St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1946-03-01
Dear Joe
By JAMES L. HICKS

what he observed overseas.
I'm fed right up to my Adam
Apple, so pardon me while l ."
l was in Townsville, Australia
in June, 1913, when Bishop J. A
Gregg came overseas labelled a
"a special representative Of tn
President Of the United States
and built all the colored soldiers VI
to the biggest let down we eve
had.
At the time Bishop Gregg was il
Townsville colored troops wer,
going through the toughest perioC
of discrimination from their owl
white officers they ever had to FACE
in that part of the world.
l don't know what the Bishop
came over for-very few Of th'
men ever found out, for all the
time he was there he was closely
flanked by Georgia-born Colonel P
NJ. Shockley and the enlisted mer
gave them plenty room, but We
hoped he'd change things.
But l went on from there to com.
bat in New Guinea and lived tC
read the glowing accounts Of Bish-
op Gregg in the American papers
on how well the colored troops
were faring in Australia and the
isles of the Pacific.
The day Bishop Gregg came to
Townsville we had steak for din
ner. | wonder if he knew that we
had been eating bully beef for 80
days straight before he came
wonder if he knew we ate "C''
rations for as days more after he
was gone.
When Bishop Gregg ate in the
officers mess lat the Colonels
table, of the 48th Quartermaster
Truck Regiment | was a second
lieutenant just out of OCS, but
was already in command of the
92nd ON Railhead Company be-
cause they we're headed for combat
and the white captain who former
ly commanded it wanted to stay in
Australia.
Maybe Bishop Gregg figured
that second lieutenant Scott and
l sat at the same table in the
corner of the mess hall because
we were second lieutenants but ]
wonder how he figured Chaplain
Frierson of Atlanta, Ca, who was
a first lieutenant got at that same
table.
In case the Bishop was too busy
with the colonel to ask, will tell
him now. We sat in the corner
because we were colored officers
and that was the colored table
but the Bishops report in Ameri-
can papers said we were getting
along all right
When | hit the beaches of New
Guinea as a company commander
although my company's area was
a good eight miles over jungle
trails from the docks where the
ships from the States came in
was constantly troubled by colored
naval personnel who would hitch
hike and walk those eight miles and
attempt to abandon their ship and
join my company because they
were being treated so badly on the
high seas by naval officers.
And yet, Joe, lived to see the
Secretary of the Navy pin the
Nays highest civilian award on
Lester Granger, National Secre-
tary of the Urban League, for say
ing among other things that the
Navy was twice as liberal as the
army in the treatment of its col
ored personnel.
When l stood on the deck of the
U.S.S. Mormacdale at Gamma
Dodo, New Guinea and said good
bye to the islands forever, the last
bunch of guys l talked to were a
group of Seabees who had helped
to load the ship. And the last thing
they said to me was, Lieutenant,
please, if you ever make it back
to the states (the war was still
very much on) please tell some
body how they are treating US over
here"
| am telling you now, joe
soldiered from private to captain
and served with Australian
Chinese, Indian, Aboriginal, and
Papuan troops, but the status Of
the colored Seabees at Gamma
Dodo and Waga Waga, New
Guinea, was the lowest have ever
seen in any uniform.
And yet lived to read an article
by the Rev. William H. Jernagin
VINO the Seabees officials took on
a tour of the Pacific, that said
among other things that the Sea.
bees were well treated in the Pa
cific. Maybe Mr.. Jernagin didn't
get to Gamma Dodo or the beaches
at Waga Waga. But maybe he
should have gone.
l was among the first colored
troops to land in Australia back
there in 1912 and one Of the things
which l will never forget is the
six blocks down along the Bris.
bane River in Brisbane which the
American army set aside for a
recreation area for colored troops
All the rest of the city of Brisbane
was "off limits" to tan CTS.