by Mehlo, Noel
The September 1943 Pay Roll record of 134th Infantry Regiment, M Company showed the transfer of Private Hull to 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion on September 7, 1943. These two pieces of information, along with the Company Morning Report showing him wounded in action on 2 SEP 44 discussed in Chapter 19 form the conclusive proof of him as a Ranger in the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion that I had been desperately trying to find for a long time. Also important, but not shown is the Pay Roll record for the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion for September, 1943 that shows his transfer to the unit.
That record reads: Page 24, Line 18; Hull, Herbert S. 35597467, Inducted January 14, 1943, Transferred as Private from Private to 5th Ranger Battalion, Camp Forrest, Tennessee, per paragraph 2, SO #197, Headquarters, 35th Infantry Division, dated 7 Sep 43.
The Pay Roll record for the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion for November, 1943 reads: Page 8, Line 3, Hull, Herbert S., 35597467, Private, Date of Induction, January 7, 1943, $6.50, Appointed Technician Fifth Grade (Tec 5), from Private, per paragraph 2, SO #28, Headquarters, 5th Ranger Battalion, dated November 5, 1943.
This is important because it shows him rising very quickly through the ranks from the rank of Private to Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt) between November 5, 1943 and February 1, 1944. In order to rise this quickly through the ranks is extremely impressive while in a training status and not yet involved in combat. He must have shown his superiors exceptional leadership potential in all areas of his training in order to accomplish this keeping in mind that this was a unit of the best of the best of infantrymen in the whole of the Army.
The Pay Roll record for the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion for December, 1943 reads: Page 4, Line 18; Hull, Herbert S. 35597467, Inducted January 14, 1943, Appointed Sergeant (Sgt) from Tec 5, December 15, 1943 per paragraph 3, SO #44, Headquarters, 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion dated December 15, 1943.
The Company Morning Report for the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion for December 16, 1943 reads: 35597467, Hull, Herbert S., Tec 5, Code 03; Appointed Sergeant as of 15 December 1943. The above Company Morning Report record showing the promotion to Sergeant is in two locations. The first is at USAHEC, U.S. Army Military History Institute, Robert W. Black Collection, 1939-1991, Box 5, Folder 2, 5th Ranger Battalion, Companies A-F, Morning Reports, Oct 1943-May 1945. The USAHEC is where I first found any conclusive proof of his service in the battalion in any kind of battalion records on March 27, 2012 while researching at USAHEC, Carlisle, PA. I sent this news out to both General John C. Raaen, Jr., and to Colonel Robert R Black.
Figure 56: Portion of initial 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion Roster showing conclusive proof of Private Hull as a Ranger from the origination of the unit. Colonel Black responded to me by saying, “I'm delighted that you had success. Your dedication/determination to succeed shows a true Ranger spirit.” These kind words meant a great deal to me and encouraged me to continue the research. Finally, proof of service began to match the extraneous pieces of information held by the family such as the address on the flap of a once opened parcel as shown below:
Figure 57: Parcel flap from war held by Hull family. A 5th Ranger veteran named Randall Ching described the process for becoming a Ranger in depth. He explained that he was born in San Francisco in 1924. When the Great Depression hit, his father immigrated with his family to China in 1933 to provide a better life for his family. The Japanese invaded China during the 1930’s and when Randall was 14, he joined the Chinese Red Army to fight against the Japanese. He remained in the Army for three months and he never told his parents of it. After the draft was enacted in the U.S., Randall’s father told him that he better return to fulfill his duties to the United States. Randall told me, “So, my father put pressure on me, he say “You’re 17 now, next year your gonna be 18, and since the Congress of the United States passed the draft law, then you better go back and answer your draft because 18 years old if you don’t answer your draft, you could lose your citizenship.” Ching had to wait nine months to book passage out of Hong Kong to San Francisco. When he finally got passage, it happened to be on the last ship from Hong Kong landing in late October 1941. After this time the Japanese sealed off the shipping routes and the bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7.
Private Randall Ching first trained at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri as part of the 75th Infantry Regiment… Oh before this, when I got in the service, they asked me, “You’re Chinese”, the first question they asked me “you wanna be a cook?” I said “Hell no, I don’t wanna be a cook, I said “give me a rifle”, (chuckle) so I got into the Infantry as a rifleman... Randall talked about his friend Carl Weast and said, “and oh, by the way, Carl Weast describes the Infantry, was also from the 75th. He say all these people {can’t make out} got the Infantry {can’t make out}, but actually that 75th Infantry Division is a replacement Division. They train the troops in basic training, and they ship them out as replacements. So, actually, they were kind of lax because the people training, the people in basic training were also Green.” Upon completion of basic training, he received a furlough and went to San Francisco.
He told me in an interview, “when I came back from furlough, they asked for volunteers for the Rangers, so I said “What the heck, I will join the Rangers and see what happens (chuckle)…” I finished basic training, and then the Ranger came up, I thought I would join the Rangers, and they surprised the hell out of me, they accepted me, because I’m the only Chinese in an all Caucasian unit… And, that’s when I first met your grandfather. He was a Buck Sergeant then. So all through the training from Camp Forrest, Tennessee to Fort Pierce, Florida, amphibious training, and up to Fort Dix, and from Fort Dix to Trenton, New Jersey, he was very careful about me because I was the youngest one in the unit, and because of the English problem. I spent 8-9 years in China, so in China, you only speak Chinese. So rarely the English, so I kinda lost the English… I knew him from when we activate 1943, the Rangers, until 1944, September. And then we had Hull for exercise, boat {can’t make out}, body-building, weapon familiarization, demolition charge, we learned the way things exploded with demolition.
Randall’s daughter Bonnie asked him if he ever had cultural problems with his fellow Rangers being the only Chinese man in the unit. Randall said that the men never gave him a bad time over it. They would make fun of the fact he didn’t speak English very well. Randall told me, “Once I remember I think in Tennessee in the mess hall, you know, so. Yeah, we had a mess hall {can’t make out}, I have chow, the breakfast, we went up there to get in line, I told the ‘messy’ “Hey Mess Sgt! We got the same thing yesterday!” And the Staff Sgt say, “Go see the Chaplain” The Chaplain, we always do that yeah. I thought to tell him, “Hey Sgt, he doesn’t speak Chinese!” Everybody laughed. (chuckles) The man, at the back of the line somewhere you know, “How come you no speak English, you got in the Rangers, and then {can’t make out} say, “Hey fellow, we got another one. Another one like that mess sergeant. He thought about me, how come he don’t speak English, how come he got in the Ranger, and the other guy say, “Hey fellow, we got another one!” Everybody laugh. Yeah, I did speak a little.”
When they are doing the organizing in Camp Forrest, Tennessee, they tried to put everybody prospectively in some category or some responsibility, and this Sergeant is from the old Ranger back in Anzio, Italy. They came back after Anzio, well, the Ranger Battalion in Italy was dissolved. The old veterans were sent home. The new volunteers, didn’t have the time to come home, so they ship them out to other units. Some of the old Rangers came back from say the 1st, 3rd or 4th Battalions, when they form the 2nd Ranger Battalion, some went from Italy, they volunteer as the, into the 2nd Ranger Battalion, so they let them volunteer. The way that like to volunteer Ranger anymore, or be going over seas, they use them as a trainer at Camp Forrest Tennessee to train the 5th Ranger Battalion. Well, this fellow, a Staff Sergeant from the 4th Ranger, he come and ask me “You want to be a messenger boy?” Well I said “No, I don’t want to be a messenger boy”. So they designated Weast t
o become the messenger boy.
Randall Ching explained his perspective of the formation period of the battalion. He said, “They got 3,000 volunteers. They only accepted about 1,000 or 700, more than 700, but during the training camp, they start weeding out. The ones that doesn’t qualify {can’t make out} the ones that don’t qualify shooting, doesn’t qualify the march, the physical exam, exercises they don’t qualify, they didn’t pass, they sent them out. All through the phased training, there’s some people who doesn’t qualify, they kick them out.” His daughter clarified with him that he had passed the physical examinations and the marksmanship tests. He affirmed that to her. He then went on to say something very telling of the Rangers. Later on, the men would not seem to receive the same citations and personal decorations for acts of valor as compared with men who served with other units. He explained why by stating “See, when we, when we joined the Ranger, they told us, “Don’t expect any recommendations.” Yeah, recognition, or recommendation. Just do your job. That’s all they wanted me to do. That’s it. Besides the marksmanship, I kept up with all the training.”
“The reason, is that I think that they didn’t kick me (Ching) out is that I can shoot. During the basic training at the 75th Infantry Division, I got a rifle range. I was an above average Expert on Rifle (M-1). At 250 yards, I always hit the bull’s-eye. 6 out of 8 shots. Six round clip, oh, eight round clip. I usually about 6 rounds or 5 rounds or six rounds, pretty consistent. On the prone position, on the kneeling position, its always right around 5 or 6 out of 8. This one is in my record. And then one time that’s at 400 or 500 yards, standing position, rapid firing, I put 7 rounds out of 8 in the bull’s-eye. That’s also in my record. They took the target, signed by the range officer, verify it, also, signed by the Company Commander, verify it, and that’s on my resume, so that’s why they kept me. I also kept it. From the 75th Infantry Division, on to the Rangers, I kept it all through the war. I kept that rifle, because I understand that rifle. But, I am also pretty good with, I also qualified with a pistol, sub-machine gun. Also qualified for Automatic Rifle (BAR). I also qualified for Light Machine Gun. But my main weapon was my rifle because I could hit anything from 100 yards to 400 yards. That’s why they kept me. That’s why I was the only Chinese in the Ranger {chuckles}”. His daughter asked him, “Really, the target, the target sheet was your resume.” These men were shooters. Their abilities in this area made them lethal.
The purpose of Ranger training was to develop forces that could strike very quickly behind enemy lines in surprise attack in order to soften up the enemy for regular troops to move in. The original intent was to have six weeks of intensive training stateside and then move to England for final training. Training of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion began on September 14, 1943 and was assisted by a few former members of the 1st Ranger Infantry Battalion. Their initial training was to follow the pattern that had been established by the 2nd Ranger Infantry Battalion. The 2nd Ranger Infantry Battalion had modeled their organization and training based on the 1st Ranger Infantry Battalion “Darby’s Rangers”. They also based a good deal of their training on the concepts developed by the Army Ground Forces and their Second Army Ranger School. Some of the training cadre that had been associated with 1st Ranger Infantry Battalions passed their battlefield experience on to the men. Some of the methods used in the Camp Forrest Ranger School were reportedly also taken from training methods used at a United States Marines combat training center in California. Many of the new recruits had heard of Darby's Rangers and were eager to train and fight in a similar unit. All of the men accepted by the unit possessed above average physical and mental abilities in general. The photo-essay at the end of this chapter documents the Second Army Ranger School. This training and the locations pictured would prove most important in the early phases of establishing both the 2nd and 5th Ranger Infantry Battalions at Camp Forrest in 1943 and is very representative of the training of all Rangers at Camp Forrest.
The Camp Forrest Ranger Training combined many elements of rigorous and specialized infantry training including advanced physical conditioning, tactics from a battalion down to squad level and field craft. The men would be trained to undertake various hazardous missions and duties as if they were second nature. The ultimate purpose of the Ranger battalions was a mystery to the men as they trained. The entire Ranger training program stressed toughness and infantry fighting skills. A typical day’s training might include reveille, followed by a mile run, breakfast, one hour of heavy calisthenics, and the conduct of specific training for the day. The men were also subjected to the veritable Army Training Films on such memorable topics as venereal disease and other health issues. The men lifted 14 foot long logs over their heads in groups, boxed and wrestled each other in pits and participated in “rugged” group games. The intense physical training was designed to help weed out those lacking in strength and stamina. The Rangers trained all over Camp Forrest and sometimes in the surrounding towns, farms, rivers, hills and cliffs. There were designated firing ranges on camp lands, including a rifle range on the former Lem Motlow property off Cumberland Springs Road on Old Shelbyville Highway and another one on Ledford Mill Road. Small arms and mortar crews trained at both of these ranges. Troops also practiced river crossing and cliff-scaling skills all over the surrounding area.5 Another account by Ranger Thomas E. Herring recalled that a typical day in Ranger training might be as follows:
“A typical day was "arise at 0500, fall out for roll-call, return to barracks to make beds, and at 0600 eat breakfast. Following breakfast we returned to barracks to get our gear in order for the rest of the day* At 0800 we assembled by company and marched to the physical training area for an hour of physical training, followed by an hour of hand-to-hand combat. Following this we would indulge in squad tactics until lunch. After lunch, we'd get lectures, weapons indoctrination, etc. About 3 p.m. we'd go on a fast road march of approximately seven miles, wearing field packs and side - arms. We eventually were able to do the seven miles in one hour. The marching built up our endurance to a high degree, which proved extremely beneficial in combat.”5
About two weeks after arriving at Camp Forrest, an obstacle course replaced part of the physical training regimen for the Rangers. The obstacle courses required the men to climb walls, run across rope bridges, traverse hand over hand on a rope across a stream with explosive charges going off beneath you in the water, walk across a log, climb on cargo nets, and climb up a rope hand over hand and then run to the end of the course. The men did all of this with rifle and full gear in around twenty minutes. They would run other obstacle courses with the cadre using live ammo with machine guns firing over the heads of the men. If a man stood up too high, he could be hit by a bullet. The men were subjected to five mile speed hikes three days per week, nine mile speed hikes about twice per week, and one twenty-five mile hike on Saturdays, arriving back at camp by lunch. Many of the hikes would be accomplished in the hot weather with full field packs. Each battalion would conduct a sixty-five mile hike, with half of it across county by compass. Tennessee was hot and dusty. The men were required to complete a five mile march in one hour and a nine mile march in two hours. “The policy mandated that, “If a man fell out on a hike, he would be considered physically unfit for Ranger service and would be transferred”. This policy would remain in force throughout training.”14 There are multiple accounts of men quietly marching on untreated sprained and broken ankles in order to remain in the unit. The standard training was heavy on physical endurance.
The men learned land navigation using compass courses, using pacing techniques, the expert use of maps, star navigation and other means. The Rangers might be sent into the hills with not much more than a compass and were instructed that they had to find their way back to camp. Other times the men might be sent out with only a small amount of food. The various squads had to go out on a field problem that required them to live off the land, berries, edible plants and wild game and cook their own food. They might hav
e to find water sources, purifying it with iodine before drinking. They were issued machetes to carry for cutting through brush and vines in the field.
They had cliff climbing training on sheer cliffs in the Cumberlands, some of which had undercuts, and the men would wash out if they refused to climb. The Rangers also trained in rappelling, which was a new experience for many, and sometime scary. If a man was descending a cliff where the overhanging cliff face ended in an undercut, the men may find themselves with no place to put their feet for a bound as they dangled in space. In some of these cases the men might panic, and if they did, they might let go of the rope and crash on the rocks below. An example of this is in Figure 58.
The men would swim and practice stream crossings using rope bridges or floating on improvised flotation devices. The Rangers used the Elk River to learn how to make rafts of brush cut with machetes. Two people would use each of their shelter halves (tents) to roll up the brush to form a small raft to paddle across the river. The Rangers were taken to a mill pond called Cumberland Springs where they had to go into the water with full gear and rifle and swim to the other side. It was reported that Lieutenant Bernhard Pepper, Commanding Officer, Company F, led his men in one deep water exercise only to learn that he could not swim at the time. He had to be rescued. Not daunted by what must have been a minor embarrassment, he would go on to lead in Company B during the assault on Fort de Toulbroch’.
