Elmer P. Gibson: Army Chaplain and Integration Pioneer, Pt. 2
By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina
This is Part 2 of a three-part blog post series on the life and pioneering U.S. Army service of African American Chaplain Elmer P. Gibson of Greensboro, N.C., and Philadelphia, PA. Gibson served from 1941 to 1957, and saw service in World War II and the Korean War. He was one of the major Army forces for racial integration of the U.S. Armed Forces from 1942 to 1954, and served as an advisor on racial integration to U.S. President Harry S. Truman starting around 1945. He was one of the officers who helped install the integration program at Fort Dix, NJ, in 1951. This series is dedicated to his children, Cornelia and Elmer H. Gibson, without whom this effort would not be possible.
You can read Part 1 of this blog post series, covering Gibson’s early life, education, and ministerial career, through this link.
Entrance into U.S. Army in WWII
With the coming of the United States’ involvement in World War II and implementation of the federal draft, Elmer Gibson was called into active military service in the U.S. Army, commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in the Army’s Chaplain Corps on February 10, 1941. This made him the first Army chaplain in the history of the Methodist Church’s Delaware Annual Conference’s ministers. Gibson entered active duty on April 12, 1941. However, because of his being older than the age (34 years old) allowed for appointment to the Regular Army (he was 37 years old at the time), Gibson would not be appointed as a Regular Army officer until 1946. Prior to that, he served in a quasi-reserve role as an Army chaplain, where he was on active service without having the full benefits of that service for his rank.
Elmer Gibson was sent to be stationed as a chaplain for the segregated 367th Infantry Regiment (Colored) at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, from April 1941 to June 1942. The unit was part of the black, non-divisional troops sent to the camp for training. As regimental chaplain, Gibson served on a mixed-race regimental staff of officers. During this period, he worked to improve conditions for African American troops stationed there, and attempted to fight issues of race. In February 1942, the Army dedicated a chapel at Camp Claiborne just for the African American soldiers, who appear to have not had a dedicated place of worship prior to this time.
Gibson met with Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. in 1941 or 1942, who was an assistant in the Office of the U.S. Army Inspector General and one of the highest ranking black officers in the U.S. Armed Forces. Davis also served on the Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies, and conducted inspection tours of African-American soldiers in the Army. Gibson consulted with B. O. Davis on issues of race relations among the white and black troops stationed at Camp Claiborne during this visit.
The original plan for the 367th Infantry was to be sent to Liberia, Africa, but this did not happen due to shipping delays. Because of mistakes in labeling on June 10, 1942, one battalion of the 367th Infantry which had been separated from the regiment was assigned that regimental name. This led to the majority of the units in the 367th Infantry being reassigned as the 364th Infantry Regiment (Colored), 92nd Infantry Division, U.S. Army.
364th Infantry in Arizona
The 364th Infantry moved with the U.S. 3rd Army to Phoenix, Arizona, on June 19, 1942; here, the unit was attached to the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command Southern Frontier Sector in September 1942. The 364th Infantry was sent to be stationed at Camp Papago Park, which consisted of the prisoner-of-war camp, in eastern Phoenix. Racial issues quickly became a problem, as the local citizens resented the presence of the black soldiers. During this period, Elmer Gibson would attend and graduate from Chaplain’s School at Harvard University, which he attended from September 4 to October 30, 1942.
On Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1942, an incident occurred that is referred to as the Thanksgiving Day Riot or the Phoenix Massacre, a number of people were killed or wounded during a violent confrontation in downtown Phoenix between soldiers of the 364th Infantry, officers from the African-American 733d Military Police Battalion, and local civilian police. An off-duty black soldier apparently struck a black woman with a bottle in a café in Phoenix, which led to a black military policeman attempting to arrest him. The soldier pulled a knife, and this soldier was killed by another military policeman. As the remaining black soldiers who were in the city were attempted to be rounded up and arrested by the Army’s military policemen, members of the 364th Infantry began to confront the policemen. The incident exploded, and got white civilian law enforcement officers and white members of the Phoenix community involved. An all-night gun fight began, and involved heavy Army munitions and guns. A lot about the cause of this event is disputed, but at least three soldiers were killed and a number of others wounded. The 364th Infantry remained at Camp Papago Park through May 1943.
364th Infantry, Camp Van Dorn, and A Rumored Massacre
On May 27, 1943, Chaplain Gibson and the 364th Infantry were reassigned to Camp Van Dorn near Centreville, Mississippi, and attached to the Army’s IX Corps on August 5, 1943. At the camp, the 364th Infantry was completely segregated, and this caused tensions between the black soldiers and white members of the county. Incidents of violence occurred, such as the killing of a black soldier by a county sheriff. An incident that is alleged to have occurred — and confirmed by Elmer Gibson’s children who were present for the event — is called the Camp Van Dorn Slaughter or Massacre. It is alleged that hundreds of 364th Infantry soldiers were slaughtered by resentful white soldiers and citizens, including lynchings of the black soldiers, during a period of extreme attacks. After investigations many years later by the U.S. Army and U.S. Department of Justice, it was concluded that no documentary evidence existed to confirm this event. Accusations remain that official Army records were doctored to hide the deaths of 364th Infantry soldiers.
However, rumors persist among those black soldiers stationed at the camp. Gibson’s own children recall them being rushed by car out of the area to safety during the event, being told not to look out of the windows at the lynched bodies of black soldiers along the road. The Gibson family was sent to stay outside of the area with family friends. Elmer Gibson apparently presided over the funerals of the men, and collected the uniform patches that belonged to a number of those who were slaughtered. According to the Gibson family, a committee of officials from Washington, D.C., were sent to Camp Van Dorn to investigate the incident after Elmer Gibson is said to have telegrammed and written several urgent reports about the incident to government and Army officials. However, none of the surviving documents in Gibson’s military papers reference this.
Captain Gibson in the Aleutian Islands
Whatever happened at Camp Van Dorn, the incidents led to the 364th Infantry being shipped out of the continental United States. Now Captain Gibson and the 364th Infantry Regiment were shipped to the Aleutian Islands. The unit was sent for staging to Fort Lawson, Washington, on December 31, 1943. The 364th Infantry left from the Seattle Port of Embarkation on January 15, 1944, and arrived in Alaska on January 24. The unit was assigned for garrison duty on Adak Island, in the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands, arriving on February 6, 1944. The U.S. Army was constructing bases and airfields in the western Aleutian Islands to protect against the Japanese military, which had taken control of two of the Aleutian Islands. It was also part of the plan to use the islands to support the launch of the eventual invasion of Japan.
Capt. Elmer Gibson served as the 364th Infantry Regiment chaplain, and also appears to have participated in or officiated biracial chapel services on the island. He is described as not only being the regimental chaplain at this time, but the “island chaplain.” The 364th Infantry was relieved of garrison duty in May 1944, but remained in the Aleutian Islands. During their time there, famed African-American boxing champion Joe Louis visited the 364th Infantry troops, and met with Chaplain Gibson.
Gibson preached to the troops in Quonset hut chapels, and attended to the spiritual needs of his men. He would become the chaplain for the 2nd Battalion, 364th Infantry Regiment, on February 5, 1945, and remained in this capacity through the end of his service. He would leave Adak Island for Shemya Island on February 14, 1945. While in Alaska, Gibson fell and injured his back. The injury caused nerve pain for the rest of his life, and would be a factor later on in his retirement from the Army.
Elmer Gibson left from the Aleutian Islands as his WWII service was ending on October 17, 1945. His meritorious service never earned him the rank promotion of full Major during WWII, despite his qualifications for it. He did attain a temporary commission for Major before leaving active Army service. The claim was that there were not enough Major commissions available for chaplains; however, it is believed from documentary indications this may have been due to the fact that Gibson was a black officer, and he was passed over for promotion. In November 1945, Gibson was awarded the U.S. Armed Forces’ Legion of Merit, for his dedicated service to the 364th Infantry and the manner in which he conducted his chaplain duties. Gibson was one of only two living African American U.S. military chaplains to hold this award at the time.
In a letter accompanying the Legion of Merit award notice to the U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains, Gibson’s commanding officer Brig. Gen. John F. Goodman noted that “He is a great believer in bringing the white and colored races into a sensible toleration of each other. I believe him to be one of the best Chaplains I have seen since being in the service.” According the award’s citation, Gibson:
“directed religious activities of the 364th Infantry Regiment in an exceptionally meritorious manner. He successfully handled all press releases for the colored troops on the islands and fulfilled all his tasks with untiring devotion to duty and conducted religious services not only for Negro troops but for other troops as well. He was an outstanding officer, leader, and a man of great capacity for work and by his untiring devotion, loyalty, understanding, and keen personal interest in the welfare of others contributed in no small measure to the morale of not only the men in the 364th Infantry Regiment but all others with whom he came in contact. His professional ability, tolerant outlook and unremitting devotion to duty reflects great credit upon himself and the military service.”
As such, this makes Elmer Gibson one of the earliest military officers to attempt some level of integration of regular, combat-ready white and black service individuals in the U.S. Army during WWII. Composer and songwriter Irving Berlin’s traveling theater group for the military play This Is The Army was the only full-integrated military unit in the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII. Gibson’s pioneering effort would lead to a special assignment with the President of the United States.
Check out Part 3 of this blog series on the life and service of Elmer P. Gibson, where we look at his post-WWII Army service at Fort Jackson, S.C.; integration efforts at Fort Dix, NJ; Korean War service; and return to civilian life. You can view all of Elmer Gibson’s photographs online through the State Archives of North Carolina’s Flickr page in this album.
Resources
Elmer P. Gibson Papers, MMP 9, Miscellaneous Military Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.
