Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-03-30
Negro Troops
Land Artillery
on Two Jima

spOndent, formerly of the st. Louis
Globe Democracy
TWO JIMA (Delayed). - This
company of Negro soldiers accom-
plished unbelievable things, but
what they did that Marines on Two
Jima will never forget is to land
artillery on D-Day when the big
guns were the difference between
taking the island or getting off it.
japanese on Mount Suribachi
were raking the beaches and NOV
ing their range inland occasionally
to plaster Marine units trying to
dig in before nightfall of D-Day.
There was no Marine artillery
ashore yet. Machine guns were no
match for mortars and heavier
japanese guns. Men inching up
the steep inclines of Iwo's terraced
beaches kept their heads down and
wondered: when will our guns get
in-when will we start to answer
these barrages?
Early in the afternoon this Negro
amphibious truck company, a u. S.
Army unit attached to the Fifth
Amphibious Corps, started inland
in 30 bobbing, swaying "ducks"
(amphibious trucks), bringing with
them los nm. howitzers-the guns
that have since swept the four miles
of Two with salvo after salvo.
When the Negro boys finished, 48
hours later, they had lost 29 out of
their so ducks, but the guns were
emplaced and doing full-time work.
In the face of huge odds, only two
guns were lost.
Their story was teld by their
commanding officer as he squatted
in front of his sandbag-covered fox
hole a few yards from the beach
whose hazards of high surf and
mortar fire they had licked. He
was Army Capt. William Duryea,
of Suffern, N. Y. Next to him
stood a platoon leader, Army First
1t. Grover Groves, of 2152 Stacia
Way, Sacramento, Calf. These
men had deep pride in their eyes.
You understood this pride when
you heard the story of their men.
1.-Two Jima is tenable only to
that force which has artillery
ashore" the captain said. eve
knew days before the assault that
progress of Marine striking forces
would hinge in many ways on
whether their own artillery could
give them the support they needed
both near the airfields and on
the slopes of Mount Suribachi. We
told our men that the 1865 in their
care were precious cargo-they
could mean keeping or losing a
foothold on the beach. They did
the rest"
He called over his first sergeant,
Houston D. Austin, of 248 Kennil-
worth, Detroit, Mich. Sergeant
Austin recited facts in a clipped,
matter-of-fact way. II was so
matter-of-fact that you almost for
got the significance of what you
were hearing.
"Our job was not only to land
the first artillery" he said, "but to
move it inland to predesignated
positions. We had one hell of a
time. Mortar fire filled many ducks
full of holes. High surf swamped
others. Some couldn't make the
beach's steep incline and had to
make half-a-dozen tries under fire.
We had drivers who had ducks shot
out from under them and then came
back for more. had to order sew
eral men off their ducks after they
had worked 48 hours unloading am
munition where one hit would have
blown everything nearby sky-high. {"
ave expected loyalty of men to
vehicles, but not like it turned out.
Drivers kept their sinking ducks
afloat until the last second before
going under, when they would jump
into naval small craft. Sometimes
they were fished out, half-drowned
themselves, by sailors who were
luckily in the area. One man,
Francis Goodrich, Army technician
fifth grade, ran out of gas, refused
to abandon his duck and gun, and
was swept IS miles out to sea,
where he was picked up by a de-
stroyer. He was missing for 10
hours. We gave him up for lost,
but he finally came in and, although
exhausted, remained in action. That
night his gun helped repel a Japa-
nese counterattack.
1--WE knew speed was everything.
One hour after we hit the beach
with these guns-and enemy fire
kept us from landing again and
again-our guns were set up and
we had brought in ammunition for
them to start firing. The marines