855th Engineers

Introduction

The 855th Engineer Aviation Battalion (EAB) was activated on January 1st, 1943, at March Field, CA. They staged at Camp Stoneman, California. It was comprised of one of the earlier African-American units to be sent to serve in the Pacific theater. The 855th EAB was comprised of 811 officers and enlisted men. As was customary during this period of segregation, the African-American enlisted men were led by white officers.

The unit was an aviation engineering and construction battalion, part of the Army Air Corps, with the goal to help build and repair air strips. Although according to ‘Army Air Forces in World War II - Vol. VII: Services Around the World, Chapter 10 – Aviation Engineers in the War with Japan (Chapter by John E. Fagg, New York University); 

“Aviation engineers and Army engineers and sometimes [Navy] Seabees labored on whatever engineering projects had to be completed—the two hundred runways built between Australia and Okinawa, roads, camp sites, docks, hospitals, depots, storage facilities, and many other construction jobs—with little or no effort to segregate aviation engineers for purely air force tasks.” 

The 855th was one of approximately fourteen African-American Engineer Aviation Battalions to serve in the Pacific.

I was able to locate a newspaper clipping that provided some info, and some of the survivor’s families have contacted me since the page on the Cape San Juan was first released, and until recently no one has been able to provide much info about the unit itself.

Survivors

With the help of Tom Gauthier, in June of 2012 I had the honor of speaking directly with 91-year-old Bolden Eugene Hines. “Gene” Hines, as he is known, was a 21-year-old TEC Sergeant with the 855th when the event occurred. He was in the Number 2 hold when the torpedo hit and the sea came rushing in. He had an injured leg but he escaped the hold by climbing up a tarpaulin. The tarp was likely part of the hatch cover, an artifact of the Cape's original freighter design, which was blown up by the force of the explosion and then collapse back down into the hold opening.The tarp formed a steep ramp which many survivors were able to clamber up.

He would later receive a Purple Heart. Gene's memory was excellent and he was able to provide some corrections and new details which I’ve incorporated.

See a biography I put together on Gene Hines below with the help of his family.

Subtracting the 470 survivors brought to Fiji, and the 99 casualties from the overall 811 unit strength would suggest that 242 of the 855th's survivors were picked up by the Edwin T. Meredith.

After they were reunited in Noumea they traveled on to Brisbane, Australia for two months where they resupplied and received replacements. The survivors campaigned in Finschhafen, New Guinea and Luzon, the Philippines, mainly at Clark Field where, according to Hines, the Japanese had left quite a mess. The 855th deactivated at Nichols Field on December 31, 1945.

According to the November 12th, 1994 edition of ‘The Baltimore Afro-American’, veterans of the unit had been meeting annually for the past 17 years (so since the late ‘70’s), and had most recently met in Baltimore in September of that year. Credited with putting the reunion together was Mr. Clarence Boatman (75) from Silver Springs, MD and a Mr.  Glen DeBeal (72) of Baltimore. The article included the following group photo, but unfortunately the quality is quite poor.

The photo listed the following survivors:

• • • Willie Blue of Hillsboro, NC

    • Clarence Boatman of Silver Springs, MD

    • William Jones of Cleveland, OH

    • John Thomas of Louisville, KY

    • Jessie Davis of Detroit, MI

    • George Gill of Cleveland, OH

    • William J. Hill of Columbus, OH

    • Howard Chambers of Oberlin, OH

    • Robery (sic Robert) E. Blue of Concord, NC

    • Glen DeBeal of Baltimore, MD

    • and honorary member, Gretchen Bryant of Pittsburgh, PA, the niece of one of the survivors.

Herbert Edward Bass

As mentioned above in 'The Attack' section, there was a heroic attempt by one of the 855th's officers named Herbert Edward Bass to rescue the injured men in the hold.

I was fortunate to have been contacted by his grandson, Dave Bass, in January of 2014, first through my comments page and then through a series of e-mails.

Dave is in the process of researching his grandfather’s military career, of which the Cape San Juan incident is an important milestone. I was honored to have helped Dave fill in many of the missing pieces he had on the Cape’s loss, and he in turn was able to help me tell you the reader more about his amazing grandfather.

Herbert Edward Bass was born on February 19th, 1920 in Chowan County, North Carolina. He went by “Ed” to his friends and family. His parents were farmer Herbert Victor Bass (1899 - 1979) and Artemesia M. White (1897 - 1966). He had a younger brother, Leonard Johnson “Poss” Bass (1924 - 1986), and a little sister, Artemesia “Artie” White Bass (1927 - unknown).

His brother Leonard also served in the war, as a corporal in the US Army, with service in Scotland, England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He received two Bronze Stars, a Good Conduct Medal and a Unit Citation. Apparently it runs in the family.

Ed also started his military career as an enlisted man, enlisting in the Army National Guard Medical Corps on September 16th, 1940.

He was discharged as a Tech Sergeant and went to Officer Candidate School for Army Engineers at Fort Belvoir, VA, graduating as one of twenty “Tar Heels” and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on July 12th, 1942. I believe this may have been tied to the Army’s high demand for white, specifically southern born, officers to lead the increasing number of African-American units entering service, like the 855th. In the segregated Army of World War II, the prevailing "wisdom" was that southern whites were better suited to leading black men.

Ed was asked to provide his recollection of the Cape’s loss after the Meredith delivered some of the survivors to Noumea. Below is Ed’s account in his own words:

I had originally thought that the young soldier that Ed and Private Barkley pulled from the hold was Theodore M. Harris from North Carolina, who was one of the men that died of his injuries while the Meredith was enroute to Noumea. However that man was listed as a TEC5, or sergeant and the man they rescued was noted as being a private. The name Harris was fairly common, so his true identity remains in question.

Ed married Lola Marie Allan (1918 - 2005), an Army nurse stationed in Australia in 1944, I assume while he and the unit was recuperating in Australia after the attack.

Ed and Lola had three sons, William “Bill” E. Bass (Dave’s father) (1945-Living), James “Jimmy” Bass (1946-Living), and Robert “Bob” Louis Bass (1948 - 1996).

After the war Ed stayed in the Army Air Corps, saw the transition to the United States Air Force and served in the Korean War as well. His Grandson is still piecing together his records, but knows that he served in Alaska after the Korean War and later at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, NE, coincidentally where his grandson Dave, would also later serve. Judging by the badge on his uniform below he was in involved in some way the the Air Force's missile program.

He retired on April 20th, 1962 due to a heart condition, but not before reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

According to his grandson Dave; 

“My Grandfather spent his retirement years in Edenton, NC where he was very active in the VFW.  I used to get to spend summers there with him since that is where most of our family was from.”

Dave went on to say: 

“He didn't get home much due to the War.  My grandmother had to get out of the Army when my dad was born in 1945.  She had 3 boys and when the youngest was about 2, my grandfather came home from Korea. When they met him at the airport he said "I know you… You're Major Bass! “I think it was his first trip home from the War.   My uncle didn't even realize it was his dad.  We still laugh about that today when the family gets together.”

Ed Bass passed away on January 20th, 1977, much too early, at the age of 56. His death occurred at the US Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, MD while undergoing open heart surgery. He is buried at Beaver Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Edenton, Chowan County, NC.

According to Dave: “He received not only the Soldiers Medal for the Cape San Juan incident but at some point he was also given a Bronze Star which I knew nothing about.”

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