World War II Database

1. DEENIE BROOKS WOODARD says:
9 May 2013 09:35:29 AM

My father Luther B. Brooks, Jr., (an African-American) drove a DUWK amphibious boat which landed on IWO JIMA on February 19, 1945. You called the men in the photograph next to the damaged DUWK, African-American US Marine Corps DUWK. This is not quite true. My father told us that the Black guys were ARMY, not Marines because Marines would not accept African-American men even when they volunteered to fight at that time. He said while they were on the ship, they were given briefings, maps of the island (which I still have) and marine uniforms and told to wear them because it was a "Marine Operation". How is it you fail to get the true facts out about this? The caption should have read two African-American Army soldiers who were given marine uniforms to keep the operation appearing to be a "Marine Operation". No proud moments for the U.S. when they denied African-American men from joining the Marines. So call them what they were - U.S. ARMY soldiers dressed in Marine uniforms. For heavens sake, be truthful.

2.  C. Peter Chen says:
9 May 2013 11:03:58 PM

Ms. Woodward, we thank you for your comment and for your willingness to share your father's WW2 experiences. In this case, the authority for this photo's caption comes from the 1975 study called "Blacks in the Marine Corps" commissioned by the USMC History and Museum Division that includes this very photograph with a caption identifying the two servicemen as US Marines.

3. JOHN MITCHELL says:
24 Mar 2016 06:59:54 PM

Wow! Thank you for enlightening us Deenie Brooks Woddard. I knew African American soldiers were ferrying Marines ashore on Iwo Jima. I didn't know they were dressed in Marine uniform. I used the image of two brothers on the beach in my Play "The Chosen Few." Apparently the controversy can be solved by discovering who is the "Marine" whose face we can plainly see. A slight correction. "Marines would not accept African Americans even when they volunteered." In summer 1942 blacks for the first time trained together at Montford Point, Camp Leguene, Jacksonville, NC. many of these Marines volunteered or were drafted into the Marine Corps. My brother Winston Mitchell and I have a documentary about the black Marines from WWII and the Korean War. The Honorable Mayor David Dinkins is a Marine.