585th Engineer Company (Dp. Trk.) (Cld.) in Australia during WW2

The 585th Engineer Company (Dp. Trk.) (Colored) was a Separate US Army unit not attached to a Battalion or Regiment or Division. The 585th Engineer Company under the command of Lieutenant Roy S. Weaver, left New York, USA on 1 March 1942 on board the ship "S.S. Santa Lucia". The 585th Engineer Company (Dump Truck) was organised into two Truck Operating Platoons of about 50 mean each and a Service Platoon of about 20 men. The Service Platoon comprised the Company Clerk, the Cook and his assistants and a Motor Sergeant and his mechanics.

The Santa Lucia was one of the Grace luxury liners that had travelled between New York and South America and had been converted to a troopship after war broke out in the Pacific. In his story of the 585th Lt. Roy Weaver stated that there were five troopships in their convoy from New York, the Santa Lucia, Santa Paula, Santa Maria, Mariposa and Lurline.

The other negro unit on the "S.S. Santa Lucia" with them was the 91st Engineer Battalion (Cld.) (Const.) which had white officers. The 91st was commanded by a Captain Bruce who took a dislike to the way that Lt. Roy S. Weaver was commanding the 585th Engineer Company. Captain Bruce had told Lt. Weaver that he wanted to attach the 585th to his battalion. Lt. Weaver of course refused his requests.

On 6 April 1942, the War Diary for USS Whipple shows her steaming enroute to Brisbane with HMNZS Leader, S.S. Santa Clara, S.S. Santa Lucia, and USAT General Parker. (not sure what happened to Santa Paula, Santa Maria, Mariposa and Lurline?). USS Whipple moored to the Mercantile Wharf in Brisbane at 1430 hours on 6 April 1942. USS Whipple refuelled at Newstead Wharf on 7 April 1942 and was underway from Brisbane on 8 April 1942 at 0021 hours acting as anti-submarine escort for HMAS Westralia, S.S. Santa Clara, S.S. Santa Lucia on their journey to Townsville.

After 42 days at sea, the S.S. Santa Clara and S.S. Santa Lucia docked in Townsville after about 1400 hours on Good Friday 10 April 1942 (Easter long weekend). They had to unload the ships themselves as the Australian wharfies had taken a long weekend holiday. Fortunately the 585th did not have any heavy equipment on board, only their tents, stoves, some rations and their personal equipment.

Upon their arrival in Townsville, the 585th Engineer Company disembarked and moved to the Reid River airfield area by train and established their camp. When Lt. Weaver opened the sealed envelope he was required to open on arrival at Townsville, he found Esso Oil road maps of Australia that they were to use for navigtation.

On arrival at Reid River their expectations of a river were soon quashed when all they saw was a train platform and a water system to refill trains. No town, and no river. The 585th Engineer Company chose their camp site in a grove of large gum trees. Their pyramidal tents accommodated eight men. Each of their officers had his own small gabled tent. The company headquarters was located in another gabled tent. Their camp was located near Company "A" of the 46th Engineer General Service Regiment who were building the nearby Reid River airfield runways.

Captain Davidson was the Commanding Officer of Company "A" of the 46th Engineer General Service Regiment. Lt. Weaver hitched a ride into Townsville with Captain Davidson to visit Base Section Headquarters. He found out that Colonel Mills of the 46th Engineer General Service Regiment and Colonel Matthews of the 43rd Engineers General Service Regiment had appropriated most of his 46 trucks and 2 weapons carriers, with the rest being located in Brisbane. Lt Weaver only has two 2-1/2 Ton 6x6 GMC trucks.

Whilst walking through the main street of Townsville, one of the shop owners insisted that he come into his store and said that he had something that he wanted him to try. He took Weaver down into his cool basement and offered him some 140 O.P. Rum to try. Not knowing what O.P. meant, Lt. Weaver had some of the rum and soon discovered that O.P. meant over proof. It burnt his throat as he swallowed it and was tears when he thanked the shop owner.

Lt. Weinbrecht taking a photograph of Lt. Roy
S. Weaver at Reid River in April 1942

Their rations comprised dry and canned staples and the quartermaster in Townsville arranged for a canvas wrapped carcass of mutton to be dropped off at the rail siding by train. They drew their water from the nearby railroad well in 5 gallon G.I. water cans. They hung two or three 30 gallon round rubberised canvas bags full of water from tress or others supports to provide a source of cool water. They treated their water with chlorine purifying tablets. They also constructed a shower out of some old oil drums set up high on a platform with a second platform that was 3 to 4 feet off the ground that a man could stand on to pour in the 5 gallon cans that were handed up to him. The men stood on a few shorts pieces of timber while taking their shower.

One day Captain Davidson of Company "A" of the 46th Engineer General Service Regiment took Lt Weaver over to one of the airfield runways in his weapons carrier to watch a B-26 Marauder come in to land. The B-26 buzzed the airfield making quite a racket. The pilot later offered Lt. Weaver a ride but he declined the offer. Lt. Weaver couldn't see how the B-26 could fly safely with its short wings and two noisy radial engines. The B-26 did acquire the nickname the "Widow Maker" during WWII because of its ability to crash often!

Capt. Davidson invited Lt Weaver over to his tent on one occasion to share a bottle of Martini.

Lt Weaver soon received orders to move his unit by train to Barcadline about 400 miles west of Rockhampton and report to the Liaison Officer there. They travelled west southwest to Hughendon, then south southwest to Winton, then southeast to Longreach and then finally east to Barcaldine. For no apparent reason their train stopped on one occasions and they found the train crew sitting beside the tracks boiling their billy for a cup of tea.

A US Navy Lieutenant Commander met them at Barcaldine, a small country town of 2,100 people with just two hotels. The men setup their camp in the Show Grounds mostly sleeping in the buildings there. Only a few tents were erected. The four officers of the 585th Engineer Company and the USN Officer stayed in the Shakespeare Hotel which was operated by Mrs Mahoney. They were low on rations. A phone call to the Brisbane Quartermaster from the Barcaldine's only telephone at the Post Office was placed to order a month's worth of rations and to authorise the daily purchase of bread from the local bakery. They rationed their food until the new supplies arrived by train a few days later.

The USN officer told them they would get new orders soon as he departed Barcaldine. The movie theatre in town was called "The Radio" and was built of corrugated iron and has canvas deck chairs. There was a lighted concrete roller skating rink near the movie theatre. Lt. Weaver and his two unmarried officers soon befriended some of the local girls. Lt. Weaver friend was Edna Murphy.

Lts. Weinbrecht and McConnell with their girlfriends
at the Barcaldine horse races in June 1942

The men of the 585th Engineer Company dug slit trenches at the local schools but managed to upset the Protestants because they started at the Catholic school first. The men held parades at the racecourse and held marksmanship practice with their M-1 Garand rifles in an open paddock on the outskirts of town.

A detachment of B-17's from the 19th Bomb Group was based at Longreach. Lt. Roy S. Weaver states in his book that the Barcaldine - Longreach line was to be a fall back position if the Japanese managed to come into Australia in force. The 585th Engineer Company had unloaded several carloads of emergency "D" Rations and were guarding them in a nearby wool scour shed. They also later unloaded 100 barrels of aviation fuel. They hid the drums under some large gum trees and camouflage netting on the other side of the railroad line.

To further prepare a fall back position the 585th Engineer Company obtained position to build an emergency landing ground near Barcaldine. They requisitioned some dynamite and commandeered a small tractor and a towed road grader from the local town council. They were kept busy with their rudimentary tools, but were not able to finish the emergency landing ground before they received their orders to move to a new location.

Late one day they heard an aircraft fly over and some of the men of the 585th Engineer Company immediately thought it was a Japanese aircraft and opened fire at the aircraft. The Officer of the Day soon identified it as an American aircraft and called an immediate cease fire. As it was getting dark Lt. Weaver organised for two of their trucks and some privately owned vehicles to move out to the Emergency Landing Ground that they were building. They lit up the partially completed landing strip and the aircraft made a safe landing but was then damaged whilst taxying after hitting a stump. Two Air Corps lieutenants alighted from the Lockheed Lodestar which was carrying a load of ammunition to Darwin. A guard was placed on the aircraft and the ammunition was unloaded to be sent on the train to Longreach the next day.

The two Air Corps officers stayed at the Hotel for almost a week whilst they waited for ground crew to arrive and fix the damaged landing gear. The Officers of the 585th Engineer Company were concerned they may lose their girlfriends to the Air Corps Officers.

As a consequence of his men firing on the friendly aircraft, Lt. Weaver decided to recover weapons from the enlisted men and lock them in a temporary armoury built from old crates. The white officers retained their .45's.

Some time later whilst Lt. Wheeler was Officer of the Day, A fight broke out at the camp after dark and First Sergeant Swain grabbed 2nd Lt. Wheeler's .45 and threatened to shoot him. 2nd Lt. Wheeler reported to Lt. Roy S. Weaver at the Hotel. Leaving 2nd Lt. Weinbrecht and 2nd. Lt. McConnell in reserve, Weaver and Wheeler located the local Police Constable and borrowed a set of handcuffs and made arrangements to use the Police lockup. Weaver and Wheeler then confronted Swain. He was placed under arrest and 2nd Lt. Wheeler placed the handcuffs on him. He was then placed in the lockup.

Lt. Weaver then wrote an order to demote Swain to the rank of Private. Charges of disobedience of a direct order, assault of an officer with a deadly weapon were filed with the Judge Advocate in Base Section Headquarters in Townsville. Lt. Weaver then promoted Staff Sergeant David to First Sergeant.

Lt. Weaver received orders for the 585th Engineer Company to travel to Cairns by train. They were replaced at Barcaldine by a small detachment for Townsville to guard the hidden stockpile of rations and fuel. Private Swain travelled with them in handcuffs as far as Townsville where he was placed in the Stockade. Whilst in Townsville Lt. Weaver also managed to obtain some two-ton weapons carriers and a 2-1/2 Ton 6x6 Truck. This brought their fleet up to a total of five vehicles, still way short of their approved establishment of 47 vehicles.

When they arrived in Cairns, Lt Weaver met up with Lt. Colonel Bell, the commanding officer of the sub-base in Cairns and Major Carhart, his Executive Officer. They advised that their camp area was six miles out of Cairns on the bank of the Barron River at the base of the coastal mountains. They set up their tents beside a swimming hole, with the Officer's tents on the other side of a small creek that ran into the river. The narrow gauge railway line to Mareeba crossed a high bridge over the creek about a quarter of a mile from their camp. Lt. Weaver reissued the weapons to the Enlisted Men when they arrived in Cairns.

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