Our local library and The African American Military History Museum have partnered together for special lectures during Black History Month. Some are for children only (which is sad because I would have wanted to attend), but there are four lectures that I plan on attending. The first was this one was on Monday night. Camp Van Dorn, World War II Mobilization, and Black Troops in the Deep South by Charles Bolton. I'd never heard of Camp Van Dorn, though apparently I should have. But I am interested in learning, interested in military history, and interested in histories of many peoples including African Americans. So, of course I would be interested in this. So, Camp Van Dorn was built in 1940 strictly for the purposes of mobilization for WWII. Camp Shelby, which is close to me was built specifically for mobilization in The Great War (WWI), but was used during WWII. This was the only camp I'd ever even heard of in Mississippi, which is probably because it's 20 minutes south of me. However, Camp Van Dorn was built near Centerville, which is close to McComb in the south-western portion of the state near Louisiana. I like how Professor Bolton prefaced with false information that came out of a book published in the 90s and all the events leading up to why that rumour persisted. The rumour, which you'll find by searching online is that 1200+ black troops were murdered at Camp Van Dorn by the Army. Through Bolton's research he found that, according to J. Edgar Hoover, that an FBI hearing had taken place about incidents which happened at Camp Van Dorn. There is only a summerized statement from Hoover, however, and no actual transcriptions of the investigation. Also that because of The Slaughter: An American Atrocity by Carroll Case, which was published in the 90s stating that the Army killed its own men, the Army initiated an investigation into the matter. Any documentation that Bolton found never referenced anything about this alleged atrocity. However, by delving into Army records from the time, the investigation prompted in the 1990s, and personal accounts by soldiers at the camp at the time, as well as documentation about other troops and camps in the south during the time period, he's compiled a pretty good lecture and piecing of history. There were a lot of factors to go into why sets of stories were started or persisted; some taken out of context paint a bad picture. The story is that the black men of the 364th were basically rowdy, unruly, trouble causing misfits at their first camp in Arizona and as punishment were sent here to Mississippi. They continued to cause trouble, unprecedented at the time and upset the civilians and the army and had to be done away with. That's the basic "story" of the 364th. The west was considered a real threat to invasion so it wasn't uncommon for camps and troops to be out there. Though there was some unrest, the Army didn't seem to think of it as a big deal. The black troops did have an armed fight against their black MP's in the city of Phoenix during Thanksgiving weekend in 1941; this seemed to not be that big of a deal to the Army. They were fighting over women too and no one was injured, so it seems ridiculously amusing to me. This is not why they were shipped to Camp Van Dorn. They also did not have good leadership and had low morale due to the primitive barracks in Arizona. New leadership was assigned, under Col. John Goodman, and improvements were made, thus morale improved. They were shipped to Camp Van Dorn because they were a combat unit. All units, preparing for mobilization (as in being shipped off to war), were sent to camps in the south for further training. They had excelled in their field and were ready for further training and mobilization to be shipped off to the European Theatre. AKA kickin' some Nazi ass. During WWII, the American South was the destination for mobilization as per the Army, and thus built camps here. You went here to train when they thought you were good enough to be shipped overseas for war. All-black combat units were rare during WWII, and the 364th was the only one assigned to a mobilization camp in Mississippi. During this time, the military was segregated. It had been segregated since The Civil War. However, with The Draft bill in 1940 (initiating war-time drafting of men into the service), a clause was added that no discrimination would be tolerated between segregated troops. It's a weird law. Though there was segregation with white troops having their own side of a camp and the blacks having their own with separate living quarters, film viewings, dances, PX's, ect; the segregation did not extend to things such as training, transportation, or hospitals. It makes sense. If the military is going to hold to the same segregation laws as the entirety of the US, then it will, but it's not feasible to segregate in certain instances, so they didn't. Therefor, when white soldiers were interacting with black soldiers while being transported, running drills or had them as a patient, there could be no discrimination. Yet, while certain things were laxed, as far as in terms of segregation, within the military, it did not extend to the southern towns that lay beyond the bases gates. So for a black man, you still had to follow whatever protocol was laid down in the town you would be entering when you were in said town. It also didn't mean that simply because the overall brach of the military, The United States Army in this instance, said that there would be no discrimination, it was still up to the individual that you had to deal with, as to whether or not they felt you were afforded respect. So that's not fair. Black troops were continuously trying to push the boundaries, in which ever camp they were in, to purposefully expose the unfairness and to try to bring about real change. Though this type of behavior did happen on several occasions when the 364th came to Camp Van Dorn, it was not an isolated or rare event. And the members of the 364th were not punished by the Army for any "trouble" that they caused which included purposefully seating themselves in the whites only base theatre for a film showing. They were simply asked the leave half-way during the film and they did. Or the fact that the white and black living was so extremely different. The black PX was little, dingy, and barely stocked while the white one was really nice and even had a beer garden outside of it. The black troops marched over to the white PX, demanding service. When the workers closed the PX, the black troops threw empty bottles at the worker, broke in, did some damage and took the things they needed. They wanted to same things the white soldiers were getting and that seems very reasonable. You sometimes have to agitate to bring about change. Another instance, which also relates to misinformation by white people, comes in the form of a dance. The black regiments were going to have a dance. Some men wanted to sneak in and not pay, which was all too common amongst any soldiers of either colour during this war. The people in charge of the dance simply canceled it and that was that. However, enter a white soldier, who claims that the black troops busted in on a white dance, where white women were present and riots broke out, and the army had to get rid of these upstart black men, so had them all killed off. He's quoted saying as much in Case's book. However this guy, who was not from Mississippi I'll add (as there was confusing when I retold this, that perhaps he knew because he was a citizen of the town. He was not.), did not join the Army and come to Camp Van Dorn until two months after the dance incident. It's heresay and it's untrue. Bolton's research shows that only one dance was held at that camp in that particular time period of November 1943. It was the black one. There was no white dance at all. Two other white soldiers claimed the same story with him, and one later retracted his statement saying it was false. Now, one incident directly involves the town, so let's get a brief back story on that. The US Goverment, under eminent domain, acquired the land for Camp Van Dorn from citizens who were not at all pleased that their land had been taken away. One of these people was the then current sheriff of Centreville. A few men, on their fourth day there, went off base. They were allowed. White military man asked to see the papers for the black military man. The black man outranked the white one, so he said no, because by outranking him the white one should have shown more respect and would never have asked to see his pass..e had he been white. The white soldier started beating him. So there was a fight at the gates of the base in Centreville. One man was killed, a black soldier named Walker. Some told the story that Walker ran toward the sheriff and he shot him in the chest (self defense), while other people told the story that Walker was running away from the sheriff and was shot in the back (cowardice). The McComb newspaper at the time stated that Walker was shot, at close range, while in the midst of a fight. The Army records at the time state that Walker was shot through one side, at close range, above his hip and it came out upwards on the other side, exited his body, and hit his elbow. Regardless, the sheriff shot the soldier whether by accident or on purpose (because the reasoning is not now known). After that, the town was certain that there was rioting and violence in the camp directly following the incident. This is true, and also untrue. The white civilians imagined that the violence was the black troops fighting against the white troops. The black troops were angry that this happened, but instead they fought against their black MP's. Reminded me of the documentary I watched about a Nazi Concentration Camp one time (I have seen many). Besides the fact that Hitler had Jewish soldiers, some Jews within the camps helped the Nazi's. The other Jewish people felt they were traitors because they had higher authority, were treated better than them and were helping the enemy against their own people. While the military is all on the side of the US, MP's (military police), had better ranking than soldiers, so black MPs are given more leave (as in 'by your leave' not 'shore leave') than black soldiers. It's like they're working for the white man to keep the black man down. I can see why the black troops hated their black MP's. This is immediately what I thought of when Bolton said the statement. This was also the only fighting, on base, that happened after the killing incident of Walker, as Col. Goodman was able to calm his troops down. However, it was also stated (and I'm not certain if it was from the black troops, Col. Goodman, or both) that the white soldiers came over to the black section of camp armed and ready to fight them. Col. Goodman is stated as having told them that if they didn't leave, he'd arm his men too. The white soldiers then left. Since everyone in town knew a skirmish had actually happened outside the gates, and they were certain the black troops had gone absolutely crazy inside the gates, the town was scared. It's not the first time fear mongering was used in Centreville. It is stated that upon the arrival of the 364th, that white soldiers were there with machine guns positioned at the train tracks for the arrival. Also that the 364th marched through Centreville in combat formation with their guns out when heading to the camp. It was all heresay as none of these statements came from the Army nor from the 364th; just the residents of Centreville. Neither of which were true according to the Army or the soldiers; either race. There were even two elderly white men sitting behind me who agreed with Bolton that the above statements were a lot of tosh. The man that spoke was 15 when they arrived in town and his friend beside him was 13. It was raining the night they arrived and they were just walking and had on rain gear. They did march down the main road, though not in combat formation, and were then told that the camp was in the other direction. They simply got lost, turned around and headed the right way for camp. However, both tales that circulated through the small town were hyper inflated fear tactics, whether done deliberately or simply as gossip, Bolton doesn't know; he just knows the tales were told, and were in fact not true. There was another another tale circulated amongst the white civilians at the time. That the black troops were saying they would "clean out Mississippi", as in kill all the white people. However, the only people ever recorded to say this statement were the white civilians of Centreville during the time, blaming it on the black troops. Another scare tactic. No other incidents of this were recorded, not even in black soldier letters back home to family were ever stated. I did mention that the FBI investigated Camp Van Dorn. They were not investigating, as per Hoovers summary, on grounds of unruly black people, but by threats of spies. Were the events part of a bigger scheme to derail the Army and help the enemy win the war? So, the FBI investigated and found that just like at other camps these events were not spy tactics to help us lose the war, so it was nothing to worry about. The end of the tale is bitter sweet. Because the white civilians had caused so much untrue hoopla over the black soldiers of the 364th, the Army decided to not ship them off for combat in Europe. In 1944 they were sent, instead, to Alaska, to hold the Aleutian Islands. It's bitter sweet because according to a lot of accounts they were totally badass. They were an expertly trained and very great combat unit. Even the white soldiers, when the 364th arrived, were impressed by them. So, the thing they were trained for, the reason they were so badass, was taken away from them by gossip and social climate. However, the Army ended up sparing their lives in the mission that was akin to book keeping. In retelling this lecture to my dad interrupted with, "But there was a battle in the Aleutian Islands, they would have seen combat!" So, I had to remind him that they were shipped there a year after we won control over those islands. The battle was over. Now, enter this man. This was my paternal grandfather who served in WWII in the Army. My grandmother always hated the picture on the left because some random person on some street in Europe snapped the photo of him. It's incidentally one of my favourites. He was a tech sergeant and a mechanic. The other is of him, in the jeep, taken in Bermuda. But don't ask me what he was doing in Bermuda, apparently on after war assignment before he was discharged, but no one talks about that.
So, I'm telling my dad about this lecture and he said, "Centreville? Your granddaddy was stationed at a camp near McComb in 1942 and 1943." So, I looked it up at at the time of World War II, there were only three camps in the entire state of Mississippi. Camp Shelby, which is near me (and not near McComb), Camp McCain which is north of the state capital of Jackson (and not near McComb), and then Camp Van Dorn which is close to McComb. This means that my grandfather, that man up there, was present during the 364th's stint at Camp Van Dorn. The news was all at once exciting and frightening to me. News that my grandfather was connected to the lecture that I had just attended was thrilling! However, it also worried me. Was he part of the mob that wanted to attack the 364th after Walkers death? It is a shame that I can not ask him about this. Tell him about the lecture I attended and have him tell me part of his life. But he died 24 years ago and that is all dad knows about my grandfathers stint at a mobilization camp, the years and that it was near McComb. Part of me thinks that he wouldn't have been part of that mob, because he always seemed such a level headed and logical man. Certainly he was no Mr. Spock, but he seems the type of person to find a mob mentality quite as ridiculous and probably as scary as I do. However, I didn't know my 21-22 year old grandfather. I have nothing to base his character off of and men, though always themselves throughout their lives (as with women), can and do change with maturity and knowledge. What a 21-22 year old Merrell would have done might not be the same as a 60-72 year old Merrell. Because I can not ask him and the past is over and can not be changed, I'm just going to flow with the knowledge that this happens to be the camp where my grandfather was stationed and leave it at that. What can I do? No names that were mentioned during the lecture were my grandfathers and I wouldn't know how to go about finding who did and did not do a thing concerning this topic. So, I can either worry about my grandfather being a monster when I have no other known incidents where my grandfather had any tendency of being a monster; or I can simply let it go, since I know of no way to further investigate. So, I'm going to let it go and hope for the best.
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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