The Red Ball Express was a desperately needed World War II truck transport system that came about six weeks after D-Day.

By late July of 1944, the Allies were progressing farther and faster than expected after the June 6 surprise landing on the beaches of Normandy. The military was struggling to keep the front lines supplied. 

The creation of a truck convoy system would provide a way to get ammunition, gas, and supplies to the men where it was needed. The unit was named the “Red Ball Express” after a railroad term. To “red ball” a train, or supplies on a train, was to designate it for express delivery. (The unit later took on a French motto: “tout de suite,” meaning immediately.)

During World War II, the military was still segregated. Few Blacks were in combat units; most were placed in service positions or the General Service Corps. This was the logical place for the Motor Corps to pull drivers. The men in combat needed to keep pushing forward, and with General Services providing the drivers, 75 percent of the men in the Red Ball Express were Black.

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Before the Red Ball Express: Preparing for D-Day

For weeks in advance of D-Day, the Allied planes bombed the railroads between Paris and the ports of western France. Allied leaders knew that if the beach invasions were to succeed, they needed to prevent the German armies from obtaining fresh supplies via the French railroads the Germans then controlled.

Destroying the railroads was vital, but after the invasion, it became problematic.  The Allies could not use trains to move their own men and supplies eastward.

For the first six weeks after D-Day, the Allies could not break out of a confined area along the coast of France. In early July 1944, the area under Allied command was about 50 miles wide and 20 miles deep, and they temporarily were locked in.

Operation Cobra

Lieutenant General Omar Bradley put Operation Cobra in place on July 25. While the British and Canadian military distracted the Germans with fighting around Caen, Bradley’s First Army began with carpet bombing followed by an infantry push into Brittany. This began to open a corridor into central France.

After an initially slow start, the U.S. military soon had the Germans on the run. The Allies were soon covering almost 80 miles a week. But with the destruction of the railroads, the supplies couldn’t keep up with the men.

Needed New System

To address the supply problem, the commanders pulled together a brainstorming session. The meeting lasted only a few hours, but it gave the Allies a workable plan. They would commandeer as many trucks as they could and use them to meet the incoming ships.  Soldiers, supplies, and equipment would be loaded onto the trucks. The vehicles would then drive hard to the front to deliver goods and gasoline to the military as the troops pushed east toward occupied Paris.

Getting the Trucks

General Motors, Dodge, and Ford had all been manufacturing trucks for the war effort. At this point, the Allies had a mixture of 2.5-ton cargo trucks, 5-ton cargo trucks, and 10-ton semitrailers.

The Motor Transport Brigade requisitioned trucks from all over the European Theater.  The larger semi-trailers were preferred, because the trailers could be left behind for unloading. The cabs of the trucks could turn around and drive back for more supplies.

However, the more readily available truck was what was known as the “Jimmy.”  It was a 2.5 ton, 6×6 truck that could travel off-road if necessary. (The trucks acquired their name as a phonetic shorthand for the GMC truck.) The G 508—the all-purpose Jimmy–became one of the favorites of World War II. (Many Americans still collect them.)

Standardized Design

The Jimmies were built in large numbers using a standardized design. When one truck broke down, parts could be taken from another truck or from a general supply station and used to fix the truck that needed to get underway.

Initially, the trucks were designed with a closed cab, but as more trucks were needed, the design morphed into an open cab covered with canvas. These were faster to build and easier to ship. Some of the trucks featured flat beds, others were closed, and still others were built to carry all-important gasoline in jerricans to the front.

Germany kept updating and producing more modern trucks, but it was a mistake. As their trucks broke down, the Germans had difficulty finding parts. As a result of their slower manufacturing process and difficulty with repairs, they still relied on horses and wagons for most supply deliveries—a slow process indeed.

Assigning Drivers

With the Allies on the move, all the men in combat units were needed for forward movement. Drivers came from any unit that had men not fully engaged and from the General Service Corps, which was formed in February of 1942. Many of the Black soldiers who joined the military were placed in the General Services unit. This put them in place to become Red Ball Express drivers.

 For the solders, no truck-driving experience was necessary, and men were given only a few hours of instruction on how to operate what was actually a complicated machine. The trucks had ten different gears, and the four rear dual tires were powered by two drive shafts. The dual drive shafts were helpful driving through mud or up a hill, but it required double use of the clutch. This was counter-intuitive for most drivers, and it resulted in a lot of first-timers stripping the gears.

Drivers were given helmets and rifles, but both the rifles and the helmets generally stayed on the floor of the trucks. It was unusual to see a helmet-clad driver, and even if fired upon, the men were too busy driving or loading and unloading to hold on to their rifles.

Delivering Trucks to Europe

In August of 1944 when the Allies were working to implement the plan, they needed more trucks than the numbers available in the European Theater. The Allies had not yet captured any ports. The only way to bring the trucks ashore was using the original landing beaches where Higgins boats delivered the military for the initial invasion.

Prolonged water exposure to truck engines was not going to be good for the trucks, so each vehicle had to be waterproofed. This involved packing spark plugs, distributors, and the electrical system connections with a putty-like substance, well described in The Road to Victory by David P. Colley.

The air cleaner was replaced with a flexible hose attached to the carburetor and exiting the engine compartment so that it could be fastened to the windshield.  Hosing also was attached to the exhaust pipe and extended up the side of the truck to a point well above any water line.

Once the trucks were delivered, the putty and extra hoses all needed to be removed so that the trucks could function again.

The Red Ball Express Route

Roads in France were narrower than American roadways, and the bombing that had been ongoing had been very hard on the surfaces. Because of this, Brigadier General Ewart G. Plank created safeguards. There was no time to repair the roads, so the Brigadier General’s solution was to select the best roads for going and coming and establish a loop system.

Trucks left the coast, traveling on one route. After arriving and delivering the supplies to the Chartres-La Loupe-Dreux triangle, they returned by another road. The roundtrip travel was generally 54 hours.

These roads were to be fully dedicated to the Red Ball Express. If other military or civilian vehicles got into the roads, it was a guaranteed traffic jam. 

Intended Safeguards for Travel

The plan was for military police to be stationed at any major crossroads and at any place where there might be a confusing turn. Trucks were to drive 25 miles per hour at 60-yard intervals. 

The trucks rumbled along day and night, and the specter of night travel was something many commented on. When the trucks traveled at night, they needed some lighting to see where they were going, but they needed the convoys to remain as hidden as possible.

On the front (usually toward the side), slits of white lights provided some guidance for the driver. These lights were the size of a small headlight but hooded by a tin plate. In the rear, the tail lights were red slits and were often referred to as “cat eyes.” They were designed to be seen by the trucks following them in the convoy.

Before Cell Phones

Communication then was not what exists today. However, Colonel John B. Medaris, an American ordnance officer for the First Army, set up a radio network system while the First Army was in England.

As the military units made their way to Europe, this communication system provided a means for the men on the ground to report what they needed to the supply officers. The officers in charge of the convoys then distributed the  supplies and got the trucks running.

Traveling by Convoy

The initial plan was for trucks to travel by convoy, but the loading of each truck took a long time. Soon the drivers simply left on their own as soon as their truck was loaded. 

When the Red Ball Express first began, the military police had not yet been informed of the dedicated routes the trucks were to follow nor had maps been created.  The early drivers were at the mercy of townspeople and military who could at least point them toward “the front.”

However, over time, the men, the military police, and the towns they drove through came to an understanding of where the trucks were to go, and the pace became faster and faster.

Speeding Up

The truckers, most of whom were between the ages of 18 and 24, felt constrained by the speed limit. They soon learned to remove the “governors” on the trucks that kept down their speed down. Without the governor they could travel up to 60 miles per hour. (If they sensed they were entering an area where the trucks might be inspected, they also learned how to re-install the governors.)

There were traffic control points for refueling and for minor repairs. The men could grab sandwiches and get hot coffee, but it took time for these way stations to be established at the most helpful places.

Hazards of the Red Ball Express

As with anything during wartime, there were many hazards facing the Red Ball Express. Bad roads, tired men, and snipers were at the top of the list.  

The bombed-out roads made it hard to keep the trucks in acceptable repair. Because truck maintenance units were few and far between, drivers needed to know the basics of how the truck operated and how to do minor repairs. If a Jimmy stalled on the road, the first hope was the driving team could fix it. It took time for maintenance crews to locate the stalled rigs.

If a truck needed to be towed that presented a whole new problem. There weren’t many tow trucks, and it was hard to get one to the right place at the right time.  According to military reports, on a random check on Sept 10, 1944, 81 loaded but broken-down trucks sat on road outside Versailles.

More Hazards

In addition, soldier fatigue was a serious issue. Drivers traveled in teams, trading off on the driving. But there were also a few rest stops where they could take a break and get something to eat.

Particularly if part of a convoy, the truckers disliked stopping as it slowed the whole line. In Road to Victory, David Colley writes: “Drivers perfected the art of switching seats while their trucks were in motion on the road…The assistant driver slid across the seat and under the driver as the two exchanged positions and continued driving. If the exchange was carried out with precision, a foot was always on the gas pedal.”

German snipers and enemy airplanes strafing at the traveling convoys added to the very real danger of war. As enemy aircraft became familiar with the routes taken by the Red Ball Express, it was not unusual to have German planes fly low and take aim at the truckers.

Trucking During War: Not a “Rear Action Job”

Sometimes making a successful delivery meant that the Jimmies needed to drive directly to the front. Because of the speed of the advance, not many supply depots were established (and those that existed weren’t always easy to find). The Red Ball Express drove wherever the trucks were needed.

Sherman tanks were powerful weapons, but they guzzled gasoline. In combat, one tank could go through a gallon of gas every 1-2 miles. It was easy for them to hit “empty.” If a Jimmy arrived with gasoline, they simply drove toward the frontline so someone could hop out and deliver the jerricans to the combat team in the tanks. (A jerrican held 5 gallons of gas.)

Kept Supply Lines Rolling

A stalled truck was a temptation for an errant soldier (or even an officer) to lighten his load by selling some of the items he carried on the black market. While these incidents did occur, for the most part, the men remained committed to the mission.

At any given time, an average of 900 vehicles were on the road.  They delivered an estimated 12,000 tons of supplies per day for 82 days.

When the Allies were able to get the railroads back online, the generals felt that there was less need for the Red Ball and phased it out in late November (after starting on August 25, 1944). 

The Red Ball Express far exceeded expectations. When the express service was discontinued after 82 days, its drivers had transported more than 412,000 tons of fuel, ammunition and equipment to 28 different divisions.

The military newspaper, the Stars and Stripes wrote: “Our Negro outfits delivered gas under constant fire. Damned if I’d want their job. They have what it takes.”  (Aug 31 1944).

Created System for Other Trucking Companies

Many more truck convoy systems followed, as there were more times where trucks were the only way to bring in supplies. Most of them borrowed lessons learned through the Red Ball Express, one of the first units to keep the supplies rolling as the Allies began to shift the tide of the war.  

“The spectacular nature of the advance through France] was due in great measure to the men who drove the Red Ball trucks as to those who drove the tanks,” wrote Colonel John S.D. Eisenhower, son of supreme Allied commander.

In 1952, a movie was made about the Red Ball Express, starring Jeff Chandler and Sidney Poitier.

For other important stories about Blacks in World War II, see Charles David, Selfless Coast Guard Hero World War II or Dorie Miller, Hero of World War II.

The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 forever changed the lives of Japanese Americans who lived on the West Coast. Within days, they were ordered to register with government offices. Rumors spread that these American citizens might function as Japanese spies.

The government decided that the proper action was to round up all those of Japanese descent who lived along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. The citizens were told to sell their goods and divest themselves of their property.

Many were first and second-generation American citizens. The treatment by the government was unheard of and illegal, but the Japanese did not seem to have a choice. The families packed what they could carry and left their homes, not knowing what to expect.

This story is about one man—Fred Korematsu—an American citizen of Japanese descent who recognized that what was happening went against everything America stood for. He decided to do something about it.

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The Korematsu Family

Kakusaburo Korematsu (Fred Korematsu’s father) entered the United States in 1905. The woman he would marry moved from Japan in 1914, and they married soon after. At that time, it was still legal for the Japanese to purchase land, so the family bought 25 acres near Oakland, California. Kakusaburo Korematsu had worked in the flower business, so he began a nursery growing and selling plants and flowers. 

The couple soon had children. The boy known as Fred was the third of four sons. All of the boys attended school but were expected to help at the nursery each week. Toyosaburo “Fred” Korematsu (1919-2005) acquired the name Fred from a teacher who decided his Japanese name was too difficult to pronounce.

The Bombing of Pearl Harbor

In 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, Fred Korematsu wanted to help the United States. He was an American citizen and old enough to enlist. He went to both the National Guard and the Coast Guard to sign up, but he was turned away. The military was not taking men of Japanese descent.

Korematsu realized there had to be other ways to help. The shipbuilding industry in Oakland was booming. More warships were needed. Korematsu trained and was soon employed as a welder at a shipyard.

Government Takes Action

The government began raiding Japanese homes and arresting community leaders. They had no evidence against these people. There was just a fear that they might be spies for the Japanese government. When the police entered the homes of the Japanese —including the Korematsu’s–they impounded items like flashlights and cameras—anything they felt could be used to send messages to the enemy.

Soon an order (Executive Order 9066) was given that the Japanese people on the West Coast were to be moved elsewhere by the government. They were told to bring with them only what they could carry. They needed to give away other possessions and decide what to do with their property.

The Japanese in the Oakland area were alarmed and fearful. They knew what was happening was wrong, but they decided that being a loyal American meant that they needed to obey the order.  They began preparing to leave.

Fred Korematsu Saw Things Differently

Fred Korematsu disagreed with what was happening. He was in love with a woman of Italian descent and didn’t want to leave her—they hoped to marry. Korematsu rented an apartment under an assumed name (Clyde Sarah), saying he was Spanish and Hawaiian.  

In the meantime, his family, friends, and neighbors were being bussed out of the neighborhood. Because the government did not yet have a place for the families to live, they were being taken to area racetracks and would have to live in horse stalls.

In the Oakland area, the people were taken to a racetrack in San Bruno called Tanforan. Just over 8,000 Japanese people were held under military guard at Tanforan. Sixty-four percent of them were American citizens.

Arrested

After a month or so on his own, Fred Korematsu was stopped on the street for questioning. His different name did not convince the police, and the officers took him to the local jail. There was no time to notify Ida (his girlfriend) or his family that he was in prison. Shortly, however, a newspaper reporter wrote about his situation.

A few days later, he received a visit from Ernest Besig, an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU understood civil rights were taken away from the Japanese on the West Coast. But the organization needed a legal case to bring to court. Fred Korematsu’s situation sounded perfect.

Besig explained to Korematsu that he would not be charged legal fees. All he needed to do was share what happened to him as an American citizen. The ACLU would mount a case challenging the imprisonment of Japanese Americans as unconstitutional.

In Court

At his first court appearance, Korematsu was told that before the imprisonment of others could be addressed, Korematsu must be tried for refusing the government order to go to prison camp. Once that as settled, the ACLU could move on to the illegality of imprisoning American citizens.

Bail for Korematsu was set at $2500, which was covered by the ACLU. But as Fred and Ernest Besig walked out of the courthouse, military police awaited Korematsu. He was arrested again and put in a car to be taken to Tanforan to be held with his family until other arrangements could be made.

Family Uncertain

The Korematsu family was uncertain about welcoming Fred back.  They and their friends felt patriotism involved following the government’s orders. Fred had not done that, and they were ashamed.

But family was family. They made room for Fred in the two horse stalls they shared.

In the meantime, the ACLU and Ernest Besig continued the fight to get the Japanese out of prison camps.

Loses First Court Case

On September 8, 1942, the judge ruled that Fred Korematsu was guilty of disobeying the government’s direct order to report to a prison camp. Besig and the ACLU explained to Fred that they would appeal the decision, but it would take time.  

Topaz, Utah

“Relocation centers” was the term used by the government for the specially-built “towns” for the Japanese-American citizens. Over the course of the war, 120,000 Japanese were held in these centers.

The housing was surrounded by barbed wire. Guard towers overlooked the territory. What’s more, the government selected areas where land was cheap—mostly in hot, arid parts of the country. Few would have wanted the land. If someone did escape, there was really nowhere to go.

The Korematsus and other families from Oakland were sent to Topaz, Utah, located about 150 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

Everyone in the camp was expected to work. Most had jobs at the camp, but a few were allowed to take jobs that were off the property. After Fred Korematsu had been there about three months, he was permitted to leave the camp to pick sugar beets on a nearby farm. It was backbreaking work, but Korematsu was glad to leave the camp for a time each day.

In addition to working, the Japanese put their minds to making the area habitable. They created community centers, places of worship, and they organized baseball and other sports teams to keep people’s spirits up.

Work Rules Loosen

As the war continued, the government loosened the work rules somewhat. While most of the Japanese had no options, a few were able to make a case for why they should leave the relocation centers. Those who had college plans, or a job (not on the West Coast) waiting for them, were usually permitted to leave.

With his skills as a welder, Fred Korematsu made a good case for the fact that he could help the war effort if he could relocate to a city where they needed welders. Eventually, he was permitted to move to Salt Lake City to find work.

Court Case Continues

The ACLU kept trying to revive the court case concerning the wrongful imprisonment of Japanese citizens. Then finally, in March of 1944, the Supreme Court announced that the Korematsu case would be on the autumn docket (the list of cases for the upcoming session.)

Korematsu was not needed for the hearing before the Supreme Court. Everything would be handled by the attorneys, so he relocated to Detroit. He was hired at a Navy yard doing welding on doors for ships.

Besig and the other attorneys would keep him informed.

Bad News

In December of 1944, the Court handed down its opinion. In a 6-3 split decision, the judges ruled that the government’s decision to round up Japanese Americans on the West Coast was a “military necessity.” The decision was made during wartime, so there was no opportunity to investigate who—if anyone—actually posed a threat to the United States.

According to the ruling, these people had to be “removed.”

As the ACLU staff read through the file, the attorneys saw that the report that held great sway was from West Coast commander Lt. General John L. DeWitt. He stated there was concern that local Japanese residents might send messages or reports to Japan, revealing what the United States was doing to prepare for war.

Split Decision

The Supreme Court often has split decisions. At those times, the majority prevails, but the dissenting judges always explain the reason for their dissent. In this decision, three of the judges agreed with the ACLU. They felt that the decision was racist and the rights of Japanese Americans were violated.

Fred Korematsu was devastated. Though he had made the best of his life despite the court issues, he saw the broader precedent-setting impact of what this could do to society: The government could take away the rights of other Americans without needing to find evidence of wrongdoing. (This issue came up again after the attacks of 9-11 as well as in 2016-17, when the government tried to ban travelers from countries where the people were predominantly Muslim.)

After the War

In Detroit, Fred Korematsu had a good job and met a woman named Kathryn. They both hoped to move to California, but because Kathryn was white, laws in California would not permit them to marry. They married in Detroit where it was legal before moving to Oakland.  

Because Fred Korematsu was convicted of a crime, there were certain jobs for which he was ineligible. However, he was hired as a draftsman for a builder in Oakland, and when he could, he took on side jobs to add more to the family income. He attended church regularly, joined the Lions Club, and helped build the Little League organization in which his children played.

Life Continues

Though life in Oakland was good, Korematsu remained puzzled as to why the Supreme Court voted against him. It was clear that the rights of Japanese Americans were violated.

The fact that the Japanese were able to return to their homes after the war was not good enough. Their lives were disrupted, and neighborhoods were destroyed. Few got their land or possessions back.

Where was the justice? He often thought about whether there was a way to re-open his court case.

Important Phone Call

Reporters sometimes called Korematsu, wanting to write his story, but he generally turned them down. One day in January of 1982—almost 40 years since the Supreme Court ruling—Fred received a phone call from an attorney who asked to meet with him.

To Korematsu, something about this call seemed different. He agreed to the meeting.

When attorney Peter Irons (1940- ) arrived at the Korematsu house, he presented Fred with some long-forgotten government papers relating to the Korematsu case that he and researcher Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga uncovered in the National Archives.

Irons gave Korematsu time to read through and digest the material.

Fred Korematsu saw what Irons and his researcher discovered. The legal case presented to the Supreme Court in the 1940s was not based on fact. In presenting the case against Korematsu and the Japanese, the military and the attorneys indicated they held evidence that the Japanese in the U.S. were messaging or sending word to the Japanese military about U.S. efforts for the war.  

They did not.

Newly Discovered Documents

In the newly discovered documents, West Coast commander General DeWitt noted that the government actually did not yet have much evidence. DeWitt stated that the Department of Justice would not permit thorough searches of the homes and businesses along the West Coast. The general felt there was still every reason to believe that ship-to-shore messaging was going on.

It was clear to Peter Irons and his team that there was no concrete evidence. The government was simply excusing what they wanted to do, which was remove the Japanese. The case was based purely on speculation and seemed outright racist.

For that, Japanese lives were upended, and family finances were destroyed. For four long years, Japanese Americans were sent to “relocation centers” in some of driest, least desirable parts of our country. The people were treated as prisoners. The locations were surrounded by barbed wire, and they were guarded at all times.

What’s more, the majority of the people swept up in this operation were American citizens.

Working the Case

Peter Irons and Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga spent two years uncovering more research and building a team of young lawyers who believed in Korematsu’s cause.  They moved forward with optimism, but everyone involved knew that a loss would be devastating to Fred Korematsu and the Japanese population.

Case Heard in Federal Court in San Francisco

In January of 1983, the case was taken up by a judge in San Francisco’s Federal Court.

Korematsu took part in the trial and addressed the major issue at hand: “We can never forget this incident as long as we live. The horse stalls that we stayed in were made for horses, not human beings. 

“As long as my record stands in federal court, any American citizen can be held in prison or a concentration camp without a trial or a hearing. That is, if they look like the enemy of this country. Therefore, I would like to see the government do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

Judge Marilyn Hall Patel sided with Fred Korematsu and his team. Government lawyers in the 1940s did not actually have evidence that there was “military necessity” to round up and hold Japanese Americans.  Judge Patel wrote: “Korematsu’s case “stands as a caution that in times of international hostility and antagonisms our institutions, legislative, executive, and judicial, must…protect all citizens from the petty fears and prejudices that are so easily aroused.” 

The judge also overturned Korematsu’s conviction for not reporting to prison camp.

Korematsu Continues The Work

Fred Korematsu won his case, but he knew that his job was not finished. What happened to the Japanese could happen to other Americans at a different time.  He dedicated himself to traveling the country to tell the story of his injustice.  His entire family worked alongside him.

Other Japanese Americans joined Korematsu and told their stories. Five years later, the U.S. government passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and offered a public apology for imprisoning innocent citizens and admitted to the government’s wrongdoing. The law also provided reparations: Each Japanese American still living who had been imprisoned was to receive $20,000 each. (This was not much when weighed against the losses of the Japanese.)

Presidential Medal

On January 15, 1998, President Bill Clinton honored Fred Korematsu with the highest award that can be presented to a civilian—the Presidential Medal of Freedom.   

Still a Problem

Because the ruling in federal court was favorable to Korematsu, there was no need to appeal to the Supreme Court. However, the Korematsu and the ACLU were well aware that at some point the lower court ruling might not be enough.

The highest court in the land still stands behind the 1945 Supreme Court decision that the government was justified in arresting and imprisoning Japanese even without cause.

Dissenting Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson wrote in his opinion at the time that if not overturned, the 1945 decision “lies around like a loaded weapon.” It remain a ruling that could be used to enforce or excuse discrimination at any time.

Fred T. Korematsu Institute

Fred and Kathryn Korematsu’s children, Ken and Karen, knew the importance of their father’s work. In 2009, the family formed the Fred T. Korematsu Institute. Its purpose is to educate and promote civic partnership that advances racial equity, social justice, and human rights for all.

Karen Korematsu currently runs the organization. She spends her days working to make sure that what happened to her father does not happen to other Americans.   In an Op Ed in the New York Times in February of 2017, she wrote:

“I have taken on my father’s work to remind Americans what happens when our Constitution is ignored in the name of national security….Let us come together to reject discrimination based on religion, race or national origin, and to oppose the mass deportation of people who look or pray differently from the majority of Americans.”

***

Despite government’s attitude toward the Japanese, many of the men wanted to fight for the United States. Read about Joe Sakato who was a member of the esteemed 442nd Infantry, a highly-honored all-Japanese unit. Sakoto received the Medal of Honor posthumously.