The Combat Role of African American Marines during World War II: An Answer to the Spike Lee - Clint Eastwood Debate

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Overview

United States Marines, a significant part of General Douglas Macarthur andAdmiral Chester Nimitz's island hopping campaigns in the Pacific, enabled Allied powers to capture airbases on islands previously held by Japanese forces. The capture of these islands advanced Allied forces closer to Japan and threatened the invasion of the home islands. Success of the island hopping campaigns, coupled with the use of the two atomic bombs on mainland Japan, forced the Japanese to capitulate. However, the contributions of African American Marines during WWII are often overlooked.In 1942, as a result of Executive Order Number 8802, the U.S. Marines started enlisting African American Marines. By the end of WWII 19,168 African American males became Marines, 12,738 of whom served overseas in the Pacific during the war. The first African American Marines sent to the Pacific were assigned to racially segregated and self-sustaining units called defense battalions. Two such units were created, the 51st and the 52nd Defense Battalions. Their mission was overseas base defense. Later during the war, as the U.S. gained domination of the Pacific, the need for defense battalions declined while the need for unique logistical units to move supplies to forward staging areas increased. This led to the creation of ammunition and depot companies composed by African Americans. These were small units, which performed logistic functions. The Marine Corps ultimately created 51 depot companies and 12 ammunition companies to support amphibious operations in the Pacific.Significant contributions to winning the island hopping campaigns of WWII came from African American Marine depot and ammunition companies. These units performed the duties of physical logistics: manhandling, sorting, building/defending supply dumps, and delivering essential supplies such as food, water, and ammunition to the front line Marines engaged with the enemy. These duties were crucial to winning the battles on Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.