HIGH POINT AVIATOR HAS NO COMPLAINTS

High Point’s Frank Montgomery must have wondered where he went wrong.  As an Army Air Corps fighter pilot, why was he helping off-load Marines and equipment from a landing craft during the Invasion of Iwo Jima?  And why was a Navy Beachmaster ordering him, “Get these vehicles off the beach?”

MONTGOMERY AS P-51 PILOT FLYING FROM IWO JIMA

Montgomery was a P-51 pilot with two problems – his P-51 was in route from Guam and the Marines were yet to wrest an Iwo Jima runway from the Japanese.  Both problems were solved expediently -- Montgomery would be one and one-half kills short of becoming an Ace by war’s end.

Montgomery took a respite from active duty after the war – built a place at the beach, purchased a family farm in Trinity, enrolled at NCSU, married Cynthia Smith, and built a house for them to live in.

Recalled to active duty during the Korean War, Montgomery trained new flight instructors for the B-25 bomber at Connolly Air Force Base in Waco, Texas.  A series of moves took him to air force bases in Selma, Alabama; Dover, Delaware; Greenville, South Carolina; West Palm Beach, Florida; Iceland, Denver, Colorado; and Amarillo, Texas.

By 1966, Montgomery was flying the C-130 Hercules.  His home base for the next 33 months was Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam.  “The C-130 was noisy but versatile – there wasn’t much we couldn’t do.  We ran special operations, supported USAF strike aircraft, dropped personnel, equipment and supplies, and flew many rescue missions.”

MONTGOMERY WAS SILVER STAR RECIPIENT FLYING C-130 HERCULES (LEFT)
DURING VIETNAM WAR -- HAD 3 1/2 KILLS FLYING P-51 DURING WW II

Montgomery’s most vivid memory of Vietnam is May 12, 1968, “That was Mother’s Day.  My family was living on Okinawa at the time, but I could not get over to be with them.  Just as we were returning to base after flying most of the day, we were ordered to proceed to Kham Duc on an extraction mission.

Cork-screwing into the mountainous landing strip, we could tell the Special Forces Camp had been over-run.  We saw smoke, fires, two crashed C-130s and a helicopter along the runway as we went in.  Under heavy small arms and mortar fire, debris and wreckage down the runway -- and no visible survivors to extract -- I turned the aircraft around and prepared for a reverse take-off.

LT COL FRANK MONTGOMERY USAF (RET) SERVED DURING THREE WARS

Suddenly, U.S. Special Forces troops, South Vietnam troops and Vietnamese civilians appeared from all directions and swarmed under our propellers and into the back of our C-130.  I told the loadmaster to push everyone aboard and close the hatch – we were leaving in five minutes.”

For that Mother’s Day mission Lieutenant Colonel Frank Montgomery was awarded a Silver Star.  “When it was all over, we had brought 180 people out, plus two pigs!  The Vietnamese didn’t leave much behind!  I wish that Silver Star could have been cut into five pieces – my crew deserved it just as much as I did!”

After 28 years, eight months, 22 days, and over 20,000 flight hours, Frank Montgomery retired from the Air Force and returned to his High Point roots.  He chronicled his service during three wars and entitled it to fit his persona, “No Complaints -- I flew on the first day and I flew on my last day.”   

As a civilian, he promptly reverted to his propensity to build.  He and his sons formed Montgomery Investments, dealing with residential real estate.  At 93, Montgomery has turned everything over to his family.

Cynthia Montgomery died in 2003 – they had been married 56 years.  From the marriage came four sons, nine grands and four great-grandchildren. 

The Montgomerys were life-long members of First United Methodist Church – High Point.  “My Montgomery grandfather was a charter member of First UMC,” says Frank Montgomery.  “My Cranford grandfather gave five acres of the family farm on which Fairview United Methodist Church was built.”

After Ray Street Elementary and Ferndale Junior High, Montgomery graduated from Central High School.  He ran track for Central and set a state record for the one-half mile run in 1940.

FRANK MONTGOMERY WAS TRACK STAR AT
HIGH POINT CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL

Frank Montgomery and his brother, James, a World War II sailor, were named to the Central High School Hall of Fame in 2016.

An interesting aside, Frank Montgomery’s chronicle of his service includes a photo of him and six others who left for the Army Air Corps on February 19, 1943.  One of the “others” is former Guilford County Sheriff Sticky Burch.  Burch had never seen the photo.  When shown the 74-year old photo, he exclaimed, “That was a London Fog I was wearing!”

19FEB1943: CANDIDATES LEAVING GREENSBORO FOR AVIATION CADET TRAINING AT MIAMI, FLORIDA -- FRANK MONTGOMERY (KNEELING CENTER)
STICKY BURCH (SECOND FROM LEFT STANDING) 

Over 74 years later, Montgomery and Burch met again – but that’s another story.

               

HOLLYWOOD MARINE, BUT NOT BY CHOICE

Marines who go through recruit training at San Diego are often called “Hollywood  Marines.”  This referral comes almost exclusively from Marines who underwent “real” recruit training at Parris Island. 

EDWIN CANTER FIRST SAW WW II COMBAT AS A SEA-GOING MARINE

Edwin J. Canter was a Parris Island Marine who became a “Hollywood Marine” by the most unfortunate of circumstances.  “During the Invasion of Iwo Jima, our rocket truck lost its differential as we off-loaded onto the beach.  A tank towed us inland a ways – overnight, two of our men robbed a knocked-out truck of its differential -- we were in business again.

On my 14^th day as rocket crew chief, I was shot off the rocket truck by a Japanese sniper.  Rocket trucks always drew an angry fusillade of counter-battery fire, so my buddies knew they had to get me away from the launch site fast.

A U.S. Coast Guard motion picture crew happened to film my buddies as they tried to move me to a safer place.  However, when enemy shells started coming in, my buddies dropped me and dove for cover.    I was wounded again, this time by shrapnel -- the two Coast Guardsmen were killed.”

CANTER BEING MOVED TO SAFER PLACE AFTER BEING HIT BY SNIPER

Canter underwent surgery on the beach and was placed aboard a hospital ship which took him to a hospital on Guam.  He was later moved to a hospital in Hawaii, and finally to hospitals in Oakland, California and Norfolk, Virginia.

 

Even though the film crew perished, the film survived and made its way into numerous newsreels in the states.  The sequence eventually became part of the 1949 movie, “Sands of Iwo Jima,” starring John Wayne. 

U.S. COAST GUARD FILM SEQUENCE USED IN SANDS OF IWO JIMA
CPL EDWIN CANTER KEYED IN NAMES OF EACH ROCKET CREW MEMBER

Now in his 97^th year, Edwin Canter is the most improbable of “Hollywood Marines.”

His demeanor is much more akin to an educator than Marine – as it should.  After graduating from Appalachian State University, he served Wilkes County Schools for 35 years – eight as a teacher, and 27 as a principal.

An undergraduate and master’s degree isn’t all he received as a Mountaineer.  While they were college seniors, he and a Forest City coed, Ruth Bridges, were married in June, 1948. 

One daughter, Rachel Canter Yarbrough, and her husband, Jack, live in Greensboro.  They have two children – Ryan and Rebecca.

Canter was born on the last day of December, 1920, in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and graduated from Millers Creek High School in 1938. 

He hasn’t strayed far from his mountain roots, excluding his travels as a World War II Marine.  He makes his home nowadays on Brushy Mountain Road in Moravian Falls, North Carolina.

“I joined the Marine Corps in Winston-Salem on July 7, 1942.  After boot camp, I went to Sea School, after which I went aboard USS Santa Fe.  We entered combat against the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands in July, 1943.  We bombarded Attu and Kiska initially and supported the U.S. landing at Kiska in August, 1943.  Marines manned 20 millimeter gun turrets on the cruiser -- it wasn’t long before I had a perforated ear drum.  After that, we spent four months patrolling the area to prevent Japanese naval operations,” Canter recalls.

After Canter’s tour on the Santa Fe, he completed infantry training at Camp Elliott in California.  From there, he shipped out to Camp Beaumont, on Hawaii’s Oahu Island, where he underwent 4.5 inch rocket training.  Upon completion of that training, he was assigned to the 1^st Rocket Detachment, 4^th Marine Division – destinations Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima.

Iwo Jima was the deadliest battle in history for the Marine Corps, almost 7000 Marines were killed in action.  Canter and his Rocket Detachment went ashore on D-Day, February 19, 1945.  Four days into the battle, the Stars and Stripes went up on Mount Suribachi.  Ten days later, Rocket Crew Chief Edwin Canter went down.  Even though the battle for Iwo Jima would go on until March 26 -- for Corporal Canter, the war was over. 

In addition to his purple heart (he should have been awarded two purple hearts), his Marine Corps decorations include presidential unit citations for Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima; Navy unit commendation for Iwo Jima; and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign ribbon with four stars.

ONLY TWO OF CANTER'S IWO JIMA ROCKET CREW SURVIVE
"I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO REACH THE OTHER SURVIVOR IN SEVERAL WEEKS,
AND I AM WORRIED ABOUT HIM," SAYS CANTER

It would be difficult for a single Wilkes County resident to have missed meeting Edwin J. Canter over his 96 years.  He was inducted into the Wilkes County Hall of Fame in 2015. 

His associations include the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1142, Disabled American Veterans, Wilkes Business and Professional Club, American Legion, Kiwanis Club, Wilkes County Retired Teachers Association, and Marine Corps League.

A charter member of the Brushy Mountain Fire Department and Brushy Mountain Ruritan Club, he is an active member of Wilkesboro United Methodist Church, where he has been a member since 1959.

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

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

Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue

Based on years of writing about veterans, my endorsement of both the War on Terror’s American Sniper movie and the World War II battle for Iwo Jima should be clear.  Wars happen.  Forces mobilize.  Warriors do what they have to do.  They come home as veterans or casualties.  The cycle repeats.


The American Sniper movie was politicized from its record-breaking first showing forward.  The likes of the battle for Iwo Jima are showing some adverse affectations – whether from age or political correctness is unclear.

February 19, 2015 marks the 70^th anniversary of the battle for Iwo Jima.  Affectations aside, a 75^th anniversary, and a 100^th anniversary will likely be commemorated, but why take the chance? 

Here’s to commemorating the 70^th anniversary of the battle for Iwo Jima!


Here’s to Greensboro’s Andy Symmes, who now lives with a High Point, North Carolina daughter and her family.  Symmes’ 105mm howitzer battery landed on Iwo Jima’s D-Day and fought 36 of the most deadly days in the history of the Marine Corps.  Japanese resistance finally ended on March 26th.

TOM GIBBS (L) WW II CORSAIR CREW CHIEF
SOLOMONS, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, OKINAWA
ANDY SYMMES 105MM HOWITZER BATTERY – IWO JIMA

Here’s to Fairmont, West Virginia’s Hershel “Woody” Williams, who traveled over the country to secure the 2014 Annual Convention of the Marine Corps League for his home state. (Greensboro, North Carolina hosted the 2010 Convention)   Williams was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on Iwo Jima.

Here’s to the Iwo Jima Survivors Association of Winston-Salem, North Carolina as they commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima on February 21, 2015, at the Maple Chase Golf and Country Club. 

Here’s to Colonel Sheldon Scales, the last surviving company commander on Iwo Jima.  Colonel Scales, a North Carolina native from Stokes County, passed away in 2014 in a retirement facility in Martinsville, Virginia.

Colonel Sheldon Scales, Iwo Jima Company Commander

Here’s to John Murphy, an Iwo Jima Marine from the same regiment as my cousin, PFC Walter Ray Thetford, who was killed on the 14^th day of combat.  Murphy traveled from New Castle, Delaware to meet my son and me at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C to review Iwo Jima records.

CAPTAIN HARRY THETFORD JR. (THEN LCDR) AND IWO JIMA
PURPLE HEART SURVIVOR JOHN MURPHY AT NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON, D.C.
WITH BOTH FLAGS THAT FLEW FROM MT. SURIBACHI

 And here’s to PFC Walter Ray Thetford.  He was the only son of a Mississippi farmer who served in World War I.  Of 17 first cousins who served in World War II, Walter Ray is the only one who made the supreme sacrifice.  Three sisters survived him, all of whom married World War II servicemen.

PFC Walter Ray Thetford, died of wounds
during the battle for Iwo Jima

Here’s to the memory of PFC Jacklyn Harold Lucas, a graduate of High Point University.  Lucas earned the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima at the age of 17 years and six days – the youngest Marine in history to win this award.  He planned to present his medal to High Point University on Alumni Day, 2008.  He passed away before that date, but his widow made the presentation.

Here’s to Greensboro’s Delmas Bearden, who now lives with his son and his family in Burlington, North Carolina.  Bearden, a Navy yeoman, was wounded on D-Day at Normandy when his minesweeper struck a mine and sunk.  He recovered in time to serve on a supply ship on D-Day for the invasion of Iwo Jima.

Delmas Bearden

Here’s to the three Marine Corps generals who led the charge at Iwo Jima: Graves B. Erskine, Clifton B. Cates and Keller E. Rockey – for their World War I heroism alone, these three had been awarded four Purple Hearts, three Silver Stars, and three Navy Crosses.  

Here’s to the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, and to the Marines who perform sunset parades at the Memorial.  There is no more stirring sight than a company of dress-blued Marines suddenly appearing from behind the Memorial.  Arguably, the world’s tallest bronze statue, the six flag-raisers are 32 feet tall.  The National Park Service does not make mention of a 13^th hand – an urban legend too often forwarded.

Sunset Parade at the Marine Corps War Memorial

Here’s to Marines of the Iraq War, still driven and inspired by Iwo Jima as the gold standard of combat heroism.  General James T. Conway, Marine Corps Commandant at the time, said when a young Marine was asked about the possibility of U.S. troops wresting control of Fallujah from insurgents, he replied, “Of course we can take Fallujah, we took Iwo Jima!”    


Here’s to the Americans of the greatest generation who served on the home front.  According to James Bradley, a best-selling author and son of an Iwo Jima flag raiser, “The three Iwo Jima flag-raisers came back to the states and sold $26 billion in war bonds in two months.  That compares to the U.S. budget for that year of $56 billion.”


Five months after the Iwo Jima flag-raising, the Post Office issued an Iwo Jima stamp.  The cost was three cents each.  People stood in lines for city blocks to buy Iwo Jima stamps on the first day of issue.  For many years, it remained the biggest selling stamp in the history of the U.S. Post Office.

Here’s to Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, whose quote immortalized the battle for Iwo Jima, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.”

Here’s to the patriots who won’t wait until Memorial Day to memorialize almost 7,000 Marines and Navy Corpsmen who made the supreme sacrifice on Iwo Jima.

God Bless!  Ol’Harry