Nina Morgan Earned Her Veteran's Status

“Pearl Harbor had been attacked, it was the patriotic thing to do,” Nina Wiglesworth Morgan replied when asked why she moved to Washington, D.C. as a teenager.  Secretarial and book-keeping skills landed her a job with the Veterans Administration, “I was good at shorthand, too,” she added.

She thinks patriotism and a “Free a Man to Fight” poster may have had something to do with her joining the Marine Corps in 1943.  “From Boot Camp at Parris Island, I went to Camp Lejeune as a clerk-typist.  After completing Quartermaster School, I spent the rest of my Marine Corps time as a Supply-man.”

It could have been patriotism that led her to spend time getting to know Ernest Wiglesworth, a Marine assigned to Camp Lejeune for well-deserved rest and recuperation.  A Pearl Harbor survivor, he was also a decorated combat veteran of Midway and Guadalcanal.

“We fell seriously in love, but Ernest was sent back to the South Pacific for the Battle of Peleliu.  I promised to wait -- he sent my engagement ring in the mail.”  Nina Mae Johnson and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Ernest Woodrow “Buddy” Wiglesworth were married on November 28, 1945.  She had been honorably discharged from the Marine Corps 13 days.

Ernest Wiglesworth left the Marine Corps in 1947 and moved his wife and young son, Ernest Jr., to Greensboro.  Five other children were born into the family – Jim, Keith, Lee, Lynn and Kathleen.  The broader family includes 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.  Ernest Wiglesworth died in 2000 – he and Nina had been married 54 years.

In 2008, she married Ray Morgan, a retired Army combat veteran of Korea and Vietnam.  He died in 2011.
While becoming a Gold Star Mother was the most patriotic event of Nina Morgan’s life, it was, by far, the saddest.  

Boatswain’s Mate 3^rd Class Ernest “Skip” Wiglesworth was killed in Vietnam on March 14, 1968 when his riverboat struck a Viet Cong mine.

Ironically, the young petty officer had written a letter to the Greensboro Daily News.  He wanted people to know the Navy was working hard in Vietnam, getting shot at and running into enemy mines.

The letter was published March 16, 1968 – the same day Navy officers came to the Wiglesworth home to notify them their son was missing in action.

According to his mother, “Skip was scheduled for rest and recuperation on April 4.  His wife had already made airplane reservations to meet him in Honolulu.”  A huge portrait of her oldest son hangs prominently in Nina Morgan’s living room, along with his personal decorations.

She reflected, “Skip was born during his father’s last year on active duty as a Marine.  He wanted desperately to be a Marine like his Mom and Dad, but they would not take him at 17.  The Navy did.  Those were the days of the Vietnam War – I thought he would be safer in the Navy – but you never know.”

Another Wiglesworth son, Jim, perhaps better known as Jungle Jim of the Old Rebel Show, is an Army veteran.
Born in Reidsville and graduated from high school in Raleigh, Nina Morgan has spent most of her 92 years in Greensboro, where she and her husband raised their family.

She has faced more than her share of adversity.  Her father was born blind, as were two of her sons, as a result of Norrie Disease (A hereditary disorder that leads to blindness in male infants, according to the National Institute of Health).  

“All my siblings are gone.  I guess you can say, I’m left holding the fort, but I sure am thankful for the years the Lord has given me,” Morgan reflected recently.

Whether from patriotism or dedication, every Wednesday evening finds Nina Morgan at American Legion Post 53, where she has served as Post Commander.  “I don’t play bingo, but I keep the books and handle the finances.  It’s a non-paying job, I just enjoy doing it.  Players buy their cards from me and I hand out whatever they win.”

Even poor television scheduling on the part of Survivor producers doesn’t give pause to Morgan’s American Legion chores.  According to her daughter, Lynn Wiglesworth, “I pull up the show on demand for Mom -- she watches the Wednesday show faithfully on Thursdays.”

Morgan’s grand-daughter, Kelly Wiglesworth, won $100,000 for her second place finish in the show’s original series.  She is currently contending in Survivor: Cambodia – Second Chance. 

Kelly doesn’t need reminding – her grandmother is pulling for her.

Our country shouldn’t need reminding either – Nina Wiglesworth Morgan represents the finest of what Veterans Day is all about.

Harry Thetford is a retired Sears Store Manager who enjoys writing about veterans.  

MOORE BROTHERS SERVED THEIR COUNTRY

Floyd Vernon Moore, an 88 year old disabled veteran, doesn’t mind sharing memories about growing up with five brothers and three sisters on their family farm near Robbins, NC.

 

He doesn’t mind sharing stories about his 30-year career as a Greensboro mail carrier.  He tells how anxious he is to get back on the golf course and test his brand new knee.  He even talks about appreciating his pastor at Lawndale Baptist Church.

But when asked about his WW II story, Moore draws a few lines.  “I will tell you about going in, and I’ll tell you about getting out, but that’s all,” Moore asserted firmly.  I was resigned to take what I could get, so Moore began with his, “going in, and getting out,” military story.

“I graduated high school in May, 1943.  Three months later, I was invited into the Army.  My letter read, “Your neighbors have chosen you to report to Ft. Bragg.”  After less than a year of training in OK and KS, I was in England, assigned to the 310^TH Field Artillery BN of the 79^th INF DIV.” 

PFC VERNON MOORE -- 1943

Vernon wasn’t the first, or the last of the Moore brothers to be invited to serve their country. 

In June, 1942, George Winton Moore, left for the Army.  Also assigned to the 79^TH INF DIV., Winton Moore was wounded in action.  He brought home shrapnel which was never completely removed.  He died a few years after the war, in a VA hospital, from “far advanced tuberculosis.”  According to Vernon Moore, “the family always thought he died from lead poisoning from the embedded

shrapnel.”

In September, 1942, another Moore brother, James Harding Moore, left home to become a paratrooper and chemical warfare specialist with the 82^ND Airborne.  During the Battle of the Bulge, he was killed while attacking an enemy machine gun nest.

If you are keeping score, as Mrs. Vanda Moore surely was – three of her six sons had left for the Army in just a few weeks over one year.  A year later, those three sons had picked up purple hearts – one posthumously. 

A younger Moore brother, Henry Coleman Moore, left the family farm later and served with the Navy during the Korean War. 

Given these threads, it is surprising that Vernon Moore had the patience to continue our conversation with his “getting out” part.  A large photograph on the living room mantle made me think he might continue – it was of him and his family, taken at Normandy’s Utah Beach. 

“We went ashore after D-Day with our 105mm howitzers, and started shelling German targets a few miles inland.  I was wounded along the way.  I didn’t know it at the time, but my platoon sergeant put in for me a purple heart.  What bothered me the most was an intestinal bug I picked up.  That put me in the hospital at Reims, France for several weeks.

They almost sent me home, but when I got better they put me in a rear echelon military police outfit that escorted German and Italian prisoners of war.  We had lots of them, so that kept me busy until after the war ended.”  Moore is not hesitant to mention that God had a plan for him, or he would not have made it home.  

Mission completed – Vernon Moore told about getting in, and getting out, and a few extras.  Like many of his WW II peers, he is under-appreciated, under-recognized, and thanks to paperwork snafus and lost records, he is under-awarded.  While he doesn’t care to talk about WW II, he would not have the cause forgotten.

After the war, Vernon Moore attended Kings Business College in Greensboro.  He married the daughter of a Robbins textile mill family of five daughters and one son.  Next year, Dorothy and Vernon Moore will celebrate their 66^th anniversary.  They have three children and two grands -- all of whom live in the Greensboro area.  Dorothy Moore retired from Greensboro City Schools, after 40 years of service.

DOROTHY & VERNON MOORE -- 2013

Vernon Moore will have to scramble to come up with an appropriate anniversary celebration.  They have toured England, Europe, Hawaii, Alaska, and many Caribbean Islands. 

I commended them on their hard-working yard man.  Dorothy Moore quickly exclaimed, “He is not a yard man – he is our wonderful next door neighbor!  He mows our yard twice a week and will not take a penny for it.”

As does the Moore neighbor -- appreciate a WW II veteran today.  They are a national treasure – and slipping away all too soon.

ESPRIT DE CORPS ON PARADE

As for conundrums, a recent visit to the nation’s capital developed into one with top ten proportions.  Should I risk readers’ fatigue by writing yet another column slanted towards the Marine Corps?  Or should I take a pass on writing about a most fascinating   piece of Americana less traveled?

There is some logic in the “less traveled” element, inasmuch as the locale for this particular bit of fascinating Americana is deep in the heart of Southeast Washington, D.C.  Suffice it to say, the area stops short of Pleasant Garden serenity.

It is amazing how hundreds of strategically deployed dress-blued Marines can influence the peace quotient of a neighborhood trending gangster.  This particular neighborhood is known simply as, “8^th & I,” the confluence of two Southeastern D.C. streets.  It could also be known by its background music – perpetual alarms and sirens.

More specifically, it is ground zero for Marine Barracks Washington, the oldest post of the Marine Corps. It has been the home of “The President’s Own,” U.S. Marine Band since 1801 and the home of every Marine Corps Commandant since 1806. 

Marine Corps Band at Evening Parade August 21, 2015

The Home of the Commandants was one of the few buildings not burned by the British when they raided the Capitol in 1814, possibly because of soldierly respect between Royal Marines and U.S. Marines.

JUST ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING MARINES I MET AT THE EVENING PARADE.
SGT MAJ BRYAN BATTAGLIA, AS THE ADVISOR/ASSISTANT TO THE CHAIRMAN OF JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF, IS THE SENIOR NCO IN THE U.S. ARMED FORCES

Evening Parades are held each summer Friday.  Attendance is free, reservations are made online at www.barracks.marine.mil, but supply is often not up to demand – only 3500 seats are available.  Unclaimed bleacher seats are given on a first come, first served, basis.  Offsite parking and free shuttle services are offered.  For the brave at heart, the site is just four blocks from Metro access.

Don’t get this confused with Sunset Parades on summer Tuesdays – very similar in content and performed by the same Marines, but at the Marine Corps War Memorial across the Potomac.  Admission, parking, shuttles and performance are free – bring a lawn chair or sit on the grass.

Just as the Washington Nationals have their ceremonial first pitch, so do the 8^th & I Marines.  However, their pitch is with M-1 rifles instead of baseballs.  M-1 pitching (with fixed bayonets) is a core syllabus for the Silent Drill Team’s contribution to the Evening Parade.  A variety of intricate marching and arms movements are flawlessly presented, all without oral commands.  My guess – they could do it blind-folded just as well.

By the same token, the Marine Band didn’t need sheet music – many of the marches they performed were written by their former director, John Phillip Sousa.  The “Washington Post March” and “Stars and Stripes Forever” come to mind.

Drum beats and bugle calls have come a long way since field musicians were used to pass commands and signals to warriors in battle formations.  The 80-strong Marine Drum and Bugle Corps is known as “The Commandant’s Own.”  These Marines make martial music comparable to the band while marching and maneuvering as adeptly as does the Silent Drill Team.

Supporting the Band, Drum and Bugle Corps and Silent Drill Team in the Evening Parade are two infantry companies.  Each Marine is about six feet tall.  Each one stands rigidly at parade rest for over an hour before “Passing in Review,” their moment of glory.

We should not forget Chesty, the most famous English Bulldog at 8th & I.  He was presented with pomp and circumstance as the official Marine Corps mascot.  Even with his globe and anchor shawl, his appearance was less than warrior-like.  That is not a problem, given his namesake, Lieutenant General Lewis “Chesty” Puller.  With five Navy Crosses, Puller was the most decorated Marine warrior of all.     

Post-ceremony, cuddly, lovable and Marine-like Chesty was the runaway leader in hugs, rubs, pats and selfies.

By now, it should be obvious the “Evening Parade” is no garden variety street parade.  Given the pageantry involved, “Evening Pageant” might be more appropriate – excepting that neither pageantry nor pageant are Marine Corps speak.

“Spit and Polish” is vintage Marine Corps speak, but could bring some question about crudeness and/or Poland’s involvement.

So, the “Evening Parade” is what it is.  It is the most famous ceremony performed by U.S. Marines.  Spectators often find it to be an emotional experience.  Some look at it as a patriotic pilgrimage.   For overt military excellence, discipline and professionalism, it has no peer.

Taps, blown by a solitary bugler – spot-lighted high atop a darkened rampart -- sends spectators on their way with an indelible understanding of “Esprit de Corps.”  President Ronald Reagan may have said it best, “I wish every American could see the Evening Parade and share the magnificent experience we had.” 

Ol'Harry

ONCE A MARINE, ALWAYS A MARINE

Major General H. Lloyd Wilkerson, U. S. Marine Corps (Ret.) is a decorated combat veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.  He is in his 96^th year.  I first wrote about him in these pages in 2009.  We have visited and chatted often over the past six years.  The notes are piling up – 750 words weren’t enough in 2009, and woefully short in 2015.

Wilkerson, the son of a West Tennessee dirt farmer, was 14 when his father died.  He says he will never forget his mother’s pronouncement to him the day after the funeral on January 1, 1934, “You are now the head of the family.”

Formal education for Wilkerson and his younger sister seemed out of the question.  Eventually, the 67-acre family farm was lost.  Mrs. Wilkerson resorted to domestic work to keep the family afloat.

Per Wilkerson, “My mother was a super strong person -- her work ethic, coupled with support and assistance from Masonic brothers of my father, made it possible for both my sister and me to graduate from Erskine College in South Carolina.” 

Wilkerson was three semester hours short of graduation when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  Even though he had sufficient education to be commissioned, he enlisted in the Marine Corps as a private in January, 1942.

Over the next 36 years, Wilkerson advanced from private to major general.  His responsibilities grew from leading an eight-man squad on Guadalcanal to commanding the Corps’ largest post, Camp Lejeune.  Later, he concurrently commanded the 3^rd Marine Division and the III Marine Amphibious force while overseas.

While posted in Pocatello, Idaho, Wilkerson met and later married Jeanne Coffin, the daughter of a U.S. Congressman.  She was a descendant of the iconic Coffin family of Quakers which operated the Underground Railroad from Greensboro to Indiana before the War Between the States.

After 69 years of marriage, Jeanne Coffin Wilkerson passed away in 2014.  Three Wilkerson sons survive – Tom, Dick and Fred.  Appreciating that I wore three stripes and General Wilkerson wore two stars, I did not ask why the name, “Fred” was chosen instead of “Harry.”

Each of the three Wilkerson sons is worthy of their own column.  Fred is a retired chef and Richard is Chairman and President Emeritus of Michelin North America, the largest of the Michelin international companies.  But, the eldest son’s career path best fits our genre of writing about veterans.

Tom Wilkerson and his wife recently drove down from their Northern Virginia home to visit General Wilkerson.  I was with the general when he took his son’s approach call by speaker-phone, “Hello, my dad, we are 100 miles out, see you soon.” 

This call wasn’t atypical -- General Wilkerson talked often of his sons.  I knew Tom had graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in the Class of 1967.  I also knew Peter Pace (16^th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) was in the same class – and that Tom and Peter made brigadier general at the same time – fathers notice small details such as these.

I knew Tom Wilkerson and Peter Pace both chose to take their USNA commissions as Marine Corps officers.  While Pace leaned towards infantry, Wilkerson became an aviator and fighter pilot.  He was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) and a weapons/tactics instructor early in his career.

Later, Tom Wilkerson was an exchange pilot with the Royal Air Force, commanded a Marine Corps Fighter Squadron and was a veteran of Operation Desert Storm.  At the time of his retirement in 1998, he led the largest command in the Marine Corps – over 100,000 Marines, located at over 200 sites.

Notes taken from my discussions with his father add to the remarkableness of Tom Wilkerson’s Marine Corps career, “When he was young, Tom did not always apply himself.  I think he would have been a zoot-suiter if I had allowed it!  Finally, I told him to shape up, work hard, or enlist in the military – but not as a Marine!  He followed my advice, and upon his graduation from the Naval Academy, he asked my permission to take his commission as a Marine – I said yes.”

A continuing thread of leadership in military and veterans’ advocacies began after Tom Wilkerson retired from the Marine Corps.  He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of both the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) and the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation.  He currently holds the same position with the National Association for Uniformed Services (NAUS). 

He has appeared on Meet the Press, CNN, NPR, BBC and Fox News as a commentator on military affairs.

Just before I posted that they are the only Marine Corps father-son combination who retired as major generals, they informed me they are not.  But, they are the only pair whose paths to Marine leadership were in different specialties – father as infantry and son as a fighter pilot.

MAJOR GENERALS TOM & LLOYD WILKERSON U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.)

Without argument, the Generals Wilkerson epitomize, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” 

Ol'Harry 

FORD KNOWS THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA WELL

In 1942, Robert Ford and Virgil Toole were 17-year old high school seniors in Macon, Georgia.  A Marine Corps recruiting poster caught their eyes, “Uncle Sam wants you!” 

Ford recalls, “We were struck by the sharp-looking uniform and decided to sign up on the spur of the moment.  Since we were only 17 years old, our parents’ approval was required.  

My dad died when I was six years old, leaving five children in the home.  My mom had worked very hard to keep the family going. She reluctantly signed the approval form and I was in the Marine Corps.  Toole’s parents refused to give their approval, so I left for Parris Island by myself.

ROI-NAMUR, SAIPAN, TINIAN AND IWO JIMA VETERAN, ROBERT FORD

After boot camp, I was assigned to amphibian tractors.  I did well in training at Dunedin, Florida, and was assigned to the Boat Basin at Camp Pendleton, California as an instructor.”

Ford’s amphibian tractors, officially designated “Landing Vehicle Tracked,” was more commonly referred to as “amtracs.”  

PACIFIC ISLAND-HOPPING ERA AMTRAC

Except for an unauthorized joyride, he could have remained in sunny Southern California for the duration, “One Sunday afternoon, another instructor and I landed our students on an unoccupied strip of beach up the coast.  He got away with it, but my amtrac stalled and had to be trucked back to the base. 

The next day, I was assigned to the 10^th Amtrac Battalion, attached to the 4^th Marine Division, soon to deploy overseas.”

Robert Ford’s amtracs took assault-wave Marines ashore during the Invasions of Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.  As a crew chief, he was responsible for three amtracs.  Each one carried over a dozen Marines and/or assorted supplies and ammunition.

“We made two round-trips on D-Day at Iwo Jima, taking on Marines from the troopships and inserting them on the beach.  On our third and final trip, we carried ammunition and explosives.  Just as we pulled onto the beach an enemy mortar knocked the right-side track off my tractor – why the explosives did not detonate, I will never know – the good Lord must have been looking out for me,” exclaimed Ford from his Lake Jeanette, North Carolina home.

Ford spent the rest of D-Day and all night under his land-locked amtrac, even though that became problematic when the tide came in.  At daybreak, as the crew chief of a disabled amtrac, Ford was assigned to a machine gun platoon, where he remained until the island was secured.

He was in a machine gun emplacement when the flag went up on Mount Suribachi on the fourth day of combat, “I saw the flag go up and everybody gave a shout.  We got very busy after that.  It was a good while before I learned the first flag had been switched out for a larger one.”

While Iwo Jima was the deadliest and most iconic battle of the Marine Corps, Ford has his own reflections, “We took casualties and lost buddies on each of our four invasions – none of them was easy.” 

All through the war, Ford kept two thoughts in mind – to get his high school diploma and work for Twentieth Century-Fox Studios in Hollywood.  Before leaving for the war zone, Ford’s company was used as background Marines in Guadalcanal Diary, being filmed at Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California.  “Studio executives told the Company, if anyone was interested, to come see them after the war, they would give them a job.”

RICHARD CONTE, WILLIAM BENDIX AND LLOYD NOLAN STARRED IN GUADALCANAL DIARY.
ROBERT FORD LOOKS OVER CONTE’S RIGHT SHOULDER

His high school principal in Macon, Georgia had just returned from military leave himself.  He was quick to grant Ford his diploma, inasmuch as he had been a senior when he dropped out to join the Marine Corps.

“Hollywood seemed a long way from home, so I opted for college at Georgia Tech.  Classes there didn’t start for several months, so I took a few courses at Mercer University, which was two blocks from my home.”  Ford continued at Mercer until he graduated with a degree in civil engineering.    

After the war, Robert Ford and Virgil Toole resumed their friendship.  Ironically, Toole’s parents relented a few months after Ford left and Toole followed his buddy into the Marine Corps.  Although in another unit, Toole served on Iwo Jima until he was wounded in combat and evacuated to a hospital ship.

In 1949, Toole invited Ford to accompany him to a job fair at Robins Air Force Base.  While Toole was serious about a job on the base, Ford was not, and completed his application with borderline frivolous answers. 

Frivolity must have ruled – 36 years later, Ford retired from Air Force Reserve Headquarters as Deputy Director of Engineering and Services.

Ford married Jacquelyn Harp in 1950.  After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the Fords moved to Greensboro in 2005 to be near their son.  She died in 2014, after 64 years of marriage.

WW II MARINE ROBERT FORD RETIRED AFTER 36 YEARS WITH AIR FORCE RESERVE

Ford insists none of his war experiences were comparable to his journey as the caregiver for his wife.

Ol'Harry

ADMINISTRATIVE LEDGER OF 1ST BATTALION, 1ST MARINES, 1ST FIRST MARINE DIVISION - PAVUVU, PELELIU, AND OKINAWA

This digital file contains the daily administrative ledger for 1^st BN, 1^st Marines, 1^st Marine Division from 25Aug1944 -- 06Aug1945.  Brought home by a China Marine in 1946, the original ledger remained uncirculated until 2015.  The recently scanned pages cover 1/1/1 from Pavuvu to the invasion of Peleliu, back to Pavuvu, and to the invasion of Okinawa.

You can find the link here: 1st BN, 1st Marines, 1st MARDIV Ledger

“A fascinating piece of history,” says Ambassador Laurence Pope, who wrote AMONG HEROES, A MARINE CORPS RIFLE COMPANY ON PELELIU.  Pope’s father was a Medal of Honor on Peleliu.

Written by the Battalion Clerk, the pages of this ledger document day-by-day activities of a Marine Corps Infantry Company in the epicenter of the Pacific campaign in WW II -- chow, mail, movies, morale, casualties, troop movements, highlights, lowlights, and typing up citations.

Two pages of the daily administrative ledger for 1^st BN, 1^st Marines, 1^st Marine Division from 25Aug1944 -- 06Aug1945.  The digital file of the complete ledger is attached.

While it is a good read for anyone interested in an un-doctored, un-diluted, and un-edited template of combat Marines in WW II, those bent on specific data inclusive of these dates and/or combat campaigns will find it irreplaceable. 

Ol'Harry

Yeoman's Work

“All hands -- our flag is going up on Mt. Suribachi,” announced the Beachmaster on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945.  Yeoman 2^ND Class Delmas Bearden was just offshore, aboard the USS Stokes.  “It was noisy aboard ship, we didn’t hear the announcement at all, I just looked up at the right time!”

As a WW II history buff, and a friend of Bearden for many years, it was a surprise to hear about this at such a late date.

Nomenclature-wise, I asked for your behalf – A Navy Yeoman of Bearden’s era typed, filed and kept records.  Today, they compute and understand Excel.   

Bearden may set the modesty bar among WW II combat veterans, while his lack of modesty pertaining to Duke University is another issue.

As for the iconic flag-raising, Bearden issued a classic understatement, “Yeah, seeing that flag go up was pretty special”.

Bearden mentioned the Stokes was built in Wilmington, NC.  He did not mention her namesake was Stokes County, NC.  Nor did he mention Ken Brown, a Sandy Ridge researcher who has compiled an incredible base of information about the ship, including contact with seven crew members.  (Brown passed away in 2014) 

It would have made Brown’s day to learn the eighth is less than an hour away.

CROSSING THE EQUATOR ABOARD USS STOKES

“In the ninth grade, I talked my parents into giving their permission for me to join the Navy.”  Miscalculations of Bearden’s birth year are sizeable and beyond the scope of this writing. 

As for choosing the navy, “I didn’t want to fight on land!”

Bearden probably rethought that in June, 1944.  His ship, the USS Tide, struck a mine, exploding with such force that the 890-ton ship was lifted five feet out of the water.

Ironically, the Tide was a mine sweeper.  She cleared Normandy waters for two days before and during the invasion.  Unfortunately, the Germans laid new mines faster than the Tide could sweep.

“I came off the night shift, but decided to sleep in my office up on the bridge rather than go below deck to my bunk.”  Not without peril, but that was a wise decision. 

The Tide’s commanding officer was killed by the blast and the executive officer took command.  He reported, “The explosion broke the ship’s back, tore a tremendous hole in her bottom, and destroyed all bulkheads below the waterline.  I went up to the bridge and found that everyone there had been killed or wounded.”

Rejoining Bearden, “I don’t know how, but I wound up on a hospital ship, recuperating later in a hospital in Scotland.  With only a broken collar bone, I followed doctors around and made notes for them.  I returned home for convalescent leave on the Queen Mary.”

Not unexpectedly, other Tide shipmates remember their stay on Normandy hospital ships differently, “We remained in the area forty-eight hours while the invasion unfolded – we were bombed by airplanes, struck a mine, and took enemy fire from the beach!”

Both time and the golfer’s code prohibit explaining how Bearden won a purple heart during the D-Day Invasion at Normandy in June, 1944, and participated in D-Day at Iwo Jima in February, 1945 – at only eighteen.

There is more.  We shouldn’t overlook the bookends of Bearden’s navy career. 

His first year at sea was aboard a tanker, the USS Kennebec.  “We transported oil between Texas and New York.”  At war’s end, Bearden was on his fourth ship, a gunboat preparing for the invasion and occupation of Japan. 

After the war, Bearden finished high school, took Lois as his wife, and a Savannah, Georgia job in the building products industry as a livelihood.  Forty-nine years later he retired from Carolina Builders in Greensboro, North Carolina.  “No, it wasn’t that I really loved the building trade, but it helped with food for the family and college for our two sons.”

Lois died after fifty-nine years of marriage.  They were members of Greensboro’s First Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon.  They have four grandchildren.

As for Bearden’s demonstrative devotion to Duke, “One of our sons graduated from Duke – we’re Duke poor, but Duke proud.” 

Bearden’s extraordinary spectrum of naval service is as easy to recap as it is difficult to believe – enlisted at fifteen, seaborne at sixteen, Normandy invasion at seventeen, Iwo Jima landing at eighteen, and discharged at nineteen! 

There is no doubt -- his generation is the greatest. 

DELMAS BEARDEN GETS HUGE WELCOME AFTER
RETURN FROM D-DAY MEMORIAL 06JUN2014

BEARDEN LIVES IN BURLINGTON, NC WITH HIS SON, BOB

MACHINE GUNNER IS MACHINE-GUNNED

Tommie Hinton joined J.P. Stevens’ Slater, SC plant in the early forties as a size mixer.  Forty-four years later, he retired in Greensboro, NC as Cost Director, Corporate Group, J.P. Stevens.

There was a short break in Hinton’s J.P. Stevens service – he was drafted into the Army in September, 1942 and served until October, 1945.

Assigned to the 95^TH Infantry Division, forming at Camp Swift, TX, he says, “I walked all over TX!”  Maneuvers and specialized training took the 95^TH to LA, CA and PA before reaching Boston for deployment overseas.  

In September, 1944, Hinton’s unit went ashore at Normandy.  In mid-October, as part of Patton’s 3^RD Army, the 95^TH laid seize to the German stronghold of Metz, France.

TOMMIE HINTON WW II & 2010

Acknowledging their bravado, a German general named the 95^TH Infantry Division, “The Iron Men of Metz.”

November 14, 1944, SGT Hinton and his four-man reconnaissance team were ambushed by German machine-gun nests outside Metz, France.

“My buddy was killed instantly.  I went down with three slugs in my right side.  They kicked my buddy and turned him over.  I flinched when they kicked me, and was taken to an enemy pill box.  Later, I was moved to a more elaborate pill box.”

Unbeknownst to SGT Hinton, he was in the famous Jeanne d’Arc, the most formidable fortification of the infamous Maginot Line.

INTERROGATOR’S PISTOL & HINTON’S POW CARD

Hinton was interrogated deep in the bowels of Jeanne d’Arc.  “In response to every question, I gave them my name, rank and serial number.  Finally, they loaded a pistol, stuck it in my ribs, and pulled the trigger.”

The pistol fired a loud blank, after which the exasperated interrogator threw it on a table and walked out.  “After regaining my composure, I slipped the pistol in my boot and still have it to this day,” says Hinton.  

Hinton was finally taken to a hospital in Metz, operated by Catholic nuns.  “A German doctor put a rag over a German soldier and cut his arm off.  Next, he put the same rag over my face, sprayed it with chloroform, and patched me up.”

“The nuns said the Americans would be there any minute, so the Germans evacuated POWs by boxcar.  It took four or five days to reach our destination, Stalag IV-B.”

Suffering from infection, pneumonia and high temperature, Hinton was treated by a French doctor, a POW himself since 1940, who spoke no English.  “One guy held my feet, another held my shoulder, and the doctor put a rubber drain tube in my hip without the use of an anesthetic.”

“An English doctor arrived later.  He experimented on me with a new drug.  A POW since 1940, he had never heard of the drug, did not know dosages, etc.  After learning it was penicillin, I told him to load up the syringe and I would tell him when to stop!  In just a few days, I could walk!”

“The Russians liberated us April 21, 1945, but they weren’t nearly as anxious as we were to get us back to U.S. lines.  Two buddies and I dug under the fence one night and escaped.  The Russians shot at us but no one was hit.”        

“We made the 75 miles to American lines in 10 days – by horse, wagon, bicycle and walking.  German families along the way helped and often put us up for the night.”

Hinton weighed 178 when captured -- 118 when he reached safe haven.

After WW II, Hinton married Billie Meetze, and in 1957, the Hintons moved to Greensboro.  Mrs. Hinton taught school for thirty years, including twenty-one at Page High School.

Hinton jokes, “I was captured twice – once at Metz and once by a Meetze!”

The Hintons were charter members at St. Paul Presbyterian Church, and currently attend Starmount Presbyterian Church. 

Their daughter, Dr. Deborah Hinton and her husband, Dr. Reid Rowlett, are graduates of Grimsley High School.  They have given the Hintons three grandchildren, of whom they are noticeably proud.

Hinton has served as both Baptist and Presbyterian deacon.  No, not simultaneously!  He is not bashful about sharing his Christian faith, “I was saved before the war and prayed to the good Lord night and day during the war!”

His hobby involves the stock market, so I asked for a trading tip.  “Don’t trade – buy a stock, hold on to it, and reinvest everything.” 

That sounded so uncool until he said, “I followed this theory with 100 shares of Duke Power purchased in the sixties – those 100 shares have grown to 7600!”

Tommie Hinton -- soft-spoken hero of the Greatest Generation.  Thanks for your service!

Ol'Harry

ANOTHER REASON 'HIS' WAS THE GREATEST GENERATION

Have you noticed the smile of a golfer tapping in a birdie over your bogey?  That’s the infectious smile of Bill Beavers. 

That smile made him a top salesman for Greensboro’s Cliff Weil Wholesale, from which Bill retired in October, 2008, with fifty-five years of service.  Actually he requested retirement in 1992 but was coaxed into a sixteen-year ‘soft retirement’.

I guess it is hard to break away when you’re winning trips for your entire family to Hawaii, Acapulco, Puerto Rico, Alaska and the Bahamas.  And don’t forget those sales meetings Bill was forced to attend -- at the Doral, Pinehurst, Homestead, Greenbrier, etc.

Backing up a bit, Beavers was raised in a Christian home, and made his profession of faith at Asheboro Street Baptist Church at the age of ten.  His family lived in Raleigh, NC during his middle school years, “I golfed about every day at Carolina Pines.” 

He worked as Assistant Golf Professional at Gillespie Golf Course after graduating from Greensboro High School.  In the throes of WW II, he worked briefly as a welder in Wilmington before joining the Army.

“I signed up for Combat Engineers to use my welding experience, but a guy with a bird on his shoulder said I was going to the Army Air Corps.”  Soon, Beavers was off to Keesler Field, Biloxi, MS for Basic Training.

“When the company commander learned I was a scratch golfer, he and I golfed while others were taking serious hikes!”  Is there any doubt, golf is in Bill’s DNA?

Next came B-17 Gunnery Training at Las Vegas and Overseas Training at Tampa, where Waist Gunner Beavers and his crew were issued their brand new B-17 Flying Fortress.

B-17 Call Sign "Dottie" In Action

For a break-in flight they flew to Foggia, Italy, where they joined Squadron 340, 97th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force, tasked with, “Destroy Germany’s ability to wage war.”

Bill Beavers In Italy - 1944

“Our first combat mission was quite a learning experience, we were attacked by five German fighter planes.”  Bill’s crew soon progressed to Lead Crew, making them first plane over targets.

“On about our 30th bombing mission -- Ploesti, Rumania -- we had an engine shot out, a second engine failed, and eventually the third lost power.  We flew hundreds of miles on one engine before crash-landing.”  “We were praying to make it over the Adriatic Sea to safer haven in Italy before ditching.”

Bill was wounded in the crash and awarded a Purple Heart.  Later, the Air Medal with several Oak Leaf Clusters was added to his military decorations, along with five bronze battle stars.

“The most dangerous place to be in WWII was in a bomber over Germany,” according to BOMBERS OF WWII, by Jeffrey L. Ethell.       

With a new pilot and different B-17, Bill and several of his original crewmen soon returned to action.  Beavers completed 56 combat missions, but the 57th did not go exactly as planned.

Let’s go back to the night before Mission #57.  “A strange guy none of us knew, came into our barracks talking about a time when his parachute failed to open.”  “He showed us how to unsnap the parachute, allowing it to open, should the ripcord happen to fail.”

Bill now insists, “That strange guy could have been an Angel of the Lord!”

The next day, while bombing railroad yards in Augsburg, Germany, anti-aircraft flak took out their #2 engine and wounded the bombardier.  “We’ll have to bail out,” ordered the new pilot, not feeling they could gain sufficient altitude to cross back over the Alps. 

Bill and his experienced buddies suggested they try for safe harbor in Switzerland, which was just minutes away. 

“The cockpit was quiet until someone yelled that the pilot and co-pilot had already jumped!”  “We were all scared to death to jump.  Our Tail Gunner was a big guy from Texas, he had always insisted we not worry, he would personally kick our butts out, one by one.” 

“When his time came, the Texan froze and we had to boot his butt out,” jokes Bill.

Airmen are well-trained on ‘bailing out’, Bill followed all the instructions, but his parachute failed to open.  Then he remembered the strange guy from the night before and followed his instructions.  Whether by coincidence or providence, he landed safely. 

The bad news, Bill was welcomed to Fussen, Germany by the Nazi Wehrmacht.  Via boxcar and foot, he was taken to a POW Camp at Nuremburg.  Each day on their journey Allied Forces bombed or strafed the POW convoy.  “We figured to be killed, we just didn’t know by whom!”

From Nuremburg, Aviation POWs were marched to Frankfort’s Dulag Luft, a Luftwaffe Interrogation Camp. 

After a ten-day march, the POWs found themselves in Moosburg’s Stalag 7.  “The German guards didn’t have much to eat themselves, so we had less.  We pilfered and lifted what we could along the roadside and villages.  I can tell you, raw radishes will set your mouth on fire!”

The MIA Telegram Sent to Bill Beaver's Parents

Stalag 7, about twenty miles northeast of Munich, was built in 1939 to house 10,000 prisoners.  When liberated in April, 1945, one report said it housed 7948 officers and 6944 enlisted POWs, from every Allied country.  Up north a ways, Adolph Hitler committed suicide on April 30.

“I will never forget those tanks rolling in and the guards rolling out -- it was thrilling.”  General Patton spent May 1 visiting with the liberated POWs.

Staff Sergeant Beavers, who had lost fifty pounds, was flown to Camp Lucky Strike, near La Havre, France, for medical attention, then by Liberty Ship to New York.  He volunteered for KP Duty aboard ship and was made Mess Sergeant, “That way, I could eat all day, I was perpetually hungry!”

After the War, Bill returned to Gillespie Golf Course in Greensboro as Assistant Pro for several years, before joining Cliff Weil Wholesale in 1953.

He undoubtedly invoked that infectious smile again to win and woo the hand of Mary Martin, whom he married on June 26, 1955.  The Beavers had two children, Randy, who died as a young adult, and Melody, who lives in Matthews, NC.  Ashleigh is the only grandchild.

Beside Bill’s POW conundrum -- there was one other -- he once made a par four hole-in-one.  The problem -- Mary was in the hospital expecting their first child, so who could he tell?

Interestingly, General Jimmy Doolittle was the first Commanding Officer of Bill Beavers’ 15th Air Force, and the Enola Gay’s Paul Tibbetts once commanded Beavers’ Squadron 340.

Bill Beavers and his Wife Mary 

Even though Beavers and his crew left their B-17, it continued on to Switzerland, just as the crew had suggested – the rest of that story will be continued by a Swiss researcher, THE DAY THE BOMBER CAME.