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