Transcript C-Daniel-2015-11-06-MDAH-WWII

World War II, The South
and Mississippi
Southern (and Western) Training
• Most major land and air force training installations were formed in the
southern or western United States. The climate in these areas allowed for
more training, uninterrupted by severe cold weather.
• Sanitation among the southern camps was surprisingly good during both
world wars, despite the sub-tropical climate in some areas. Camp Shelby
was among the best camps in sanitation during both World Wars.
• The design of Army installations upheld racial segregation in quarters, mess
(dining) and recreation areas. This is often attributed as a reflection of the
regions where the bases were established most often.
4th Service Command
• Established in 1942 to operate Army and Army Air Forces bases in the
southeastern United States. The 4th Service Command replaced an Army
field corps, V Corps, that later served in Europe during the war.
• Largest of the troop commands in personnel (176,000)
• Contained the two largest bases in the United States by troop capacity
and geographic size: Fort Benning, Georgia and Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
• Among the most installations overall of nine (9) Service Commands, had the
most Army installations but fewer Air Force installations than most other
commands.
• A majority of the women serving in the Women’s Army Corps were assigned
to support training installations within the various Service Commands.
Camp Shelby
• Camp Shelby was used by the Army from 1937-1941 as part of the Protective
Mobilization Maneuvers and peace time draft/activation of reserves training.
• When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, there were over
40,000 soldiers already in training at Camp Shelby.
• Second only to Fort Benning, Georgia in geographic size and troop capacity
(90,000). During its peak operational period, 1943-1945, Camp Shelby
regularly had over 105,000 military and civilian personnel on site. This made
Camp Shelby the largest “city” in Mississippi at the time.
• Nine divisions, each about 14,000 men, trained at Camp Shelby as well as
dozens of smaller units. Counting the induction and separation stations
at Camp Shelby, approximately 700,000 American soldiers trained at the
camp during the war.
Segregated Minorities in Service
• African Americans and Japanese Americans were racially segregated into
separate units. Army practice rarely allowed advancement above companygrade officers (lieutenants and captains) for African Americans and Japanese
Americans, but there were exceptions. Field officers and unit commanders
were Caucasians for segregated units.
• Most African American segregated combat units did not train in the
southern United States. Two Army infantry divisions, the 92nd and 93rd,
were comprised of African American soldiers both trained primarily at
Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
• All Japanese American combat arms soldiers were trained at Camp Shelby
until the segregation restrictions for them were lifted in 1945. Japanese
Americans, although subject to racial segregation within the Army,
were treated as “legal Caucasians” when travelling outside Camp Shelby in
Mississippi and Alabama.
• Latinos, Chinese Americans and Native Americans were not subject to
segregated service conditions by the Army.
African Americans at Camp Shelby
• Very few African American soldiers trained at Camp Shelby for wartime
service. There was a significant number of African American soldiers
assigned to the operation of the camp throughout the war.
• A African American USO Club was built on 6th Street in Hattiesburg for
the soldiers concurrently with one for Caucasian soldiers. Camp Shelby’s
neighboring city offered something most other installations in Mississippi
did not, an economically thriving African American community. In this way,
African American soldiers at Camp Shelby had a refuge of sorts from some
of the segregation practices of Mississippi at the time.
•
Prominent African Americans visited Camp Shelby during the war. In 1942,
famed Olympic athlete Jesse Owens visited the camp along with an Army
inspection team to ensure African American accommodations were equal to
those for Caucasian soldiers. In 1944, heavy weight boxing champion
Joe Lewis paid a visit to the camp.
A Curious Affair
• In 1943, Brigadier General Matthew Halloran, commanding general of
Camp Shelby, secured from the city leaders of Hattiesburg that Japanese
American soldiers would be treated in all respects as Caucasians while
visiting the city. This became general throughout Mississippi during the
course of the war.
• Concurrent with General Halloran’s efforts, Mr. Earl Finch of Hattiesburg
was busily soliciting local residents and Hawaiians to raise money for an
“Aloha Club.” Most Japanese American soldiers were volunteers from
Hawaii. A ranch near Camp Shelby was bought as a refuge and resort for
the Japanese Americans to shield them from Mississippi’s racially
discriminatory laws.
•
General Halloran and Mr. Finch were at odds on how to best serve the
Japanese American soldiers. Exchanges became heated and an officer
from the War Department had to intervene.
Camp Van Dorn
• Camp Van Dorn was a single division training camp located near Centreville.
• Two divisions, the 63rd and 99th Infantry Divisions, trained at the camp during
the war.
• Among the first units to arrive was the African American 364th Infantry
Regiment. This regiment is the focus of rumors of a massacre of African
American soldiers by local civilians and Caucasian soldiers. The topic was
exploited by a book by Carroll Case, The Slaughter (1998) which
prompted an investigation by the Army. The Army accounted for all soldiers
of the 364th Infantry Regiment in a 2001 investigative report, disproving the
alleged atrocity.
• A significant portion of Camp Van Dorn’s operational staff were African
American soldiers throughout the war.
Camp McCain
• Camp McCain was a single division training camp located near Grenada. The
camp still exists today as a Army National Guard training center.
• Two divisions, the 87th and 94th Infantry Divisions, trained at the camp during
the war.
• The sharpest clash between African American soldiers from Camp McCain
and Caucasian Mississippians occurred near Duck Hill where shots were
exchanged, but without casualties.
• Life magazine published “Life at Camp McCain” in November 1943 which
gives an excellent view of conditions there during World War II.
SS HATTIESBURG VICTORY
Naval and Maritime
• Mississippi’s small Gulf Coast hosted several important naval and maritime
bases including the 101st Naval Construction Battalion station in Gulfport,
a seaplane base in Biloxi as well as Ingalls Shipyard and the Merchant Marine
Academy in Pass Christian.
Cat Island Dog Training Center
• The War Dog Training Center on Cat Island was one of three (3) installations
in the United States that provided trained dogs to the Army and Marine Corps
during the war.
• A shameful episode occurred in 1943 when a platoon of Japanese American
soldiers from Camp Shelby were brought to Cat Island so the dogs could learn
to “sniff out” Japanese soldiers.
Army Air Bases
• There were eleven (11) Army Air Bases in Mississippi during World War II,
as well as dozens of auxiliary air fields.
• Jackson Army Air Base hosted the 35th Army Air Base Unit, providing a
primary pilot training program. In May 1942, the Royal Netherlands Military
Flying School was established at the base to train Dutch and “Javanese”
(modern Indonesian) pilots, aircrew and ground crew. Like Japanese Americans
at Camp Shelby, the Dutch-Javanese personnel were treated as Caucasians when
travelling in Mississippi. The Dutch restricted Javanese personnel from being
trained as pilots, but allowed them to train in other aircrew positions.
• Keesler Air Force Base continues to serve as an Air Force training base today.
During World War II, its role was much the same as today, but included basic
training as well as technical training. Playwright Neil Simon’s experience
during the war inspired his play Biloxi Blues.
Southern Exposure
• Millions of Americans trained in the South during World War II. This is one
of the great “meet and greets” among Americans of all time.
• Full employment for the local community – and a great change from the
Depression conditions. But for some communities, overcrowding and exposure
to more urban problems, including overcrowding, vices and other crime.
• Marriages among Southern ladies and soldiers in training – from outside the
South - were very common. Interracial marriages of Caucasian women
with Japanese American and Dutch-Javanese men occurred during
the period.
• Southern temperance was tested during the war, with the demands
of soldiers for beer outpacing the resistance of the conservative population of
Mississippi.
• With the return of thousands of African American veterans from war, tolerance
of continued racial discrimination was nearing its end.