome change from his previous experience.He noted that contrary to time-honored prac-tice in most units, he did not have to spend histime "running and ducking and looking andtrying to find out what happened to my detail."Instead, the men did their work and asked himif there was anything else that he wanted themto do.16 The imminence of discharge musthave disordered the normal proclivity of en-listed Marines to avoid police duties.

The experience of the remainder of the 52dDefense Battalion was more in keeping withthe segregated nature of life in the MarineCorps in World War II, since it returned homeas a unit. On 13 March 1946, the 357 officersand men still on the rolls of the battalion em-barked on the transport USS Wakefield (AP—21)at Guam and sailed for San Diego. Arriving onthe 26th, the 52d immediately moved to CampPendleton, dropped off the men who had en-listed west of the Mississippi who would bedischarged there, and entrained for CampLejeune.

On 4 April 1946, the 52d Defense Battalionarrived back at Montford Point Camp. Furtherdischarges and separations took place ml-mediately, and on 21 April Lieutenant ColonelMoore relinquished command of the battalion

he had served with for 23 months. On 15 May1946, the 52d Defense Battalion passed out ofhistory, redesignated as a new postwar unit tobe based at Montford Point, the 3d AntiaircraftArtillery Battalion (Composite).

Neither of the two antiaircraft units that hadgrown out of the 52d had a long life. Thegroup on Saipan lasted until 28 February 1947when it was disbanded and its remaining mentransferred into provisional depot companieswhich returned to Guam.17 The 3d Antiair-craft had a life of 12 months before it too wasdisbanded on 15 May 1947, with most of itsmen joining Headquarters Company,Montford Point Camp.18

Although not directly responsible for thedemise of all black antiaircraft units, the send-ments expressed by Lieutenant Colonel Mooreafter he had been with the 52d for 20 monthsare indicative of the line of reasoning thateventually prevailed when the Marine Corpsdrastically reduced its troop strength in post-war years. He reported to the Commandantthat "so long as social conditions make segrega-tion desirable it is believed that Negro Marinescould be more advantagously employed in al-most any other type unit." He reasoned thatantiaircraft units were among the most highlytechnical in the Marine Corps and needed todraw on the whole Corps for their men, menwho would have all possible schools readilyavailable to them as they were not to blackMarines. He pointed out that the normal scat-tered deployment of batteries, radars, andsearchlights "defeats the purpose of segrega-tion," because these small units were forced torely on neighboring organizations for supportwhich would be difficult to get and might notbe forthcoming "so long as any evidence ofindividual racial prejudice continues toexist." 19

An objective examination of the experiencesof the men of the 52d Defense Battalion,weighing all pros and cons, must conclude thatdespite racial adversity they performed wellcollectively as Marines. The conclusion is ines-capable when one meets veterans of the 52dthat both they and the Marine Corps benefitedfrom their service.

CHAPTER 4

DEPOT AND AMMUNITION COMPANIES

One of the ironies of the service of blackMarines in World War II was that the unitswhich had been designated, trained, and pub-licized as combat organizations, the 51st and52d Defense Battalions, never saw combat. In-stead, the "labor troops," the Marine depot andammunition companies, and the officers' ste-wards were the ones who garnered the battlecredits and took the casualties suffered byblack Marines during the war. The PersonnelDepartment at Headquarters Marine Corps ina postwar tabulation of casualties establishedthat nine black Marines were killed in action ordied of wounds, while 78 others were woundedin action and nine suffered from combatfatigue; 35 men died of other causes.1 Inas-much as the duties of the men in the depot andammunition companies and those of thestewards were not supposed to bring them intodirect confrontation with the Japanese, thecasualty toll was not inconsiderable.

It was quite apparent to Marine planners inthe early part of the war that the Marine Corpsneeded a vastly increased and improved supplysystem in the Pacific, one that could supportthe offensive thrust of hundreds of thousandsof Marines. The need was felt not only at therear and forward area support bases but incombat itself in the crucial area of shore partyoperations, the ship-to-shore movement of es-sential equipment and supplies. And oncethose supplies were ashore, they had to bestockpiled, shifted, sorted, and moved forwardinto the hands of the Marines battling theJapanese.

Gradually, an elaborate system did evolvewhich included base depots, which received,stored, processed, and shipped supplies of allsorts to combat units, and field depots, whichwere intended to be forward supply activitiesin operational areas. There were other organi-zations too, service and supply battalions, forinstance, which performed these support ac-tivities for local base areas. All of these organi-

zations were primarily composed of specialistcompanies which handled various types ofsupplies and equipment, salvaging and repair-ing non-expendable items where possible.What was missing at first was an essential ele-ment of the Marine logistical system, labortroops. All the vast assemblage of equipmenthad to be moved by ship and those ships had tobe unloaded and reloaded time and again. TheMarine Corps had no stevedores and found inits early combat operations that using combattroops for the unloading tasks was highly un-satisfactory. They were not doing the job forwhich they had been trained.

When the prospective number of blackMarines was greatly increased in 1943, theproblem of their employment arose. Head-quarters Marine Corps began thinking aboutadditional pioneer units, not the organicpioneer battalions of the Marine divisions,which were engineer organizations specializingin shore party operations, but units whichwould in effect serve as stevedores. Thethousands of men destined for Montford Pointwere a ready-made manpower reservoir. In-stead of organizing battalions or larger organi-zations, the Marine Corps formed the blackMarines into company-sized units that could bedeployed as soon as their ranks were filledfrom boot camp and shifted about more easilyas the need for their services arose.

On 8 March 1943, the 1st Marine DepotCompany was activated at Montford Point; itscommander was Captain Jason M. Austin, Jr.Organized according to a table of organizationapproved less than a month before, the com-pany included three officers and 110 enlistedmen formed into a headquarters and two pla-toons and lightly armed with rifles, carbines,and submachine guns.2 All but one of the 101blacks in the company were privates; the otherwas an assistant cook, Ulysses J. Lucas. Thenine NCOs in the company were white. Untilenough black NCOs could be selected and

29


DEPOT AND AMMUNITION COMPANIES 1943-1946

• USH IDICAL PERSONNEL (3 PER DEPOT AND 4 PER A#4IHIIION COMPANY) WERE ADDED AFTER 1/Os E-701 AND 103 WERE APPROVED

TABLE OF ORGANIZATION E-101

APPROVED 12 FEBRUARY 1943

3 OFFICERS USMC

110 ENLISTED 4N OSMC

TABLE OF ORGANIZATION E-101

APPROVED 19 JULY 1943

4 OFFICERS USNC

162 ENLISTED MEN USMC & USN •

TABLE OF ORGANIZATION E -103

APPROVED 31 AUGUST 1943

3 OFFICERS USMC

5 WARRANT OFFICERS US

255 ENLISTED #N USME &USN •

DEPOT AND AMMUNITION COMPANIES 31

trained this was to be the pattern for the blackMarine depot companies. Eventually, blackNCOs moved up through the ranks replacingthe whites who were transferred out to otherorganizations. On the whole, the first units toleave the States became all black below the of-ficer level overseas. In 1944 and 1945 depotcompanies leaving Montford Point had blackNCOs from first sergeant on down the line.

This policy of replacing white NCOs withblacks was in keeping with Letter of Instruc-tion 421 which the Commandant issued on 14March 1943. In the letter, in an attempt toavoid racial friction, General Holcomb statedthat in no case would there be black NCOssenior to white men in the same unit and that itwas desirable that few, if any, be of the samerank. The instructions specifically stated that itwas not the intent of the letter to hinder pro-motion of blacks, in fact the Commandant indi-cated it was his aim that commanders exertevery effort to locate blacks "having the requi-site qualities of intelligence, education, andleadership to become noncommissionedofficers." As an example he noted that if ablack corporal was qualified for promotion tosergeant while there were still white corporalsin his unit, he would be promoted but hewould be transferred to a billet where his ser-vices could be used at the higher rank.3 Al-though this letter to commanding officers wasclassified "Confidential," there was no doubt inthe minds of most black Marines that such anorder existed; they could see its dictums inoperation. Still others saw the letter, includingthe sergeant major of the 51st Defense Battal-ion. He later remarked, in emphasizing thatmen of "intelligence, education, and leader-ship" had been found, that no black men in hisoffice had a general classification test score ofless than 1 10.

After 10 depot companies had been formedand deployed in the period between Marchand September 1943, a new type of black unitcame into being, the Marine ammunition com-pany. Conceived of as a hard-working partnerof the white ordnance companies in the baseand field depots, the ammunition companieswere to load and unload, sort and stack, man-handle and guard ammunition, moving it fromship to shore to dump, and in combat, forwardto the frontline troops and firing batteries. The1st Marine Ammunition Company was or-ganized at Montford Point on 1 October 1943

with Second Lieutenant Placido A. Gomez incommand.

Where the depot companies had a minimumof training before they shipped out, the am-munition companies usually spent at least twomonths at Montford Point before going over-seas. The men were given familiarizationcourses on various types of ammunition andfuses, often practising moving ammunitioncontainers from landing craft to inshoredumps. Some potential NCOs were sent tocamouflage school and others were given spe-cial training in handling ammunition. Thestaff NCO billets in the companies went towhite ordnance specialists, a condition thatremained throughout the war. While the han-dling of ammunition required heavy labor, italso required experienced supervision to em-phasize and enforce safety regulations.

The ammunition company was a large or-ganization with a total strength of eight officersand 251 enlisted men. The unit was organizedinto a headquarters and four ammunition pla-toons with the men armed with rifles and car-bines. Unlike the depot companies which hadno organic transportation, the ammunitioncompany rated a number of its own jeeps,trucks, and trailers. The permanent comple-ment of white line and specialist staff NCOs inthe ammunition companies stifled Negropromotions to those ranks but the units oper-ated effectively despite this. In the 3d Ammu-nition Company, one black veteran recalled:"The white NCOs we had was wonderful, abunch of swell fellows. You couldn't go wrongwith them. . . we were together; we worked asa team." 6

From October 1943 until September 1944,one ammunition company and two depotcompanies were organized every month atMontford Point. The last of 12 ammunitioncompanies was activated on 1 September 1944,the same day that the 33d and 34th MarineDepot Companies came into being. Depotcompanies continued to be formed, however,and 51 were organized, with the last four (the46th, 47th, 48th, and 49th) activated on 1 Oc-tober 1945 after the war was over. There wereactually two 5th and 6th Marine Depot Com-panies; the first pair were sent Out to NewCaledonia in August 1943 to provide rein-forcements for the four earlier depot com-panies when the addition of a third platoon tothe table of organization brought each com-panies' total strength up to 163 officers andmen


Into Service Overseas

A colorful description of the state of trainingof the depot companies before they shippedout was provided by the former first sergeantof one of them, who recalled:

there was no training these Negroes was doing,such as infantry training. The only training they hadwas what they had received at boot camp. And ofcourse they did a hell of a lot of drilling. They weresome of the drillingest people that you'd ever seen inyour life.

From his point of view all the black depot com-pany Marine needed "was a strong back," and"he already had that and so there was no needof training him because that was all he wasgoing to do, to load and unload ships and haulammunition and supplies into the line for thefighting troops." 8

Like those depot units which followed it, the1st Marine Depot Company did not spendmuch time at Montford Point once it had beenformed. Three weeks after its organization, thecompany was on a train bound for the westcoast. When the men arrived at San Diego on 5April 1943, the Marine Corps base newspapernoted their arrival and reported: "after spend-ing their first few hours squaring their gear,the men put on a warm-up demonstration ofclose order drill that left observers gaping."

On 16 April, the company boarded ship, thedestroyer USS Hunt (DD—674) and two dayslater sailed for Noumea on New Caledonia.This was the first of many such sailings fromSan Diego; other depot and ammunition com-panies left the States from San Francisco andPleasanton in California, and Norfolk,Bayonne, and Davisville on the east coast, andfrom New Orleans and Gulf Port in the south,depending on where the shipping was availa-ble.

The destination of the 1st Marine DepotCompany and of the next five companies tofollow it was New Caledonia, where the 1stBase Depot was headquartered, its responsibil-ity the support of Marine forces in the Sol-omons, where the campaign for Guadalcanalhad just ended. In the same month that the 1stMarine Depot Company left the States, a newbase depot, the 4th, was organized on NewCaledonia, absorbing half the quartermasterpersonnel and taking the title to half thesupplies stored in 1st Base Depot facilities. InMay the new organization moved forward tothe island of Banika in the Russell Group north

of Guadalcanal to be in position to supportMarine combat troops as they moved forwardinto the central and northern Solomons.1° Anumber of black depot and ammunition com-panies were to serve in both base depots whilethe advance northward continued to its even-tual culmination in mid-1944 with the encir-clement and neutralization of the Japanesebase at Rabaul on New Britain.

The value of the first depot company wasimmediately felt when it arrived at Noumea inMay. Prior to this time, the shorthanded basedepot had had to call on other Marine units forworking parties, including convalescentwounded in mobile base hospitals, to augmentship loading and unloading details. The 1stMarine Depot Company was really welcome;"these troops offered the first solution to thedepot's labor problem." 11 Other black Marinedepot companies were soon on hand. The 2dand 3d Companies arrived together on 30June, having been raised simultaneously atMontford Point in April, a pattern that appliedto many pairs of depot companies whichserved together throughout the war.

The next company to come, the 4th, arrivedalone in late July but did not stay long on NewCaledonia. In concert with the earliest arrival,the 1st Depot Company, it boarded the trans-port USS Crescent City (AP—40) on 5 August andsailed north for Guadalcanal. Arriving in timeon the 12th to be greeted with a harmlessflyover by a Japanese pilot who had justfinished attacking the island, the black Marinestranshipped to smaller inter-island transportsand left for Banika where they were to providethe first labor troops to join the 4th Base De-pot. The two companies arrived 13 August anddisembarked in a period of nightly air raids,got their first taste of a bombing raid on the14th, and provided their first working partieson the docks on the 15th.12

After the initial movement of depot com-panies to New Caledonia and the Solomons tohelp support ongoing operations in the Southand Southwest Pacific theatres, the next desti-nation for many units was the Hawaiian Is-lands. The first pair to start that way were the7th and 8th Marine Depot Companies, whicharrived by way of Davisville, Rhode Island andthe Panama Canal, with a stopover at PagoPago in American Samoa, and a nine-monthstint supporting operations in the Gilberts andMarshalls at the FMF Base Depot at Funafuti.By the time these companies finally arrived atPearl Harbor in July 1944, a number of other


depot and ammunition companies fromMontford Point had already joined the 6thBase Depot on Oahu. Others were assigned toservice and supply depots and battalions onother islands, like Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai,where Marine units trained and staged forCentral Pacific operations. Two companieswere sent down into the Marshalls, the 1stMarine Ammunition Company, which had ashort stay at Kwajalein right after the atoll wastaken in February before it returned to Oahu,and the 15th Marine Depot Company, whichreached Allen Island at Kwajalein on 7 Marchand stayed there for the rest of the war.

Some of the units reporting to the HawaiianIslands in the spring of 1944 were assigned tothe 7th Field Depot: 3d Marine AmmunitionCompany and the 18th, 19th, and 20th MarineDepot Companies. Two ammunition com-panies, the 2d and 4th, were sent to Guadal-canal where they became part of the 5th FieldDepot. These were destined to be the firstblack Marine units to take part in combat oper-ations.

Combat in the Marianas

Saipan was the first target in the Marianaswith D-Day 15 June 1944. The black Marinesassigned to the 7th Field Depot helped load thesupplies of the assault forces of the 2d and 4thMarine Divisions of the V Amphibious Corps.The two ammunition companies of 5th FieldDepot on Guadalcanal performed similarduties for the 3d Marine Division and the 1stProvisional Marine Brigade of the III Am-phibious Corps, which was slated to land inassault on Guam. In all cases the units wereassigned to ship unloading details and to theshore parties of the assault echelons.

Elements of most of the black Marine unitsat Saipan got ashore on D-Day. A member ofthe 3d Marine Ammunition Company,Sergeant Ernest W. Coney, gave his version ofthe landing:

Sixteen men were assigned to the ships' platoonsand twenty-five to floating dumps [pontoon bargesmoored just off the reef's edge as transfer points].The rest got ready to disembark at 0700. At 0600 itwas bright enough to see an island dead ahead andsmoke was pouring up from the earth as our planeswas bombing and strafing.

We went over the side at 0700 and into the waitinglanding boat. We shoved off toward the island and asusual we rode around in circles before going ashore.When we did start for the island, shells began to fall all

around us. We was given orders to turn around andget into an amphibious alligator 'cause we could notmake it in—in the landing boat.

We changed over and then waited . . . we hit thebeach at 1400 and immediately started diggin' in be-cause it seemed as though the Japs had gotten therange. One team had an amphibian tractor shot Outfrom under it as it was being unloaded—miraculouslyall the men escaped without injury.14

Others were not as fortunate; PFC LeroySeals of Brooklyn, New York was wounded afew hours after the landing and died the nextday. Men from the company positioned nearthe beachhead perimeter helped repulse anenemy counterattack during the night ofD-Day and were credited with knocking out aJapanese machine gun.

The depot companies were no less active on15 June; most of the men of the 18th and 20thCompanies landed in support of the 4thMarine Division while the 19th, which was partof the 2d Division's shore party, sweated cargoout of the holds and into landing craft for thetrip to the fire-swept shore. One platoon of the18th attached to the 3d Battalion, 23d Marineslanded on Blue Beach 1, directly behind thetown of Charan Kanoa, about two and a halfhours after the assault wave had landed. As itdisembarked, a mortar shell hit and explodedabout 25 feet away. It caused four casualties(PFC Charles F. Smith and Privates Albert W.Sims, Jeff Smith, and Hayse Stewart) who wereevacuated back to a transport. The platoonpushed inland to find cover from the enemyshelling. One squad was called up to replaceriflemen in the front lines which were notmore than 100 yards off the beach.

During the night, small enemy groupsprobed the left flank of the 23d Marines in thegap between that regiment and the 8thMarines to the north. Those who penetratedwere mopped up by units in the rear, includingthe 18th Depot. When the line was stabilized,the 18th was pulled out to take over its normalduties of handling supplies. Of this period, thecompany commander, Captain William M.Barr, reported:

Mortar shells were still raining down as my boysunloaded ammunition, demolition material, and othersupplies from amphibious trucks. They set up "sec-urity" to keep out snipers as they helped load casual-ties aboard boats to go to hospital ships. Rifle fire wasthick as they rode guard on trucks carrying high oc-tane gasoline from the beach. A squad leader killed aJap sniper that had crawled into a foxhole next to his.They stood waist deep in surf unloading boats as vitalsupplies of food and water were brought in. . . there


On D-Day at Saipan, black Marines pause at the beach's edge before receiving orders to move inland. (USMC Photo 83928).

were only a few scattered snipers on the beach. Myboys accounted for several of these,'4

A brief account of the D-Day experiences ofthe 20th Marine Depot Company reached theAmerican press in the account of its comman-der, Captain William C. Adams:

My company landed about 2 p.m. on D-Day [onYellow Beach 2 supporting the 1st Battalion, 25thMarinesj. We were the third wave, and all hell wasbreaking when we came in. It was still touch and gowhen we hit shore, and it took some time to establish afoothold.

My men performed excellently. I had previouslytold them: "You are the first Negro troops ever to gointo action in the Marine Corps. What you do with thesituation that confronts you, and how you perform,will be the basis on which you, and your race, will bejudged.

They did a swell job . . . Among my own companycasualties, my orderly was killed. My men are stillliving in foxholes.'5

The orderly was Private Kenneth J. Tibbs ofColumbus, Ohio, who died of wounds on

D-Day. He was the first black Marine fatality asthe result of enemy action in World War II.The rest of the men in his company were notunmindful of the precarious situation on thebeaches of Saipan and immediately took stepsto improve their defenses. As Captain Adamsnoted: "they were very provident, and by thesecond day had all types of arms they hadnever been issued, such as . . . machine guns,and even .50 [caliber] machine guns." '

The 19th Marine Depot Company did notcome ashore until 22 June and remained aspart of the 2d Division shore party for fivemore days before it reverted to operationalcontrol of the 7th Field Depot. The 19th was alucky outfit; it suffered no casualties onSaipan, nor was anyone hit when it took part inthe Okinawa campaign nearly a year later.There were still other casualties in the Negrocompanies on Saipan, though, after theholocaust of D-Day. On 16 June, Private WillieJ. Atkinson of the 18th Company was wounded

and PFC Robert L. Neal of the ammunitioncompany was shell-shocked and hospitalized.The next day PFC William B. Townsend of the18th Company was hit. One of the officers ofthe 18th Company, Second Lieutenant Ed-mund C. Forehand, was wounded on the 2 1st,and PFC Lawrence Pellerin, Jr., of the 20thCompany became a casualty the next day. Asthe fighting wore on into July, Corporal JohnS. Newsome of the 18th and Private Willie S.King of the 20th were wounded on the 4th,Private John S. Novy of the ammunition com-pany was hit on the 9th, and the last blackMarine casualty during the battle, Private Wil-lie Travis Jr. of the 18th Company waswounded on the 13th.

The men in these four black companies werenot the only black Marines on Saipan. Theaction was such that areas normally considered"safe" and "behind the lines" were subjected toenemy fire. During Japanese shelling thatdropped in on the headquarters compound ofthe 2d Marine Division on 20 June, Cook 3dClass Timerlate E. Kirvin and Steward's Assis-tant 2d Class SamuelJ. Love, Jr., both receivedleg wounds, thus earning the unwanted dis-tinction of being the first Stewards' Branchcombat casualties of the war.

The action of the black Marines under heavyfire and in a situation of unremitting toll anddanger on Saipan did not go unnoticed atHeadquarters Marine Corps or in the nationalpress and news magazines. The Commandant,General Vandergrift, was quoted as saying:"The Negro Marines are no longer on trial.They are Marines, period." 17 Robert Sherrod,the war correspondent, reported in Time:"Negro Marines, under fire for the first time,have rated a universal 4.0 on Saipan." 18 In thenaval efficiency rating system there could beno higher mark.

Indeed the black Marines had performedwell under fire and the units of the 7th FieldDepot that directly supported the 4th MarineDivision, (3d Ammunition and 18th, 19th, and20th Depot Companies) were included in theaward of the Presidential Unit Citation given tothat organization for its combat role on Saipanand Tinian. The latter island, close to Saipan,was taken in a classic shore-to-shore amphibi-ous assault during the last week of July 1944.No black Marine casualties were incurred inthe fighting, although elements of the 3d Am-munition Company did accompany the assault

35

troops and the depot companies provided, asusual, loading and unloading support.

The last of the trio of operations in theMarianas was the recapture of Guam, lost tothe Japanese in the early days of the war. Thelanding, originally set for 18 June 1944, wasput off as a result of the heavy fighting onSaipan, and all the troops headed for the targetwere ship weary from their many weeks ontransports when the actual landing was madeon 21 July 1944. Just as eager as the rest to getashore were the 2d and 4th Marine Ammuni-tion Companies. Three platoons of the 2d wereassigned to direct support of the 3d MarineDivision landing on the Asan beachhead northof Orote Peninsula; the 4th Company, with the4th Platoon of the 2d Company attached, wasin direct support of the 1st Provisional MarineBrigade landing to the south of the peninsulaat Agat.

A heavy naval bombardment, most intenseof the war in the Pacific thus far, leveled mostof the beach defenses of Guam, but there werestill some antiboat guns operative and Japanesemortars and machine guns were active. Thefire was particularly devastating on the 1stBrigade's beaches and in the waters offshore,and the black Marines were in the thick of it,unloading cargo from LSTs standing off thereef. The 3d Division had landed in a naturalamphitheater with the Japanese holding thehigh ground overlooking the beaches. Consid-ering the situation, the 2d Marine AmmunitionCompany was lucky to have only one manwounded, PFC Henry L. Jones, on 22 July.

On the night of D-Day, one of the platoonsof the reinforced 4th Ammunition Company,which was guarding the brigade ammunitiondump, intercepted and killed 14 Japanese sol-diers laden with explosives. There were nocasualties in this fire fight but a few days later(24 July) three men working on the beacheswere wounded by fire from Japanese guns onOrote Peninsula: PFC Wilbert J. Webb andPrivates Darnell Hayes and Jim W. Jones.

During the rest of the fighting on this island,the two companies continued to support theadvancing Marines, reverting to operationalcontrol of the 5th Field Depot on 22 August,12 days after the island was declared secure.The 4th Marine Ammunition Company andthe 4th Platoon of the 2d Company were in-cluded in the Navy Unit Commendationawarded to the 1st Provisional Marine Brigadefor its actions on Guam. The brigade corn-


Men of the 3d Ammunition Company take a break during the fighting on Saipan. Seated on the Japanese bike is PEG Horace Boykin;seated (Ito r) are Corporal Willis T. Anthony and PFCs Emmitt Shackelford and Eugene Purdy. (USMC Photo 86008).

mander, Brigadier General Lemuel C.Shepherd, Jr., wrote the 4th Company's com-mander, First Lieutenant Russell S. LaPointe,corn mending:

the splendid and expeditious manner in whichsupplies and equipment were unloaded from theLST's and LCT's of our Attack Group. Working longhours, frequently during nights, and in at least twoinstances under enemy fire . . . [you] so coordinatedyour unloading efforts as to keep supplies flowing tothe beach. You have contributed in large measure tothe successful and rapid movement of combat suppliesin this amphibious operation.'9

The end of the operation on Guam did notmean the end of encounters with the Japanese.Two men from the 4th Ammunition Corn-

pany, PFCs George F. Gaines and Lawrence H.Hill, were wounded on 27 September byenemy troops. Some of the ammunition com-pany men were particularly adept at huntingthe stragglers down. One man, brought up inthe Mississippi bayou country, who was a truckdriver in Memphis when he joined theMarines, ran up quite a personal score. PFCLuther Woodward of the 4th AmmunitionCompany also earned the highest decorationwon by a black Marine in World War II for afeat performed in December 1944. One after-noon, he saw some fresh footprints close to theammunition dump he was guarding; he fol-lowed them through the thick brush to a nativehut in a clearing, where he spotted six

f

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4


Japanese. Opening fire, he killed one andwounded another before the survivors fled.Returning to camp, Woodward got five of hiscomrades to join him in hunting down theenemy and before they were through they hadkilled two more of the Japanese, one of themfalling to Woodward's rifle. For his courageand initiative, he was decorated with theBronze Star on 11 January 1945, an awardsubsequently upgraded to the Silver Star.2°

Combat on Peleliu

The 11th Marine Depot Company, raised atMontford Point on 7 October 1943, had origi-nally joined the 4th Base Depot on Banikawhen it went overseas in December, but in July1944 it was transferred to Guadalcanal and

joined the 16th Field Depot, which supportedthe 1st Marine Division. In August, the 7thMarine Ammunition Company, formed onlyfour months before at Montford Point, arrivedand also joined the 16th Depot. The two blackMarine companies were destined to take partin the bloody battle for the island of Peleliu inthe Palau Islands.

On the last day of August, the 1st MarineDivision mounted Out for the operation, andon 15 September its assault waves began land-ing on Peleliu in the face of heavy enemy fire.For the first few days, most of the blackMarines served in ships' platoons unloadingsupplies for the run to the beaches, but soon, insmall detachments, they began to come ashoreto work in the dumps, to move supplies andammunition to the front lines, and to helpevacuate the wounded.

The fierceness of the Japanese resistance onthe small island was soon attested to by themounting toll of black casualties. The firstblack Marine wounded was Private Dyrel A.Shuler of the ammunition company, hit on 20September. Two days later, the 11th Depothad its first casualty, Private Predell Hamblin.Then, on 23 and 24 September, eight of thedepot company Marines were wounded byenemy fire: Corporal Clifford W. Stewart;PFCs Willie A. Rushton; Carleton Shanks, Jr.,;Kenneth R. Stevens; Edward J. Swain; Ber-nard L. Warfield; and Earl L. Washington; andPrivate Joseph Williams. Two days later, sixmore men were wounded: Corporal LawrenceV. Cole; PFCs Irving A. Banks; TimothyBlack; Paul B. Cook; Oscar A. Edmonds; andEdgar T. Grace. In October, two more men of

the 11th Depot Company were wounded, bothon the 19th, Gunnery Sergeant Victor B. Keeand Private Everett Seals, giving the companythe highest casualty rate of any black Marineunit in World War II.

The 7th Ammunition Company suffered thelast black Marine casualties on Peleliu. Cor-poral Charles E. Cain was wounded on 9 Oc-tober and Private John Copeland died ofwounds received the same day. On the 26th,PFC James E. Moore was hit, and Private JohnEdmunds was wounded and evacuated on thelast day of October.

The fighting on the island was as intense asany in the Pacific war and the two black Marinecompanies bore their share of the load. Evenwhile the close combat was raging, Major Gen-eral William H. Rupertus, commanding the 1stDivision, wrote an identical letter of commen-dation to each of the commanding officers,which stated:

I. The performance of duty of the officers andmen of your command has, throughout the landingon Peleliu and the assault phase, been such as to war-rant the highest praise. Unit commanders have re-peatedly brought to my attention the whole-heartedcooperation and untiring efforts exhibited by eachindividual.

2. The Negro race can well be proud of the workperformed by the 7th Ammunition Company [11thDepot Company] as they have demonstrated in everyrespect that they appreciate the privilege of wearing aMarine uniform and serving with Marines in combat.Please convey to your command these sentiments andinform them that in the eyes of the entire Divisionthey have earned a "Well Done." 21

Combat on Iwo Jima

Black Marines were also present and ac-counted for at the largest all-Marine amphibi-ous operation in the Pacific—Iwo Jima. Besidesthe Stewards' Branch personnel who served inall combat operations that the ammunition anddepot companies took part in, the blackMarines that landed on the small volcanic is-land were all members of the 8th Field Depot.As part of that unit they were cited with therest of the support troops of the V AmphibiousCorps in the Navy Unit Commendationawarded for their part in the furious month-long battle for Iwo Jima.

All four of the black Marine companies atIwo were assigned to the V Corps shore partyand two, the 8th Ammunition and 36th Depot,landed on D-Day, 19 February 1945. The soft,


Two black Marines take cover on the beach at Iwo fin a on D-Day while the shattered hulk of a DUKW smokes behind them. (US MC Photo

111123).

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clinging volcanic sand and the almost constantenemy sheilfire made life on the beaches aliving hell, but the black Marines stuck to theirjobs of unloading landing craft and amphibi-ous vehicles. Amazingly, no one was hit for thefirst few days but then a steady attritionstarted.

On 22 February, a white officer, SecondLieutenant Francis J. DeLapp, and CorporalGilman D. Brooks of the ammunition companywere wounded. Three days later, PFC Sylves-ter J. Cobb from the same company was alsowounded and Corporal Hubert E. Daverneyand Private James M. Wilkins of the 34thDepot died of wounds received on the fire-swept beaches. Three other men from the 34thCompany were hit on 25 February, SergeantWilliam L. Bowman, PFC Raymond Glenn,and Private James Hawthorne, Sr, as was ablack Marine replacement, PFC William T.Bowen. The 34th Company's last casualty inFebruary, PFC Henry L. Terry, was woundedthe next day. The 33d and 34th Depot Com-panies had landed on 24 February after themen had served in ships' platoons gettingsupplies started on the way to the beach.

In early March the ammunition companysuffered several more casualties. On the 2d,Private William L. Jackson was wounded andevacuated and PFC Melvin L. Thomas died ofwounds. On 8 March, Private "J" "B" Saunderswas wounded. As the fighting moved to thenorthern tip of the island the likelihood offurther casualties in the black companiesseemed remote. But the beleaguered Japanesehad a painful surprise left for the Americans.Early on 26 March, 10 days after Iwo Jima wasofficially delcared secure, a well-armed columnof 200-300 Japanese, including many officersand senior NCOs, slipped past the Marine in-fantrymen who had them holed up near thenorthernmost airfield and launched a full-scaleattack on the Army and Marine troops campednear the western beaches. The units struck in-cluded elements of the Corps Shore Party, the5th Pioneer Battalion, Army Air Forces squad-rons, and an Army antiaircraft artillery battal-ion. The action was wild and furious in thedark; it was hard to tell friend from foe sincemany Japanese were armed with Americanweapons.22 The black Marines were in thethick of the fighting and took part in themop-up of the enemy remnants at daylight.Two members of the 36th Marine Depot Com-pany, Privates James M. Whitlock and James

Davis, both received Bronze Star Medals for"heroic achievement in connection with opera-tions against the enemy." 23

There was a cost too for the black Marines.PFC Harold Smith of the 8th AmmunitionCompany died of wounds received in the fight-ing; Corporals Richard M. Bowen and WarrenJ. McDaughtery were wounded but survived.The 36th Depot Company lost Private VardellDonaldson who succumbed to his wounds, butPFC Charles Davis and Private Miles Worthrecovered from their injuries.

The Commander, Corps Shore Party, Col-onel Leland S. Swindler, who was also com-mander of the 8th Field Depot, was particu-larly pleased with the actions of the blackMarines in this battle and in his report for IwoJima stated that he was:

highly gratified with the performance of thesecolored troops, whose normal function is that of labortroops, while in direct contact with the enemy for thefirst time. Proper security prevented their being takenunaware, and they conducted themselves with markedcoolness and courage. Careful investigation shows thatthey displayed modesty in reporting their own part inthe action.24

Once the fighting was over, the units of the8th Field Depot returned to Hilo in theHawaiian Islands to prepare for the next oper-ation. The rear echelons of the four blackcompanies, which had moved forward toSaipan while the main bodies were on Iwo, nowrejoined. The next deployment of the 8th FieldDepot would have been during the invasion ofJapan, but the ending of the war made it occu-pation duty instead.

Combat on Okinawa

The largest number of black Marines toserve in combat took part in the seizure ofOkinawa in the Ryukyu Islands, the lastJapanese bastion to fall before the atomicbomb and the threat of invasion of the homeislands combined to bring the war to an end.Three ammunition companies, the 1st, 3d, and12th, and four depot companies, the 5th, 18th,37th, and 38th, of the 7th Field Depot arrivedat Okinawa on D-Day, 1 April 1945. Later inthe month, the 20th Marine Depot Companycame in from Saipan and in May the 9th and10th Companies arrived from Guadalcanaland the 19th from Saipan.

The black Marines on the attack transportUSSBladen (APA-63), the 1st and 3d Ammuni-


tion Companies, the 5th Depot Company, andpart of the 38th Depot, and those on the USSBerrien (APA-62), the rest of the 38th and partof the 37th Depot, took part in the 2d MarineDivision demonstration landing off the south-east coast of Okinawa. At the same time theassault troops of the Tenth Army (III Am-phibious Corps and the Army's XXIV Corps)went ashore on the western coast at the narrowwaist of the 60-mile-long island. In the feintattack, the men climbed into landing craft,rendezvoused, formed assault waves, androared in toward the beach, turning around500 yards from the shoreline.25 The next daythis maneuver was repeated in hope that itwould prevent the Japanese commander frommoving troops north to oppose the actual land-ings.

On 3 April, most of the black Marineslanded on the island, ready to support the 1st

and 6th Marine Divisions, the assault troops ofthe III Corps. Unlike previous landings inwhich the depot and ammunition companieshad been involved, there was little oppositionon the beaches or in the first days ashore in theMarines' operational area, the northern two-thirds of the island. The Japanese had concen-trated their defenses on the south, but therewas more than enough action in the north tokeep everyone in III Corps busy before the twoMarine divisions moved south to join the mainbattle. Japanese air raids were frequent, mostlyaimed at the cluster of ships offshore, and thebarrier of antiaircraft fire thrown up loosed adeadly shower of shell fragments that often fellon the troops near the beaches.

Many of the casualties suffered by the blackunits occurred in April, when their camps andwork areas were still relatively near the frontlines. The 5th Marine Depot Company had

Three Marines of the 34th Depot Company on the beach at Iwo Jima, (1 o r) PFCs Willie]. Kanady, Eugene F. Hill, and]oe Alexander.(USMC Photo 113835).

4-.

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three men wounded, PFC Willie Hampton onthe 6th, Private Therrance J. Mercier on the15th, and Private Eldridge 0. Oliver on the28th. The 1st Ammunition Company had twomen wounded, PFC Thomas Early on the 10thand PFC Joshua Nickens on the 15th. The 3dMarine Ammunition Company, veteran of theSaipan and Tinian operations, suffered one ofits last casualties of the war when Private Clif-ford Bryant was also wounded on 15 April.The 38th Depot Company had one manwounded, PFC Alvin A. Fitzpatrick, on 27 Ap-ril. One of the blacks assigned to the officers'mess of the 29th Marines, Steward's Assistant1st Class Joe N. Bryant, was wounded on 5April, and in the 1st Marine Division's head-quarters, Steward's Assistant 2d Class RalphWoodkins caught a shell fragment in his faceon 12 April.

Once the Tenth Army started to drive southwith its two corps abreast striking against thedeeply dug-in Japanese, the black labor troopshad formidable transportation problems. Dis-tances to the front lines lengthened and theroads turned into quagmires when the springrains began to fall in torrential proportions.Carrying parties had to be organized to getsupplies and ammunition to the troops andbring the casualties out of the forward areas.The black Marines of the depot and ammuni-tion companies struggled with heavy and vitalloads going both ways. Casualties were scat-tered, but continued to occur. Private ArthurBowman, Jr., of the 12th Ammunition Com-pany and Private Charles L. Burton of the 3dAmmunition Company were wounded in Mayand PFC Clarence H. Jackson of 3d Ammuni-tion and PFC Richard E. Hines of 10th Depotin June.

The stewards in corps, wing, division, andregimental headquarters, some of whom vol-unteered as stretcher bearers when the fight-ing was heaviest, did not escape unscathed.Steward 2d Class Warren N. McGrew, Jr., waskilled and shell fragments wounded Steward'sAssistant 3d Class Willie Crenshaw of the 1stDivision on 9 May and four days later two menin the 6th Division, Cook 3d Class Horace D.Holder and Steward's Assistant 3d Class Nor-man "B" Davis, were both struck in the samefashion. On 26 May, three stewards on the29th Marines headquarters, Steward's Assist-ant 1st Class Joe N. Bryant, Steward's Assist-ant 3d Class Jerome Caffey, and Private MorrisE. Clark, were all wounded; Bryant's second

wound in the campaign gave him anunsought-after "first" among black Marines.On the whole, however, considering the furyand length of the battle, the black Marineswere lucky to have suffered so few casualtiesout of the more than 2,000 Montford Pointmen who served on Okinawa.

When the island was declared secure on 22June 1945, there was little let-up in the work-load of the black service troops. Okinawa wasto be the principal supply and staging area forthe invasion of Japan. Ships arrived continu-ously and supply dumps expanded to enorm-ous proportions. When the war ended inmid-August, the thrust of preparations turnedto occupation duty not only in Japan but inNorth China, where Marines were to help re-patriate the Japanese troops and civilians inHopeh and Shantung Provinces. Some of theblack units that had served in the Okinawaoperation would go forward to North Chinawhich was the objective of the III AmphibiousCorps; others would remain on the island tohelp support the occupation effort. Similarly,

Men of the 12th Ammunition Company rest at the base of aJapanese Memorsal on Okinawa during the drive to the north inApril; on the steps (1 to r), PFC Floyd 0. Snowdon, Sr., andPharmacist's Mate 2d class James R. Martin, on the monument (1to r), Privates John T. Walton, and Robison T. Ellingburg, PFCClyde Brown and Private Robert Brawner. (USMC Photo117624).

.: :


some of the Marine depot and ammunitioncompanies that had served on Iwo Jima wouldaccompany the V Amphibious Corps toKyushu, the Japanese home island choosen asthe objective for Marine occupying forces.

Occupation Duty26

The Sixth Army, which had been destined tomake the assault on Kyushu if the war hadcontinued, now provided the occupationtroops for the seizure of southern Japan. Aspart of that army, the V Amphibious Corpswould occupy Kyushii and southern Honshuwith the 2d and 5th Marine Divisions and theArmy's 32d Infantry Division. Speculationabout how the Japanese would receive theAmericans was rife in late August. Wouldsome diehards ignore the Emperor's orders tolay down all arms? The swift and bloodlessoccupation of Yokusuka naval base on TokyoBay by the reinforced 4th Marines on 30 Au-gust provided the answer. The Japanese werefully prepared to cooperate.

The V Corps could now plan for administra-tive landings rather than the show of forceonce thought necessary. Corps headquartersand service troops and the 5th Marine Divisionmounted out from the Hawaiian Islands in lateAugust and early September. The blackMarines, now part of the 8th Service Regiment(redesignated on 1 June from the 8th FieldDepot), moved forward with the corps troopsin a variety of transports and landing ships.The convoy paused at Saipan to pick up the 2dMarine Division. The objective of the 5th Divi-sion and Corps Headquarters was the JapaneseNaval base at Sasebo on the northwest coast ofKyushu; the 2d Division would initially occupyNagasaki, 30 miles to the south. Once the entryports were secure, the Marines, and the Armytroops to come up later on turn-around ship-ping, would spread out all over the large islandwith its population of 10,000,000 people.

Three ammunition companies, the 6th, 8th,and 10th, made the voyage to Japan togetherwith the 24th, 33d, 34th, 42d, and 43d DepotCompanies. All arrived and disembarked atSasebo between 22 and 26 September. The36th Marine Depot Company came up toSasebo in late October with the rear echelon ofthe 8th Service Regiment. The duties of theblack Marines were not onerous and certainlydid not compare with the intense activity of acombat operation. The dangerous task of dis-

posing of Japanese explosives was handled bythe Japanese themselves with minimal Ameri-can involvement.

The stay in Japan was not a long one. Theneed for strong, reinforced combat forces be-came less and less apparent as time wore onwith nothing but cooperation from theJapanese. The demobilization pressure fromthe States was strong and there were thousandsof men in the V Corps with enough points fordischarge when the word came that the 5thMarine Division would return home in De-cember. The low point iien of the 5th Divisionshifted to the 2d Division which would remainin Japan, and the high point men of the 2djoined the 5th Division for the homeward voy-age.

The same reductions in force and transferswere taking place among the black Marine un-its. The 24th Depot Company was disbanded atNagasaki on 15 November and a month laterthe 6th Ammunition Company passed out ofexistence at Sasebo. In both cases the men weretransferred to units remaining in Japan ordestined for service on Guam. In earlyJanuary, the 8th Ammunition Company andthe 33d, 34th, and 36th Depot Companies setsail for Guam to join the 5th Service Depot(formerly the 5th Field Depot). The 33d and34th Companies were disbanded on Guam be-fore the month was out. The 36th Depot Com-pany stayed in existence a few months longer,making it back to Montford Point via SanFrancisco for disbandment on 17 June 1946.The 8th Ammunition Company, destined to bethe last of its type to serve on active duty,stayed on Guam.

In Japan, the end of black Marine involve-ment in occupation duties was in sight. Exceptfor a few stewards whose number was dwindl-ing as demobilization took its toll, the last or-ganized black units were slated to go. The 42dand 43d Depot Companies, which had beenraised together at Montford Point on 14 March1945, were disbanded exactly one year later atSasebo. All those men eligible for dischargewere transferred to the 10th AmmunitionCompany and those who still had time to servewere transferred to the 6th Service Depot inHawaii. The last black Marine unit in Japan,the 10th Ammunition Company, boarded themerchant marine transport SS Dashing Waveon 5 April 1946 bound for San Diego. A monthlater at Montford Point the company was dis-banded.


The experience of the black Marines whowent to North China was quite similar to thatof the men who served in Japan. The 7th Ser-vice Regiment (old 7th Field Depot) wouldsupport the III Amphibious Corps and havemost of its men serving in the Tientsin area ofHopeh Province with corps headquarters andthe 1st Marine Division. Two companies, 12thAmmunition and 20th Depot, would help sup-port the 6th Marine Division at Tsingtao inShantung Province. The mission of III Corpswas to repatriate the Japanese troops andcivilians in North China and to try to keepfrom getting involved in the civil war ragingbetween the Chinese Nationalists and Com-munists. Since the U.S. Government recog-nized and supported the Nationalists as thelegitimate government of China, the chancesfor peaceful accommodations with the Com-munists were slim. So there was always thechance of an ambush or some shots fired by ahidden sniper at Marines on guard or convoyduty.

The 1st Ammunkion Company and the 5th,37th, and 38th Depot Companies all leftOkinawa with the III Corps-lst Division con-voy in late September 1945, moving throughmine-strewn waters and stormy weather toreach the anchorage off the Hal River whichled to Tientsin. On the 30th, the 1st Ammuni-tion and 38th Depot Companies went ashorewith the first troops to land at Tangku, theport town for Tientsin. The other companieslanded a few days later and all found their wayto Tientsin.

The initial reception of the black Marines bythe Chinese was a wary one. One of the blackfirst sergeants recalled:

We were moving down the Street after we got toTieinsin, we were going down to the Melchior Build-ing, and the Chinese would run out and touch aMarine on the face because they were very black, wehad been out in the sun for a long time, and rub theirhands on their face and see if it would come off, likethey thought it was painted or something.

And they stayed clear of the Negroes,wouldn't have nothing to do with them for about aweek. But soon as they found that this paint wouldn'tcome off, or what they thought was paint, I couldn'thardly separate [them] and had hell keeping them Outof the barracks. They got to be very charming andvery lovely.27

Like their counterparts in Japan, the blackMarines in North China found that most heavylabor was performed by Orientals. A good partof the black companies' tasks consisted of

guard duty both in Tientsin and Tangku andon the trains, landing craft, and trucks whichran the 30 miles between the two. Liberty wasgood, but segregation was the order of the dayin China as it was in Japan and black and whiteMarines tended to congregate in their ownspecial haunts.

The repatriation mission was handled withdispatch and hundreds of thousands ofJapanese were sent home in the first fewmonths the Marines were in China. The 1stDivision, however, got involved in an unex-pected task, guarding coal mines, trains,bridges, and rail lines from Communist attacksto ensure that coal would reach the city ofShanghai, which depended on Hopeh's minesto keep its factories and utilities running. Thismeant that the division would at least remain inChina through the winter until the Nationalistscould be persuaded to take over the guardduties. The need for many of the reinforcedunits of III Corps was greatly lessened andtroop strength was cut drastically.

In January 1946, following the pattern pre-valent throughout North China as demobiliza-tion measures accelerated, the low point menof the black companies transferred to the unitsthat were to remain and those eligible for dis-charge joined the units going home. The 5thDepot and 1st Ammunition Companiesboarded ship, the attack transport USS Bolivar(APA-34), on 7 January after being lighteredfrom the docks at Tangku to the anchorage offthe Hai River mouth. The Bolivar sailed southto Tsingtao and picked up the homeward-bound 20th Depot Company. The three unitsstayed together through San Diego and CampPendleton, where the west coast Marines re-mained to be processed for discharge, and therest of the men entrained for Montford Point.On 21 February 1946, the trio of companieswas disbanded at the camp where they hadstarted their wartime careers.

The 37th and 38th Depot Companies leftTangku on 2 March, the same day that the12th Ammunition Company cleared Tsingtao,ending the tour of black Marine units in NorthChina. The two ships carrying the black troopsreached San Diego a few days apart becausethe ammunition company stopped over atPearl Harbor to transfer low point men andregulars to the 6th Service Depot. The journeyonward to Montford Point ended in early Ap-ril, where on the 2d the depot companies dis-banded and on the 5th the ammunition corn-


pany followed suit. With the exception of the8th Ammunition Company, still on Guam, allof the black units that had taken part in theoccupation of Japan and North China weregone.

Windup in the Pacific

Only seven of the 12 ammunition companiesand 12 of the 51 depot companies raised dur-ing the war saw combat. For the rest, the warmust have been as frustrating as it was for thetwo black defense battalions, but those troopsat least had the satisfaction of knowing thatthey were trained for combat and might even-tually take part in the fighting. With the laborcompanies there was only the satisfaction ofdoing their job well with just an outside chancethat they might be tapped for battle. In themeantime, their job was to toil away at theessential but largely unrecognized or rewardedlabor tasks that kept the supply channels filledto the combat echelons of the Marine Corps. Inthe 4th Service Depot on Banika, the 5th onGuam, and the 6th on Oahu and in the serviceand supply battalions on other islands, theroutine was unending, 12-hour work days,six-day work weeks, with both periodslengthening when the schedule was stepped upto support new operations in forward areas.

The Hawaiian Islands at least had a traditionof multi-racial living and tolerance that sof-tened the continued existence of segregationof blacks and whites in the services. The islandshad towns and cities for liberty, places to gowhen time could be found. And the combattroops that rested and retrained there betweenoperations had seen black Marines under fireon the beaches and knew that they had provedtheir mettle. Yet, there were continued remin-ders of the second-class status of blacks, racialslurs that were a reflection overseas of the situ-ation at home. Some black Marines took thesituation in stride, not expecting drastic changebut seeing a gradual improvement in theirstatus; other seethed with resentment at anyunequal treatment, actual or imagine4.

On Guam, which was very much a forwardstaging and supply area with few of theamenities that could be found in Hawaii, theinter-racial situation grew tense after the battlefor the island was over. Yet, when a series ofracial incidents flared up in December 1944,the black Marines were only peripherally in-volved. It is apparent when one reviews the

lengthy 1,200-page report of the Court of In-quiry which resulted that the principal an-tagonists were white Marines and black sailorsand that the black Marines generally kept tothemselves and clear of entanglements.28

On the side of the blacks there was evidencethat some white Marines, mainly members ofthe 3d Marine Division, were harassing indi-vidual blacks, shouting racial epithets, throw-ing stones and even, on occasion, smoke gre-nades into black encampments as they raced byin trucks. There was an apparent move to scareblacks away from Agana, the island capital,and make it; and the native women who livedthere, a white preserve. In return, some blackstended to act against individual whites whenthey had a chance, responding in kind withname calling and missiles. By mid-December1944, the situation had grown serious enoughin the eyes of the Island Command's ProvostMarshal, Marine Colonel Benjamin A. Atkin-son, for him to recommend to the island com-mander, Major General Henry L. Larsen, thathe issue a general order on racial discrimina-tion which was published on the 18th, stating:

The present war has called together in our servicesmen of many origins and various races and colors. Allare presumed to be imbued with common ideals andstandards. All wear the uniform of the United States.All are entitled to the respect to which that commonservice is entitled. There shall be no discrimination byreason of sectional birth, race, religion, or politicalbeliefs. On the other hand, all individuals are chargedwith the responsibility of conducting themselves asbecomes Americans.29

The sentiments were lofty, and certainly atruer reflection of the general's attitude thanthe famous remarks attributed to him atMontford Point in 1943. As the Court of In-quiry found, the general order was backed upby a serious intent to find and punish anyonewho was indentified as a racial troublemaker.The order had little chance to take effect, how-ever, before there was a series of shootings inand around Agana. In one, on 24 December,an off-duty white Marine MP fired on someblacks in the town without hitting anyone;more seriously, a white sailor shot and killed ablack Marine of the 25th Depot Company in anargument over a native woman and a 27thDepot Company sentry shot a white Marine,who later died, who had harassed him on hispost. Both men were convicted of voluntarymanslaughter in subsequent trials.

The sum result of these incidents was thattwo truckloads of black sailors, labor troops


from the island's Naval Supply Depot, mista-kenly believing the dead black to be one oftheir own men, roared into Agana to a con-frontation with outnumbered Marine MPs.Nothing serious happened this time, but onChristmas Day there was a virtual repetition ofthis incident, which resulted in the arrest of 43black sailors, who proved to be armed with anassortment of stolen pistols, knives, and otherweapons. That night Marine MPs patrollingthe roads adjacent to the black sailors' en-campment were fired on and one man was hit.A shakedown of the black companies tents thefollowing morning revealed a number of illegalweapons hidden away in the tents, some ofthem stolen from the supply depot armory.

General Larsen immediately convened aCourt of Inquiry to investigate the cir-cumstances attending "the unlawful assemblyand riot." As president of the court he ap-pointed Colonel Samuel A. Woods, Jr., theman who had organized Montford PointCamp. By happenstance, Mr. Walter W. White,Executive Secretary of the National Associa-tion for the Advancement of Colored People,was in the central Pacific on a visit and he cameto Guam when he heard of the trouble. Hemade his own investigation of the series ofincidents with the help of the Navy and even-tually ended up as counsel for several of theblack sailors involved in the abortive affray inAgana.

The month-long hearings ranged farbeyond the actual events to examine the stateof morale of black troops on Guam and thebackground of racial incidents. The board inits findings reported that there was no evi-dence of organized racial prejudice on the is-land, a point in which Mr. White concurred.The board did recommend, however, that theblack sailors who had been arrested in Aganabe tried for unlawful assembly and rioting. Italso recommended that several white Marineswho had been apprehended for harassingblacks be court martialled. This was later doneand all accused, black and white, were con-victed and received varying sentences accord-ing to the gravity of their offenses under mili-tary law.

As part of the hearings, several blackMarines from the 2d and 4th AmmunitionCompanies were called as witnesses to testify asto the state of morale of their own units andtheir own experiences with racial prejudice onGuam. Their responses indicated that the

Marine companies, in contrast to the Navylabor companies from which the accused blackshad come, were well disciplined and had hadonly scattered experience with racial incidents.One sergeant, Walter Averiett of the 2d Com-pany, ascribed the relatively recent rash of ra-cial name calling to replacements who hadjoined the 3d Marine Division since the seizureof Guam, pointing out that the black Marineshad gotten "along well with old Third Marines,the fellows who hit the island, the ones whowere here before being shipped home." 30 Onefact that did obviously rankle the black Marinesthough was that blacks could not advance toline staff NCO rank in ammunition companiesbecause these billets were held by whiteMarines. And it did not sit well with themeither that the one black staff NCO in theircompanies, the mess sergeant, was not quar-tered with the other staff sergeants.

The so-called "Third Battle of Guam" was aminor cause celebre for a time, but it faded intothe backwash of the war as the fighting came toa conclusion at Okinawa. Like other Marineunits, the depot and ammunition companieswere scheduled for return from the Pacific ordisbandment as the requirement for their ser-vices lessened. There was a constant inter-change of low point men with high point vete-rans as some companies left for home andothers remained for a time overseas. The 4thMarine Depot Company was disbanded onGuam on 31 October 1945, the first such unitto go out of existence. The first three depotcompanies to go overseas returned togetherfrom Banika on the light cruiser St. Louis (CL-49) in December, disbanding at MontfordPoint on 4 January 1946. The first of the am-munition companies to disappear was the 6thwhich stood down in Sasebo on 15 December1945. On 20 January, the 2d AmmunitionCompany disbanded on Guam and a monthlater (21 February) the 1st Ammunition Com-pany was disbanded. at Montford Point, fol-lowed five days later by the 3d Company.

In the early days of 1946, the rush to get theveterans qualified for discharge home usedevery conceivable type of Navy ship. Someblack units returned to the States on escortcarriers, some on cruisers, others on transportsand cargo vessels. The routine was much thesame in most cases, a stopover in California atCamp Pendleton to drop off those men beingdischarged on the west coast and a cross-country train trip for the rest to MontfordPoint and discharge there.


By mid-summer all but a few of the depotand ammunition companies had gone out ofexistence. On Oahu the sole remaining unitswere the 47th Depot Company and the 3d Pla-toon, 8th Ammunition Company, redesignatedfrom a similar unit of the 11th AmmunitionCompany. This platoon, stationed at the NavalAmmunition Depot, Makaha Valley, was ini-tially commanded by a black Marine, PlatoonSergeant Agrippa W. Smith, before a whiteofficer was detailed to the task. On Guam therest of the 8th Ammunition Company and the49th Depot Company were all that remained ofthe units formed during and immediately afterthe war.

On 31 October 1946, the 47th Depot Com-pany, now down to a strength of one officer, 18black Marines and two black Navy medicalcorpsmen, was disbanded. In November, theammunition platoon at Makaha Valleyboarded ship for Guam and was disbandedthere on its arrival on the 25th, its 80 menbeing absorbed by the parent 8th AmmunitionCompany. Eleven months later, on 30 Sep-tember 1947, both the 8th and 49th Com-panies were deactivated and their men weretransferred to the Headquarters and Serviceand Depot Support Companies of the 5th Ser-vice Depot; the latter company was a postwarorganization designated as a black unit of theFMF.

Despite the unglamorous nature of the workthey performed, the ammunition and depotcompanies of World War II helped make thereputation of black Marines, setting a highstandard of discipline and combat effective-ness. The men, in common with most blackservicemen during the war, suffered manypersonal slights as a result of segregation prac-tices both in the States and overseas, but theseshared adversities had the effect of bringingthem closer together both as blacks and asMarines. When, in later years, an organizationcomposed primarily of black Marine veteranswas formed, its first president, Master Gun-nery Sergeant Brooks E. Gray, Jr., would note:"There was much pride mixed with bitterness,in all of us at Montford Point during WorldWar II. Real, as well as imagined, injusticeswere with us daily in those segregated units."But this situation "sparked a fierce determina-tion to excel," and, he observed: "We rep-resented the break-through of the final barrierin the American military by being part of theelite corps 31

Officials of the Montford Point Marine Association at their1971 convention in New Orleans, (Ito r) Sergeant Major GilbertH. 'Hashmark" Johnson, USMC (Ret.), Master GunnerySergeant Brooks E. Gray, Jr., USMC, Mr. William Hill, and Dr.Leonard L. Burns. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Burns).

For the depot and ammunition companyveterans, this attitude of pride in having beensuccessful Marines, in having done the job theywere given to do and done it well, overrodeother memories. The seemingly endless hourssweating in ships' holds, moving heavy loadsacross beaches and piers of a hundred islands,and stocking and sorting tons of supplies in asuccession of dreary dumps had the virtue oftoughening the men both physically and men-tally. Looking back on it all, one veteran of the3d Ammunition Company, Robert D. Little,summed up his, and others, feelings when hesaid: "If I had to do it all over again, I'd still bea black Marine . . . I think they made a manof me." 32

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blacks in the marine corps pcn 19000306200 2 in the marine corps... · served as technical advisor...

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