Elijah Richardson
Jessica Clements
Kari Bradford
Kevin Beltran
Calvin Nash
Throughout the history of America, we have been blessed with many heroes of
all shapes, sizes, and colors. These heroes put their own lives in danger in order to
make our country a safe and free place for us to live. Our troops such as the Marines,
The Navy, The Army, The Coast Guard, and The Air Force are the groups of brave men
and women who have risked their lives for our safety.
King High Remembers gave Martin Luther King students a once in a lifetime
chance to hear the stories of our veterans first hand. We had the honor and the
privilege of meeting and interviewing one of the first African American to be drafted into
The United States Marine Corps. His name was Calvin Nash and here is his
remarkable story.
Calvin Nash was on born on March 12, 1926 in Alexandria, Louisiana. At eighteen
years old, just shy of completing his high school career, he was drafted into the marines. He
was chosen out of four hundred and twenty three white and black men because his I.Q. was a
score of 125. Calvin was immediately sent to North Carolina for marine’s camp. North Carolina
was the only place blacks were allowed to train. During his time, Calvin was faced with
racism and discrimination being one of the first African Americans drafted into the
service.
The United States Marine Corps became active on November 10, 1775, it
took 167 years to break the color barrier and Calvin Nash was one of the first blacks
accepted. Mr. Nash was forced to stay in an all black camp and was forbidden from
crossing into any white camps and with no “specials” for black marines, enduring all of
the discrimination and bad treatment, he and his fellow colored marines trained all day.
White men came into their camp frequently, but black marines in training were not
allowed on their site. The white marines call them “you people,” as in they were not
really part of the service.
Marines had a very taxing day being on the drill fields for up to 8 hours a day and
for the black marines it felt like it was going to waste whereas the white men were sent
to battle or had free time while the blacks were used for unloading ships or used on the
battlefield as “sitting ducks”— decoy for other marines. Nash described his two drill
sergeants as very rough and intimidating at a height of six foot two and weighing two
hundred and twelve pounds. When asked about how he survived training Nash said, “I
never got angry or upset, I just accepted the treatment and tried to take it with stride.”
Mr. Nash was sent to Si Pan, Vietnam in 1944 where he really began to try and
understand the culture and people of Vietnam. In Okinawa, the black Marines were to
act as sitting ducks in the water and they had to wait in the water as a distraction while
the white Marines snuck onto the island and attacked. On the first day of Okinawa,
fifteen hundred lives were lost and Nash said the bodies floating in the water looked like
dead flies. He witnessed the atomic bomb attacks. Calvin said he was terrified and
hoped the United States did not make a huge mistake. He felt it was the wrong decision
because of all the civilians killed.
The marines then sent Nash to Tin-Sin, China, which was quite an experience for
him. In this part of China, black people were non-existent and when he came along,
they were astonished. “They thought I was painted and they spat on their hands, trying
to rub off my ‘paint.’ They checked their hands to see if I came off . ” Nash said. Being
in Tin-Sin was the first time Calvin saw homeless people and he was flabbergasted at
the site of their conditions.
While stationed there, the Marines faced many obstacles, such as disease, wet
weather, and arthritis caused by cold temperatures. At one point, the rain lasted for
twenty one days. Many had no dry clothes and many others drowned due to the floods
and monsoons. Calvin caught a fever and was not allowed out of the country for forty
two days. The United States was skeptical of any unknown diseases spreading in their
country.
Calvin Nash was officially discharged from the Marine Corps in San Diego,
California on July 12, 1946 after being hospitalized for 42 days with Dengue Fever, an
acute febrile disease commonly found in the tropics. He was the only member of his
unit to be released there; everyone else was released in North Carolina.
Upon his release from the service he went trade school for TV and radio repair
and completed a course in tailoring. Calvin attended Long Beach City College (LBCC)
for almost 4 months before the college realized he didn’t have a high school diploma.
He then returned to University High School in Santa Monica and earned his diploma at
the age of 32. He never returned for his college degree.
Nash has outlived everyone he knew in the marines, but he said he was never
too close to anyone anyhow. He was always “the shy kid from the South” and people
had a hard time connecting with him. Although he was not close with his men, he still
cried when he saw them face down in the water, like flies. War was a frightening time in
Calvin’s life.
Nash wishes his grandson, as well as every other boy of age, should join the
service. He said the marine’s corps teaches men how to take care of yourself and be
tough. It helps acquire discipline and training, he added. Nash said he had an
opportunity and that is what people come to America for. Calvin Nash is now a veteran
of foreign wars and he says he could not be more proud of himself. For all the
discrimination he had to go through, he turned his cheek enough times to rise above
and become something only he could achieve in his given situation.
Calvin Nash said his years as marines wore him. Until the marines, he had
never spent a night away from home. He slept in a foxhole for eighteen months and
while he was in China, he slept on a spring-less cot. He wrote a letter to his mom
everyday he was in the service and he said he always wept. Calvin said being in the
marines made him tougher; he had to deal with harsh, rainy weather with no dry clothes
or towels. He described the daily meal as one stick on meat, three crackers and a
three-pack of cigarettes. “You just have to deal with the situation you’re given in the
service, oh well.” Nash explained. Although Nash explained the hardships of the
service, he was grateful. He got to travel the world and meet various leaders and
presidents. Plus, he was proud to say he received no purple hearts and came home
with no scratches.
Our Troops are the forces that allow us to live in a free and safe country.
When the Twin Towers were attacked by terrorists on September 11 th, 2001, we did not
sit back and let it happen; our troops took action in Iraq. When Japan attacked Pearl
Harbor, we did not let it go by unnoticed, our troops fought for our honor in World War 2.
When Hitler went on a rampage, killing innocent people, our troops fought for our
freedom. These are just a few examples of our heroic country. Without such heroes as
Calvin Nash, The Marines, The Army, The Air Force, The Navy, and The Coastguard,
we would not be able to live the way we do today.
“I’ve enjoyed my life. It’s been an experience all its own.” Says Calvin, “If I was
given the chance to go back and start over, I would gladly enlist in The Marines again
because it made my life an adventure worth living.” Mr. Nash is a healthy 83 year old
man that resides in a senior complex in Los Angeles, California. But still “just a lil’
southern boy”.