Page 14 - Discover Spring 2023
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Serve & Succeed CONTINUED
Once the foothold was established in quickly learned how to become skilled crane
Normandy, the quartermasters were in a race operators working non-stop to ensure the
to ensure the front-line troops they needed to D-Day invasion had all the supplies needed to
continue to push the Nazi’s back. By July of 1944, succeed. They became expert truck drivers and
allied troops were moving east at a rate of nearly tirelessly kept the flow of supplies moving to the
80 miles a week. With sea and rail infrastructure front during the Red Ball Express. They were
badly damaged – Normandy remained the sole engineers and drivers who crossed the Himalayan
point of entry for supplies entering the European Mountains to ensure allied forces could keep
theatre. Allied commanders were determined pressure on the Japanese to allow U.S. forces
to prevent a lack of supplies from stopping the to succeed in the Pacific. These quartermasters
advances on the front lines, so they devised answered the call to serve, while in uniform they
an ambitious plan that became known as the succeeded in quickly learning new skills, adapting
Red Ball Express. Nearly 75 percent of the to challenges, and committing themselves to
drivers who made up this critical and constantly mission success. After the war their service left an
expanding supply line were black and not all of enduring legacy on our military. An after-action
them were trained to drive trucks, never mind review of the war found that the contributions of
drive trucks filled with ammunition, at night, black soldiers was instrumental to the success of
without headlights working in teams of two to the war effort. The report went on to recommend
complete the 54-hour round-trip journey. They creating a desegregated force that was fully
succeeded in delivering roughly 12,000 tons of reflective of American society.
supplies per day – for 82 consecutive days.
After the war these quartermasters continued
The quartermasters played a huge role in the to serve and succeed. Men like Medgar Evers,
Pacific as well. While we typically think about the who was a driver on the Red Ball Express, saw
island-hopping campaign in the Pacific, crucial what could happen when Americans worked
to the success of these missions was the work together during the war. He returned home and
of our Chinese allies under Chiang Kai-shek. became a highly influential part of the Civil
The Ledo Road, like the Red Ball Express, was Rights movement. Others like Harry Bellefonte
a critical supply route connecting U.S. bases in who dropped out of high school to enlist in
India with allied forces in China – without these the Navy, while not part of the quartermaster
supplies Chinese forces likely would have been corps he served as a crane operator loading
defeated allowing Japan to focus all its efforts and unloading ships. After the war Bellefonte
on the Pacific. The building and maintenance of used his GI bill to pay for acting classes in
the Ledo Road was overseen primarily by these New York. He would find tremendous success
units. The roughly 1,000-mile road cut through on stage. Charity Adams, one of the first black
many obstacles including Japanese snipers, dense female officers in the military who served in the
jungles and of course the southern Himalayan Quartermaster Corps, continued to serve using
Mountains. Running the route was treacherous, her GI bill to earn a degree in psychology and
challenging even experienced drivers. Keeping then working at the Veterans Administration.
the road open was an equally daunting task that This year the home of the Quartermaster Corps
fell on engineering units who would operate in southern Virginia will be renamed Ft. Gregg-
bulldozers and other specialized equipment in Adams a fitting tribute to the legacy of service
torrential rain to clear blocked portions of the and success of the black soldiers who served in
road or reconstruct parts that washed out. World War II.
The legacy of black quartermasters in World For more information, visit:
War II is one of Service and Success. GI’s who wreathsacrossamerica.org/
12 Discover Smith Mountain Lake SPRING 2023
