KNIGHT FAMILY MADE ULTIMATE SACRIFICES IN WW II

Columns sometimes end in cemeteries -- this column began in a cemetery -- during a recent Dr. Max Carter-led tour of the New Garden Friends Meeting Cemetery.  Carter mentioned the tragic loss in 1943 of almost an entire family when a military airplane crashed into their Guilford College home.

WW II BROUGHT CASUALTIES TO THE HOME FRONT TOO -- CORNELIA KNIGHT LOST HER MOTHER, TWO SISTERS, AND ONLY BROTHER

For a writer about veterans, that begged further investigation.

World War II was raging in 1943, but Oliver Knight, of Route 1, Guilford College, North Carolina did not figure to send anyone from his Quaker family off to the war.  Demographics, as much as his Quaker faith, gave him this assurance. 

His household included a wife, three young daughters, a seven-year old son, and an adult sister – hardly a cache of conscription candidates.

As a Greensboro mail carrier, Knight surely kept up with the war.  He knew the Marines had secured Guadalcanal; that Army Air Forces were pounding Nazi-occupied France and Germany; that General Patton’s troops had secured Sicily; and the Allied Invasion of Italy was underway.

While his neighbors along Oak Ridge-Guilford College Road were sending family members off to the war, no one from Oliver Knight’s family would be going.

As ironic as it was tragic, World War II came to the Oliver Knight family -- a U.S. Navy fighter plane crashed into their two-story frame house on Monday afternoon, September 14, 1943.  Next door neighbors heard the explosion and said the house enveloped in flames and dense smoke in seconds.

According to the Greensboro Daily News, “The fighter plane clipped a tall pine tree 150 yards to the rear of the Knight home, plowed through the garden and wire fence, entered the kitchen and blasted through the building to the front room.”

Killed instantly in the burning inferno were Mrs. Oliver Knight, her 19-year old daughter, Wilma, her 11-year old daughter, Dorothy, and her seven-year old son, Oliver, Jr.

SAD DAY FOR QUAKER FAMILY OF KNIGHTS AND QUAKER FAMILIES
OF NEW GARDEN FRIENDS MEETING

Oliver Knight’s life was spared because he had momentarily stepped from the house to gather fruit from his grape arbor.   His sister, Louetta Knight, survived by climbing out a window onto the roof of the front porch, where neighbors helped her down. 

DESPITE TRAGIC LOSS OF FAMILY MEMBERS, OLIVER KNIGHT HAND-CRAFTED
THIS POSITIVE FRAME OF MIND 

His 17-year old daughter, Cornelia Knight, a rising sophomore at Guilford College, escaped through a broken window on the first floor – they were treated and released from St. Leo’s Hospital.

Navy LT (JG) Marshall W. Mathiesen, 35, of Oakland, California was identified by the newspaper as pilot of the fighter plane.  His mangled body was found on the front lawn of the Knight home – he left a wife and four-year old son.

Mathiesen was attached to the Ferry Division at Floyd Bennett Field in New York City and thought to be ferrying a new fighter plane to Atlanta.  Witnesses said it sounded as if he had engine problems.  He had been cleared to land at Greensboro-High Point Airport, but crashed before he was able to land.

It was further speculated the pilot was making a desperate attempt to crash land in an open field across Oak Ridge-Guilford College Road from the Knight home.

Wilma Knight, 19, the oldest Knight daughter, was ironing on the back porch when the plane hit.  She had worked at Pilot Life Insurance during the summer and was just days away from entering Guilford College as a rising junior, majoring in sociology.

Dorothy Knight was a fifth grader and Oliver Jr. a second grader at Guilford School.

The Knights were active members of New Garden Friends Meeting, where the mass funeral was held.  One casket held the charred remains of the mother, two daughters and a son. 

Oliver Knight Sr. died on January 17, 1974 and is buried alongside his family.

The Knight sisters had been day students at Guilford College, but after the tragedy, Cornelia lived on campus, “Being among students was a tremendous help in keeping my mind off the tragedy,” she recalled recently from her apartment at Friends Home Guilford.

“I majored in English and even though I wasn’t keen on teaching, I did get a teacher’s certificate.  I taught English at Guilford High School my first year and later switched to the seventh grade – by then I was absolutely in love with teaching!” 

HER CHEERY PERSONALITY KEEPS HARMAN'S CHILDHOOD LOSSES BELOW THE RADAR OF MOST OF HER FRIENDS HOME GUILFORD NEIGHBORS

Many of her teaching years were in Mount Airy, the home of William Albert Harman, whom she married in 1947.  The Harmans first owned a Western Auto Store and later built and operated a grain mill until they retired to Sebring, Florida.  He died in 2001.

The Harmans had two sons, two grands, and five great-grandchildren.  At least some from this list are in line for minutely cross-stitched Christmas tree ornaments, crafted in love over the summer by the Oliver Knight family matriarch – named Cornelia, now 90, in honor of her grandfather, Cornelius, who managed the Guilford College Farms.

CORNELIA KNIGHT HARMAN'S GRANDS & GREAT-GRANDS KNOW SOMETHING
CRAFTY AND UNIQUE WILL COME THEIR WAY ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS

Louetta Knight lived in spinster-hood until age 67.  She married John Gurney Gilbert on February 26, 1961 – he was 84.

World War II casualties were 291,557.  At least four more should be added – the Quaker Knights from Route 1, Guilford College, North Carolina.

90-DAY WONDER NOW 95

Frank Heberer was one WW2 veteran I could hardly wait to write about.  He and I retired from the same company.  We were both from Mississippi.  Our Sears’ work-a-day paths often crossed.  He was an accountant – I was the accountee.  We both chose Greensboro for our retirement homes.

Heberer reflected, “I was raised on a farm.  When the price of cotton dipped to five cents per pound during the depression, we lost our land and my dad worked as a rural mail carrier.  I don’t know how he did it, but he scraped and managed to send me to Ole Miss.”

Heberer graduated from Ole Miss in 1943.  His timing for WW2 could not have been better.  “I was a ROTC graduate but they sent me to OCS at FT Benning as a Corporal.  In a matter of 13 weeks, I became a 90-day wonder,” he explains. 

LT. FRANK HEBERER 

    

LT. Heberer spent the early months of 1944 in Texas, training recruits bound for Infantry Replacement duty overseas.  Some of those trainees likely landed at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.  Heberer wasn’t far behind, “I walked ashore on Omaha Beach as a replacement officer on July 12.  I joined the 30^th Infantry Division on August 14, 1944 – it was my 22^nd birthday!”

It wasn’t lost on Heberer that the life expectancy of 2^nd Lieutenant Platoon Leaders wasn’t good when he took over his platoon in Company F, 2^nd Battalion, 120^th Regiment, “I was a mighty lucky soldier!”

The 30^th Infantry Division advanced across France and into Belgium, taking heavy casualties as they moved.  During the Battle of the Bulge, Heberer’s luck ran out.  He was wounded by shrapnel – on Christmas Day, 1944.

BATTLE OF THE BULGE CHRISTMAS GIFT WASN'T HEBERER'S FAVORITE

“I was evacuated to England for treatment and rehabilitation.  By the time I rejoined my outfit, it was just before VE-Day.  Our Division received good news, we would be among the first to return to the states – the bad news was we would immediately start training and equipping to invade Japan!”

Heberer and his 30^th Infantry Division returned to the states aboard the Queen Mary.  The division had lost over 3000 men and over 13,000 were wounded in action.  Heberer earned a combat infantryman’s badge, two bronze stars with valor device, a purple heart and campaign ribbons for combat in Northern France, Rhineland and Ardennes.

 After one year, he was back in Germany as part of the U.S. Constabulary Force.  “Luckily, the war crimes trials had just ended, and the cold war had not begun yet.”

In 1948, Heberer left active duty for a job as comptroller with Sears in Greenville, MS, but remained in the Army Reserve.  I was lucky again -- when the Korean War started, they did not call me back.“  In 1949, in First Presbyterian Church of Canton, Mississippi, he married Elizabeth Shipley, his high school sweetheart. 

FRED BINDER LOOKS OVER HEBERER'S HIGHLY-VALUED
GERMAN WEAPON -- BINDER'S FATHER WAS ARMY OFFICER
WHO ALSO SERVED DURING THE WAR TRIALS

  

After an assignment in Jackson, MS, Heberer worked four years in Winston-Salem and 10 years in Charlotte.  In 1965, he came to Greensboro.  In 1987, he retired with 39 years of Sears service.

“I found it hard to work at Sears, start our family, and stay in the Reserve but they made me commanding officer of the Jackson, MS unit so I couldn’t quit at the moment.”  Heberer never got around to quitting – after 28 years of combined service, he retired as a full colonel.

For years, I kept track of Frank Heberer’s age by reading tennis box scores by age bracket on the city, state, southern and national level.  “I competed in U.S. Tennis Association Senior Tournaments for over 35 years,” Heberer says. 

The Mississippi native and his friend and long-time doubles partner, Dr. George Simkins, a black dentist and NAACP leader, may have raised a few eye-brows.  Their friendship extended far beyond the trophies and championships they won together.

The doubles team of Heberer/Simkins won multiple state championships in various age groups, often playing down into a younger bracket.  Heberer recalls, “George and I planned to play in the 2001 championship at Old Providence Racquet Club in Charlotte, but he withdrew when he learned it was NCA&T homecoming weekend.  George suffered an aneurysm at the football game and never recovered.” 

Heberer won the 1988 NC over 65 championship with Charlotte’s Bob Jones as his doubles partner.  Jones’ basketball-playing son, Bobby, may be better known in these parts. 

Heberer still looks, acts and talks like a tennis player, even though his tennis is relegated to television nowadays.  “My knees sidelined me in 2010.”  His last competitive tennis came at age 88. 

94-YEAR OLD RETIRED COLONEL PROUDLY FLIES OLD GLORY EVERY DAY

Married over 66 years, Elizabeth and Frank Heberer are members of First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro.  They have two grown sons and one grandson.   

      

            

SUITCASE HOLDS CACHE OF MEMORIES

The phrase, “Living out of a suitcase,” means more to 92-year old Jane Doner Fredrickson than to some. 

PRE-WWII SUITCASE AT LEAST 84 YEARS OLD
STILL HOLD TREASURE CACHE OF INFORMATION

 

Along with her mother and sister, Fredrickson lived out of a suitcase during almost three years of Japanese imprisonment during World War II, “That suitcase was given to me by my grandmother in 1933.  She impressed upon me how different it was from most suitcases, inasmuch as it had linings.”

LEZAH ANDERSON ARNEY, ANN FREDRICKSON WILLIAMS,
JANE FREDRICKSON, & TONI SANGINITE PRICE.
ARNEY, WILLIAMS & PRICE ARE CHILDREN OF WW II POWS
FREDRICKSON WAS A CIVILIAN WW II POW

Jane Doner Fredrickson than to some.  Along with her mother and sister, she lived out of a suitcase during almost three years of Japanese imprisonment during World War II, “That suitcase was given to me by my grandmother in 1933.  She impressed upon me how different it was from most suitcases, inasmuch as it had linings.”

Fredrickson was born on the Island of Cebu in the Philippines to school-teaching parents.  Her father taught several years before associating with a coconut plantation on the Island of Mindanao – her mother continued to teach in Cebu.  Jane Fredrickson attended the all-girls Santa Teresa Academy.  She was the only American in her school. 

All was well with the Doners.

Then came the war.

 “My father couldn’t get back to Cebu, so when evacuation was ordered on Christmas Day, 1941, my mother, sister and I left for the hills along with other American and British civilians,” Fredrickson reflected recently.  “I volunteered to work on the waterfront, but when the Japanese started bombing the docks, my supervisor, an Army colonel, said he needed a man who could jump on a truck and carry a gun.  At that time, I wished I had been a boy!

About 15 families stayed in two houses on a sugar plantation for a few days, but when we heard Manila had fallen we moved further into the hills.  We lived in bamboo huts with nipa thatch roofs until May 1, 1942 when we surrendered to the Japanese.

Imprisoned on Cebu, we were first kept in a house, then a jail, and eventually moved to an abandoned junior college building, formerly used as a barracks by Japanese troops.  The building and grounds were indescribably filthy!

In October, we were moved to Club Filipino, a wooden building with thatched roof.    In December, 1942 we went aboard a Japanese ship – five days later we reached Manila and were taken to Santo Tomas.  We remained there until liberated by American troops almost three years later.”

A few housekeeping items are in order here:  Manila’s University of Santo Tomas was taken over by the Japanese and used as their largest internment center.  Upward to 3700 Americans were imprisoned at Santo Tomas, more than at any other location. 

Jane Fredrickson’s father, Landis Doner, survived the Mindanao Death March after his capture.  In January, 1944 he was moved to Santo Tomas – the family was together again, but not under the most favorable of circumstances. 

During the battle to retake the Philippines, Allied Forces bombed Japanese facilities in Manila and Santo Tomas was shelled by the Japanese. 

The rest of the world learned about Santo Tomas in the March 5, 1945 issue of Life Magazine.  According to Life, “The liberated Americans were sick, hungry and subdued.”  Jane Fredrickson this as a vast understatement.

She would know.  Should she forget, there are the three versions of her diary for reference.  She has the rough draft, written on scraps of paper as inconsequential as Japanese cigarette pack wrappers.  Later came a hand-written transcription and finally, a typed version.

WW II PRISONER OF WAR KEPT DAY BY DAY JOURNAL OF CAPTIVITY

“The Japanese guards routinely confiscated and destroyed personal diaries.  I was caught writing in my diary, but they let me continue when told I was doing school work.”

Fredrickson had entrusted a Filipino friend with her Cebu diary, “Wrapped in oilcloth, he buried it under his bamboo house.  After the war, we made contact and he shipped the diary to me.  In the meantime, he and his wife had a daughter – they named her Jane!”

During her imprisonment, Fredrickson found out just how wise her grandmother had been, “I kept writing every day, the linings in the suitcase made wonderful hiding places.”

WRITER MOST APPRECIATIVE OF GREAT AMERICAN
SHARING HER TREASURED MEMORABILIA

After the war, Jane Doner Fredrickson graduated from Penn State University, where she met and later married Robert A. Fredrickson, a World War II cryptographer.  The family moved to Greensboro in 1949.  He taught history and music at Greensboro/Grimsley High School for 35 years.  She taught Spanish and English at four Greensboro Middle Schools.  Robert Fredrickson died March 13, 2015 at 91.

The Fredricksons had two children, Ann Fredrickson Williams and Craig Fredrickson, as well as four grandchildren.

In 1992, Jane Fredrickson received a letter from Santa Teresa Academy, “They invited our senior class back for our official graduation – 50 years later.  I was honored to be the keynote speaker.”

She is an optimist, as her mother must have been – Millicent Doner wrote to her hometown newspaper as Santo Tomas was being liberated, “We are fashionably thin due to slow starvation.  We’ve had narrow escapes and shells are flying over our heads as I write, but no one is afraid – our Boys (American GIs) are here now!” 

COAST GUARDSMAN'S WORLD WAS UP &  DOWN

Royce Garrett admits to a widespread series of “break-ins” during his 31-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard.  These incidents ranged from New York’s Hudson River to the Aleutian Islands and both the Arctic and Antarctic.  Since ice-breaking is what Coast Guardsmen do . He wasn’t disciplined – he was decorated.

CAPTAIN ROYCE GARRETT USCG 1956-1987

“Growing up in Greensboro as an Eagle Scout and Quartermaster Sea Scout, I was a water guy and driven to sail.  After grades one through nine at Gillespie, I graduated from Greensboro High School.”  In addition to borrowing money from his father for college, Garrett worked a series of part-time jobs: lifeguard at Camp Herman; the Sears Catalog Order Plant; took school pictures; and taught sailing at Camp Seagull.

“After graduating from Guilford College in 1956, the draft board gave me an ultimatum – ‘Be in the service before August 1, or we will put you in the Army.’  When my application for Coast Guard officer candidate school bogged down, I joined as an enlisted man – July 24, 1956.”

Not too long after Boot Camp, officer candidacy opportunities opened up again and Garrett was commissioned as a Coast Guard Ensign.  His first assignment was aboard the CGC Clover, a Kodiak, Alaska-based buoy tender.

After a tour of shore duty in Norfolk, Garrett served aboard his second buoy tender, the CGC Mistletoe, servicing the Chesapeake Bay. 

Garrett doesn’t believe in coincidences any more than I do, but this is his story, “Although we never dated in Greensboro, Mary Jo Caudle and I grew up together in Calvary Methodist Church on Asheboro Street.  Our mothers were pregnant with us at the same time.  Parishioners joke that Mary Jo and I crawled up and down the Calvary aisles together.”

They came together again in Hampton Roads, VA – Garrett’s Coast Guard career was progressing nicely – Caudle, after graduating from Greensboro College, had become a school teacher.  Per Garrett, “After we started dating, my sea-going buddies advised me to be sure she enjoyed sailing before I proposed.  It rained buckets the day I invited her to sail with me in a regatta – but she went anyway.  We were married on January 16, 1960.”

After shore duty in Miami, Garrett earned a Master’s Degree from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, CA, after which he took command of the Buoy Tender, the CGC Firebush, servicing New York Harbor.

Next, he became the Special Assistant to the Commandant of the Coast Guard in Washington, DC.  After that, it was back to sea, via St. Petersburg, FL where he took command of the CGG Steadfast.  “We primarily dealt with Caribbean, law enforcement and drug issues.”

USCGC NORTHWIND

Garrett assumed command of the Wilmington, NC-based polar icebreaker, the USCGC Northwind in 1978.  “We were happy to be home-ported in North Carolina, but deployment came 10 days after we moved,” recalls Jo Garrett.

Proceeding to the Arctic, the Northwind established ice camps, cleared ice from channels, and resupplied Arctic outposts.  Simultaneously, she conducted a wide range of research and search and rescue operations.

Polar opposites more than adequately describe Garrett’s next deployment – and one of his break-ins.  “We broke a channel into the U.S. Antarctic Base to allow passage for re-supply ships with fuel and cargo.”  While there, Garrett hitched a ride to the South Pole Station.  “It was a weird feeling, standing on ice 9000 feet thick in minus 40 degrees temperature.  Regardless of which way I turned, every direction was north!”

Garrett and his Northwind crew were fascinated when a U.S. submarine broke through six feet of ice and surfaced near-by.  “Realizing they had been underway for quite a while, I took one of our helicopters and dropped them a box of fresh fruit.  Later, they presented me a ship’s flag in appreciation.”  

SUBMARINERS GAVE GARRETT FLAG IN APPRECIATION FOR FRUIT BASKET

After 31 years of service, Royce Garrett retired in 1987 – he served on five Coast Guard ships, commanding three of them.  “I feel very fortunate to have visited the South Pole, and going as close to the North Pole as icebreakers could go.”

Retired, but not inactive – relief efforts they started in Northern Virginia for Belarus children suffering from Chernobyl radiation continue today – over 800 children have been impacted.

GARRETTS HAVE TRAVELED FAR AND WIDE IN THEIR AIRSTREAM

The Airstream motorhome parked behind their home is another activity monitor, “We’ve enjoyed over 80,000 miles in it – several trips across country and lots of snow-birding in Florida.”

The Garretts moved back to Greensboro in 2004.  They are active members of Market Street United Methodist Church, and have done Meals on Wheels and worked at Potter’s House.  Health issues precipitated his recent retirement as church treasurer, but he continues to serve as an usher.

They have one son and two grandchildren.

   

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POW WIFE KEPT PACKAGES IN THE MAIL

Virginia Causey was a senior at Greensboro High School in 1940 when her mother died.  Her father moved to Raleigh, but she lived with an aunt and uncle until she graduated.  She worked with Blue Bell/Globe Manufacturing Company, and later transferred with the company to New York City.

Then came December 7, 1941. 

Virginia Causey’s brother would eventually join the Navy.  Her sister, Mary, would marry a soldier.  Virginia Cudworth was already in love with a Greensboro City employee, Jim Cudworth.

 

“Marriage came up early in our three-year courtship.  We knew we were meant for each other, but also knew he would be leaving for the service.  Both his brothers joined the Marine Corps.  Jim and I thought we should wait until after the war to marry,” she recalls.

Jim Cudworth enlisted in the Army Air Forces as an Aviation Cadet in 1942 and was commissioned as a B-17 bombardier in January, 1943.  On March 9, 1943 the waiting to marry ended.  Virginia Causey left Greensboro for Ephrata, Washington – it was her first train ride.  Six days later, she became Mrs. Jim Cudworth.

1943 NEWLY-WEDS VIRGINIA & LT JIM CUDWORTH

A honeymoon furlough was scheduled for June, 1943.  On May 20, the new couple received a wire – all furloughs were canceled.

Jim Cudworth and his B-17 crew were off to England for duty with the 8^th Air Force.  He promised his new bride he would be home for Christmas.  Virginia Cudworth added, “I should have asked him WHICH Christmas he was talking about!”

BOMBARDIER JIM CUDWORTH UPPER LEFT 

Cudworth’s B-17 was one of 30 U.S. aircraft shot down over Bremen, Germany on October 8, 1943.  He was on his 10^th mission.  Wounded in the eye by enemy anti-aircraft fire and captured, Cudworth spent the rest of the war as a POW.  After the war, he elected not to have the flak removed for fear his vision would be lost.

CUDWORTH CREW SHORT SNORTER SIGNED BY CREW MEMBERS

After a week in a German interrogation center, Cudworth was imprisoned in Stalag Luft III, made infamous by the Great Escape.  He wrote his wife, “I am allowed a ten pound package and $50 in cash each 60 days – please send dried fruit and oatmeal.  Give the $50 to the Red Cross, they are doing a great job for us.”

POW CUDWORTH WROTE WIFE TO SUPPORT THE RED CROSS

Virginia Cudworth recalls, “I sent him packages every two months, although I knew he wasn’t getting all of them.”  She kept a record of each package.  One list reads: “Shorts, socks, tooth powder and paste, candies, playing cards, Gillette blades, saccharin, gums, coffee and soap.”

“It didn’t bother me that he wasn’t receiving all of them.  I just hoped and prayed that some of them would reach him, especially the package he requested with dried dates, peaches, apples, books, and Lucky Strikes.  I caught streetcars, but nearly walked my legs off, finding everything he needed – there were no stores that carried everything like we have now.”

Notwithstanding that Cudworth was a prisoner of war, the Army Air Forces saw to it that he was awarded his first Air Medal.  Accepting the award at Basic Training Command #10 in Greensboro, NC was Mrs. Virginia Cudworth.

MRS. JIM CUDWORTH RECEIVING POW HUSBAND'S AIR MEDAL AWARD

At a later date, she was picked up at her home by Army personnel and taken to Drill Field #5, BTC #10, where she reviewed the troops and accepted her husband’s cluster device, representing a subsequent Air Medal.

Cudworth was eventually moved by railcar and force-marches – under frigid and inhumane conditions -- to severely overcrowded Stalag VII-A, near Moosburg.  “When liberated by General George S. Patton, our troops brought in the largest American flag I had ever seen.  I stood so close to Patton that our arms brushed each other,” Cudworth told his wife.

Post-war, the Cudworth family resumed a more normal life.  He returned to his job with the City of Greensboro.  She worked with A. M. Pullen & Co.  They were members of Muir’s Chapel Methodist Church and among the early volunteers to serve at Potter’s House.  They raised two sons, James Richard “Dick” Cudworth and Garry Wayne Cudworth.

The Cudworths’ interest in assisting other former prisoners of war led them to form the Greensboro Chapter of the American Ex-Prisoners of War Association (AXPOW).  Jim served several terms as Greensboro Commander, and three years as State Commander.

Jim Cudworth retired from the City of Greensboro after 35 years of service.  He died September 16, 2008 at 87 – he and Virginia, now 94, were married 65 years. 

Virginia Cudworth remains active in the Greensboro Chapter, American Ex-Prisoner of War Association.  She deflects all credit for supporting her POW husband, “My mother-in-law did more, she wrote each of her three sons a letter every Thursday they were away in the war.”

   

   

THE ERRORS STOP HERE

I didn’t think for one moment that Bill O’Reilly would answer my email message.  After all, it contained a litany of errors found in his recent best seller, KILLING THE RISING SUN.

 

Conversely, I hope he doesn’t think for one moment that I will let those errors go unscathed for readers of this column.  Nor that I come to these pages to condemn his book.

Granted, the message carried a negative tone.  I didn’t care for my first call-out, and recently, when called out for the 300^th time, it wasn’t any more palatable. 

But it’s doubtful he would have responded, even if I had glowingly posted him that I thought this was his best “Killing” book yet – which I do.  Just a guess, but he and his ghost writer buddies are probably already busy, scouring the planet for something else to kill.

Some of his errors are excusable, such as the statement that the distance from San Francisco to Tokyo is 8000 miles.  When I made that trip via troopship in the 1950s, it took 21 days and seemed like 88,000 miles.  However, Google distance says it’s only 5136 miles.

There was no suspense that the plot a book of this genre would lead to the deck of the USS Missouri, in Tokyo Bay, for surrender ceremonies, photo ops, and mass flyovers.  O’Reilly had good words to say about the “Mighty Mo.”  In fact, they were too good!  His mention of the ship’s 25-inch guns would have caused consternation with international treaty folks – 16-inch is the legal maximum – the Missouri has nine of them, but zero 25-inchers.

His glowing accolades went down with the ship when he quantified her length as almost as long as a football field.  At 887 feet, she is much closer to the length of three football fields.

These all too obvious errors were on page 257 of the 300-page jewel of a World War II broad brush – definitely not his best page.

Looking past the errors, allow another disclaimer – this is one great book.  I recommend it wholeheartedly.  Buy, it borrow it, check it out, or Kindle it, you will be glad you did.  Best you buy it, because it is one you will want to read more than once.

O’Reilly struggled with the Marine Corps table of organization during the Battle of Peleliu, primarily on page 40.  He conflicted himself by reporting that the 1^st Marine Division, no longer a fighting force, was relieved by the 5^th Marines. 

Three regiments made up the 1^st Marine Division: 1^st Marines, 5^th Marines, and 7^th Marines.  O’Reilly should have reported, “the 1^st Marines were no longer a fighting force.”

While the errors on page 257 were unforced, unnecessary, and fall in the low-hanging fruit category, the Marine Corps infrastructure mishap on Peleliu is more easily over-looked and forgiven – except for a best-selling author.

What cannot be over-looked and forgiven are errors on page 35.  O’Reilly mentioned a Marine officer named Pope who had first seen action on Guadalcanal in June, 1942.

Numerous Guadalcanal veterans have been written about in these pages, including PFC Speedy Spach of the 5^th Marines, Major General Lloyd Wilkerson USMC (Retired) of the 1^st Marines who was a PFC at the time, and my brother, Sergeant Jack Thetford, of the 1^st Marine Air Wing – even so, Marines did not land on Guadalcanal until August 7, 1942.

O’Reilly’s Grand Poobah comes in dealing with that Marine officer named Pope.  Not only did he place Everett Pope on Guadalcanal when it was only occupied by natives, Korean laborers and Japanese troops – he mistakenly reported Pope was the father of two sons. 

This would have been a shock to his bride of just a few months, Mrs. Eleanor Hawkins Pope.

The Popes did eventually have two sons, Lawrence E. and Ralph H. Pope, but only after Captain Everett Pope returned home from combat campaigns on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, and Peleliu – during which he earned a bronze star, purple heart, and Congressional Medal of Honor.

The Pope son, Lawrence E., should sound familiar to readers of these pages.  As a retired U.S. Ambassador to Chad, Ambassador Pope was called back into service in 2012 when John Christopher Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to Libya, was murdered by terrorists at Benghazi.

Ambassador Pope has been called upon again more recently.  He will speak at the inauguration of the Bowdoin College Marine Corps Association.  It will be named in memory of his father, a magna cum laude graduate from Bowdoin. 

Hopefully, the Greensboro News & Record will send Bill O’Reilly a gift subscription.  He might enjoy reading about our veterans as much as we enjoyed reading his KILLING THE RISING SUN.

THE MARINES LANDED AT UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA @ GREENSBORO

Call it an experience of a lifetime if you wish – some of us will not be around the next time the Marine Band comes to our town.  Not to fear, everyone over-flowing UNCG Auditorium on Saturday evening October 29, enjoyed patriotic music sufficient to last a lifetime.

STANDING IN LINE IS MARINE CORPS-COMPULSORY

These Marine musicians, made me wish I had worn gloves to protect my clapping hands.  That’s says a lot – I customarily clap three claps and move on.

Coined “The President’s Own,” by President Thomas Jefferson, the Marine Band toured the Southeast for the entire month of October – Greensboro was their next to last performance of this year’s tour.

Their music should have been good – they’ve been performing since 1798, when they were established by an Act of Congress.  Not out of disrespect, but they have played more for Presidents than for Congress – every President except George Washington has heard the band play.

Some Presidents have been more closely involved with the Marine Band than others.  President Warren G. Harding played trombone with the band; then-Governor Bill Clinton played saxophone with the band during the 1991 Governor’s Dinner at the White House; President George W. Bush conducted the band in a performance of The Stars and Stripes Forever, in 2008.

President Lincoln took the band along for his speech at Gettysburg.

Even after his death, President Kennedy was closely connected to the Marine Band – the Marines led his funeral procession.  He once proclaimed, “The only force that cannot be transferred from Washington, D.C., without my permission, are members of the Marine Band.”

The question could be asked – did John Philip Sousa make the Marine Band famous, or did the band make Sousa famous?  The answers would be, “Yes.” 

HARRY THETFORD, MARION SMITH, NAT REED
MARINES ALL

Actually, Sousa was following in his father’s footprints.  Antonio Sousa played trombone with the Band 1854-1879.  His son, John Philip was schooled in the Marine Barracks and originally served in the band 1872-1875.  Another son, George joined the band at age 16 and performed for 30 years.

John Philip Sousa came back as the 17th Director of the Marine Band 1880-1892.  His tenure of leadership brought to the band an unprecedented level of excellence.  Famous Sousa hits, such as Semper Fidelis, Washington Post, and Stars and Stripes Forever established him regally as “The March King,” as compared to his contemporary, Johann Strauss, Jr., known as “The Waltz King.”

During my four-year Marine Corps career, I spent more time on mess duty than trying out for the band.  Consequently, seatmates had to clue me in on some of the musical numbers. 

MARINE BAND ON THE GROUND @ UNCG

I reciprocated by explaining the Marine Corps ranks listed in the program – they were not typos after all.  “GySgt” and “MGySgt” represent gunnery sergeant and master gunnery sergeant in Marine Corps-speak.  Those ranks weren’t around in my day.  They would have been respected at about the levels of today’s brigadier general and major general.  On the other hand, I could have gotten along with the beautiful and demure concert moderator/vocalist, GySgt Sara Sheffield. 

It must be mentioned, this was the first time in history that more Marines stood up during the service medley than any other branch of service.  The sixty Marines in the Band certainly helped our cause.

Kudos to Dr. John R. Locke, UNCG Director of Bands, for sponsoring the Marine Band’s appearance in Greensboro.  Host sites are required to jump through many hoops – of both logistics and political correctness – it was “mission completed” for Locke and his UNCG team.  Kudos to the Band for inviting Dr. Locke to guest conduct a number.

Accommodations for “16 wardrobe trunks,” was one of the hoops.  They must have been high tech wardrobe trunks -- some musicians warmed up in civilian clothes until 7:25, but had their spiffy uniforms on by show time, 7:30.    

Kudos to the band also for recognizing Lieutenant Colonel Jim Hayes, USMC (Retired), a Greensboro businessman.  Hayes reflected on his time with the Band, “Being assigned to Marine Barracks, Washington, DC was a tremendous honor, but to be selected as executive officer for the Band made that tour very special to me.”  During his 22-year career with the Marines, Hayes also served as infantry officer with the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th Marine Divisions.

The Marine Band is the nation’s oldest continuously active professional musical organization.  “Happy Birthday,” wasn’t on their program at UNCG, but the 241^st birthday of the Marine Corps comes up on November 10, 2016.

Happy birthday, Marines – we were honored to have you perform in our town.