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 10th Amtrac
Battalion, attached to the 4th 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
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