by Mehlo, Noel
Captain Whittington and his First Sergeant Grant E. Constable caused a stir due to their forceful and swift attack. They climbed the outside of the telephone exchange covered in mud and camouflage with their submachine guns and they entered through a window, announcing “Don’t anybody move.” This alarming action ended up causing one of the women operating the switchboards to do the wrong thing with the switchboard, triggering an alert Security and Warning Alert System of the East Coast all the way to Washington, D.C. During the war the entire East Coast was under blackout as directed by the rules of Civil Defense to guard against enemy attack. The 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion was the only unit to so completely capture the base and town.9
Secrecy was deemed of utmost importance to the Rangers training and movements. Passing of certain information through the mail or other means was restricted during this time. If a man sent a letter at the wrong time containing information on movements, etc, he might find himself under arrest or facing other punitive action.
Figures 68-84 illustrate the combined Army-Navy training conducted at Fort Pierce.
Figure 68: USACE16: Figure 124. Training for amphibious operations where an Army duck receives its loading orders by wig-wag from atop mock-up of assault transport at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 28 November 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 198, photo 43898). ERDC/CERL TR-10-10 pg 79
Figure 69: USACE16: Figure 212. Seabees in a chow line after a practice invasion at unknown location, 8 October 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 377, photo 82511). ERDC/CERL TR-10-10 pg 134
Figure 70: USACE16: Figure 271. Navigation class phase of raider training at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 9 December 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 862, photo 264385).
Figure 71: USACE16: Figure 214. An LCVP loaded with rifle squad ready for disembarking in training operations on the Atlantic coast at unknown location, 1 August 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 392, photo 85064).
Figure 72: USACE16: Figure 215. Seabees in landing boats prior to an invasion scene at unknown location, 8 October 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 377, photo 82524).
Figure 73: USACE16: Figure 216. Seabees leap from their boats in an invasion scene at unknown location, 8 October 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 377, photo 82518).
Figure 74: USACE16: Figure 217. Seabees leave the boats and fall flat on the sand in an invasion scene at unknown location, 8 October 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 377, photo 82516).
Figure 75: USACE16: Figure 263. The commandos were tough (Becker, 1946, p 51). ERDC/CERL TR-10-10 164
Figure 76: USACE16: Figure 267. Phase of raider training at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 10 December 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 862, photo 264404).
Figure 77: USACE16: Figure 268. Log PT phase of raider training at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 10 December 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 862, photo 264408).
Figure 78: USACE16: Figure 269. Seven-man rubber boat phase of raider training at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 10 December 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 862, photo 264395).
Figure 79: USACE16: Figure 270. Seven-man rubber boat phase of raider training at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 10 December 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 862, photo 264398). ERDC/CERL TR-10-10 169
Figure 80: USACE16: Figure 274. Obstacle course phase of raider training at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 9 December 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 862, photo 264392).
Figure 81: USACE16: Figure 275. Obstacle course phase of raider training at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 9 December 1943 (NARA College Park, RG 80-G, box 862, photo 264391).
Figure 82: USACE16: Figure 276. Training of Scouts and raiders for hand-to-hand combat at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 10 December 1943
Figure 83: USACE16: Figure 277. Training of Scouts and raiders for hand-to-hand combat at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 20 December 1943
Figure 84: USACE16: Figure 278. Training of scouts and raiders for hand-to-hand combat at Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, FL, 20 December 1943
(NARA College Park, MD) Upon completion of the training at Fort Pierce, Private Hull and the other Rangers might have received a completion certificate that looked like the one pictured below in addition to the blue version of the Amphibious Forces Patch which was for the Army, while the red one was for Navy and Marine Corps personnel (Figure 85). Research suggests however that the school had not yet begun to issue these course completion cards until later in the war. This did however clear up the mystery as to why my grandfather had this patch among his belongings. If not issued upon completion of the course, he might simply have picked it up at the PX. Based on the wording on the card, he would have been eligible to receive and wear the patch as were all the other Rangers who went through the training at Fort Pierce.
Figure 85: U.S. Naval Amphibious Training Base course completion card This training continued untiringly until 20 November 1943, and during all the training, the sharp eyes of experienced instructors weeded out the officers and men who were not all that was required for a Ranger to be. They trained here until November 20, 1943 when they departed for Fort Dix, New Jersey.
7 FORT DIX AND NEW YORK CITY
Lt. Colonel Owen Carter and his men of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion next moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey for advanced training in final preparation of their forthcoming movement overseas. The unit arrived and was assigned to ETOUSA and attached to the First U.S. Army on November 20, 1943. It is known that the 2nd Ranger Infantry Battalion had received the blue and gold diamond Ranger patches on September 29, 1943. It is not known exactly what date the men of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion received their diamond shaped Ranger patches, but it is likely that by this time these patches adorned their uniforms.
Fort Dix, New Jersey is located in Burlington County. It is spread in part over Springfield Township, Pemberton Township, and New Hanover Townships. It is located at 40°00
southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. It lies approximately 56 miles southwest of the southern tip of Manhattan Island, and it is about 29 miles west of the Atlantic seaboard. The Fort had a land area of 10.39 square miles. Most of Burlington County is considered coastal and alluvial plain with little relief. The lowest point at sea level along the Delaware and Mullica Rivers and the high point of 260 feet above sea level in South Jersey. Today, Fort Dix is the common name for the facility known as Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JB MDL). Climatologically, the November average high temperature is 57 degrees Fahrenheit (F) with an average low temperature of 35 degrees F. The average high in December is 45 degrees F, with a low of 27 degrees F. In November 1943 the actual monthly low temperature was 24 degrees F and the monthly high was 70 degrees F with a monthly total of 2.38 inches of rain and no snow. In December 1943 the actual monthly low temperature was 9 degrees F and the monthly high was 55 degrees F with 1.27 inches of rain for the month and no snow.1 This was quite the change from sunny Florida, and began to better acclimate the men to weather conditions in Europe.
The fort is named for a famous leader in U. S. History as are many United States military posts. It is named for a veteran of the War of 1812 and Civil War, Major General John Adams Dix. He also served as Governor of New York and Minister to France. The construction of the facility commenced in June 1917. On July 18 of that year, the War Department decided on the name of Camp Dix for the cantonment. The Camp served as an important training and staging ground for the 78th, 87th and 34th Divisions for World War I. After the Great War the camp became a demobilization center due in part to its location and for being the largest military reservation in the Northeast. Being stationed here is the only reason for why my grandpa might have had a patch for the 78th Infantry Division in his possession. He must have liked it and picked it up as a souvenir I am guessing.
In between the World Wars, Camp Dix served as a training center for Army, Army Reserve and N
ational Guard units. On March 8, 1939 the War Department renamed the facility Fort Dix and also incorporated Fort Dix Army Airfield as part of the base. The air field adjacent to the installation dated back to 1926 and was formerly named Rudd Field. The newly named Fort Dix was used as a permanent Army post. It served as a reception and training center for conscripted soldiers. It was responsible for the training of ten divisions and many other units. It became the largest military training and staging post in the Army during the war. Fort Dix Army Airfield was used for antisubmarine warfare. At the conclusion of the war, both the Army post and Army Airfield served a vital role in receiving men and equipment from overseas. Over 1.2 million soldiers separated from the military at Fort Dix. What is interesting to me is that considering the role it played in the war, not much is in print concerning Fort Dix as compared to other bases.2 In the photo below (Figure 86), note the railhead along the bottom half of the picture and the airfield on top.
Figure 86: Fort Dix New Jersey, view looking generally east: 1943 USAF photo The official unit records are very Spartan during this period, as are the informational resources from the more noted published authors like Black, Glassman and Raaen. The accounts by James Robert Copeland, B Company, and Victor Miller, F Company, offer the most candid descriptions as to the actions of the battalion during their stay at Fort Dix. Importance was also placed on the 2nd Ranger Infantry Battalion history for researching this chapter, as it has been indicated that the training of both battalions was similar in many respects.
The result of compiling the accounts of training conducted at Fort Dix for the 2nd and 5th Ranger Infantry Battalions seems to indicate that the training regimen lessened to a degree while at the Fort. Men were able to take furloughs and passes fairly liberally. According to the 5th Ranger Battalion Company Morning Reports for B Company alone, no less than 46 of the enlisted men and two of the officers including Company Commander George Whittington went on furlough in December. This seemed to be the practice across the board in the Battalion. It was here that the Rangers underwent final unit level preparations before their overseas movement and after hard work; the men were treated with a much earned break.
After the training was completed in Trenton, New Jersey, Hull, Weast and Ching were issued a two-day pass or “liberty” to go and visit New York City. According to Ching’s daughter, “Randall remembers seeing NYC with about $ 50.00 in his pockets. His monthly pay (as a private in the Army) was $75.00 a month. Six dollars and fifty cents was automatically deducted for life insurance from the army (a soldier's family was paid 10,000 dollars if killed in action) and twenty dollars was sent to his parents.” They took the train from Trenton into the city arriving at Grand Central Terminal “Station” located at 89 East 42nd Street in Manhattan. A large group of Rangers made this journey into the city. It is believed that other members of the battalion who travelled to New York included Vern Detlefsen, Wilsie Ryan, JR Copeland, James Stevenson and Arthur Hodges. In meeting with Ranger Copeland in 2013, I saw a picture of these men sitting in a New York City club with some lady friends Copeland referred to as “local natives.”3 JR Copeland provided me with a picture showing some Rangers and himself enjoying an evening out in New York (Figure 87).
Figure 87: Rangers Detlefsen, Ryan, Copeland, Stevenson and Hodges seated left to right at night club in NYC 1943. (Photo courtesy of JR Copeland) Hull and Ching broke away from the group upon arrival as they where not interested in drinking and carousing and started seeing the sites of NYC on their own. The friends watched people in a Penny Arcade on Times Square intersection in New York City. The penny arcades of Times Square included such notable attractions as Hubert’s Museum, “Home of the Trained Flea Circus,” and other exhibits. Carl Weast took the picture below of the two friends. As an aside, Randall and his daughter provided a copy of this picture to our family in 2014 (Figure 88). We had not seen this photo before. The Blitzkreig Bar was a photo booth in Times Square. It had a fake background made to look like a bar with the name. Blitzkreig is German for lightning war. Servicemen would stop by to have a souvenir photo taken, sometimes alone, with buddies or sometimes with local young ladies standing with them while smiling seductively. The props included cigarettes and liquor bottles.4
Figure 88: Photo of Randall Ching and Herbert Hull taken in Penny Arcade in Times Square, NYC at set named the “Blitzkreig Bar” (Courtesy of Randall Ching) He said, “We took the picture, went around and see the movie.” Pvt Ching and Sgt Hull went to see the movie For Whom the Bell Tolls, with Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman. They spent twenty-five cents apiece to see the film at a discounted rate for GIs. This movie was based on a best seller by author Ernest Hemmingway. It was produced and directed by Sam Wood and was distributed by Paramount Pictures. This information assisted in identifying the location the men watched the movie at as the major studios had specific theatres where their films ran in and around Times Square. The Rivoli Theatre was located at 1620 Broadway at 49th Street in Times Square. It was a 2,270-seat building constructed in the Greek Revival style in 1917. The theatre was noted for its excellent acoustics.5 For Whom the Bell Tolls was a love story set amidst the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War on 1937. The Technicolor movie opened at the Rivoli on July 14, 1943 and ran 28 weeks until January 1944. The New York Times hailed the film as “the best film that has come along this year…” Over one million patrons viewed the film at this location during its run. It was an interesting choice for two trained special operations soldiers to go see prior to shipping overseas. The men went together to the movie because neither one of them drank alcohol, hung around in bars or had an interest in carousing with wild women. This is ironic considering the staged photo of them at the “Blitzkrieg Bar”. There were numerous theaters in and around Times Square that played a wide range of movies. At intermission there was live music inside a majority of the establishments.
Figure 89: Rivoli Theatre, Times Square, NYC (Source, New York Public Library) After the movie, the Rangers went to a drug store that was playing loud swing music. While there they ate hot dogs and drank Coca-Cola, Cherry Coke, Coke floats and Lemon Coke. Randall said, “That’s all we drank, oh, ice cream soda, Ice cream soda, they didn’t have milkshake at that time I think.”
The December 25, 1944 edition of LIFE Magazine featured the world’s largest telephone center in the heart of Times Square. The article indicated that an average of 20,000 letters and 13,000 postcards were written and sent from there a month. The center saw over 475,000 servicemen per year to make calls home. The phone center was across the street from the Riolto Theater and adjacent to the New York Times Building. The theater was slightly to the left of the phone center when facing Broadway.6
Another Times Square establishment that catered to the Servicemen was the Stage Door Canteen located at 216 West 44th Street under the 44th Street Theatre. It was begun and run by the American Theatre Wing, War Service Inc. at the beginning of the war. It offered dancing, food and non-alcoholic drinks. Celebrities came to work shifts and entertain the men. It could accommodate 500 people at a time and was open seven nights a week.7
To Ching, Sgt Hull was tall and lanky and reminded him of Jimmy Stewart. Ching recalled he always had a smile on his face and was a pretty easy going guy. Randall said of Sgt Hull, “He was a very nice person for one thing, I know that… He was very dedicated. It was fun to be with him, but when it come down to serious business, he very strict. When there is firing anyway, he no joke around.” Their leave in NYC was for about 36 hours. Hull and Randall walked up and down the streets asking for directions to famous sites and the nearest USO. They finally found a USO near Time Square and had lunch, coffee and donuts and to "rest their feet". The men then spent the night at the USO Club. The downstairs had a lot of dancing, coffee and donuts and the upstairs of the club had cots for GIs staying overnight in the city. According to the New York Times, “Since World War II, the U.S.O. has maintained its busiest and most famous facility in the heart of New York, just off Times Square.�
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The USO was founded February 4, 1941 at President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s request with the mission of lifting the spirits of service members and their families. It opened its first center in a small storefront smack in the middle of New York’s Times Square. “It was a unique experiment that brought together six service agencies that had been working independently to support the military. The six stars on the USO logo continue to pay tribute to these organizations: the Salvation Army, National Catholic Community Services, National Jewish Welfare Board, National Travelers Aid Association, and the YMCA and YWCA. Ultimately growing to about 3,000 centers during World War II, the USO provided a “home away from home” for the military, Whiting said. USO centers hosted dances, social events, movies and music. They also offered quiet refuge where troops could write a letter home or enjoy a free cup of coffee and a snack.”9 After the President requested the organization of the USO, the government began assisting them construct buildings for their mission. In 1941, the War Department asked them to entertain the troops. This led to the travelling shows with entertainers like Bob Hope, Dinah Shore and others in a separate subsidiary known as the Camp Shows. In New York City, a huge USO sign was erected in Times Square containing a portrait of FDR that read "The USO deserves the support of every individual citizen."10 The facility was first located on 44th Street at Times Square. At the time Hull and Ching spent a December 1943 weekend there, the USO was under the leadership of Prescott Bush, father of President George H.W. Bush.
