Editor’s observe — One week after I interviewed Cory Lake Isles resident and retired U.S. Military Brigadier Basic Remo Butler — the first-ever Black Basic of the U.S. Particular Forces — on the identical day Gen. Butler attended the celebration of the 250th birthday of the U.S. Military in downtown Tampa on June 14 , I interviewed former U.S. Military vet, “Buffalo Soldier” and Grand Hampton resident Roy Caldwood, who took a really completely different path to turning into the true American hero he’s immediately.
Gen. Butler and Military PFC (personal top quality) Roy Caldwood had been each honored throughout that June 14 celebration and the 2 have grow to be mates over the previous couple of years, thanks in no small half to an introduction of the 2 by District 7 Tampa Metropolis Councilman Luis Viera.
Though I hoped to inform Roy’s story in the identical version as Gen. Butler’s, I wasn’t capable of schedule each interviews earlier than I needed to go to press with that June 24 difficulty, so the primary half of Roy’s personal superb story seems on this difficulty as an alternative. — GN
The primary time I met World Struggle II veteran and Grand Hampton resident Roy Caldwood, his one hundred and first birthday was being celebrated at Grace Episcopal Church in Tampa Palms (the church Roy and his daughter Diane Royer attend) in Aug. 2023.
After that encounter, I informed Roy I used to be excited to purchase his guide entitled Making The Proper Strikes: Rikers Island & NYC Corrections; Being Calm within the Storm about his harrowing expertise as an assistant deputy warden who was held hostage throughout a riot on the infamous Rikers Island jail in his native New York Metropolis in 1972 (greater than 20 years after he accomplished his navy service).
I additionally stated that the following time I interviewed Roy, I wished to speak about not solely the 2 Rikers Island riots he survived but additionally his experiences as a “Buffalo Soldier” throughout WWII. In actual fact, immediately Roy often is the final surviving member of that 92nd Infantry Division, which was the one Black regiment that noticed fight through the warfare.
I say “could also be” as a result of, in keeping with the AI response I obtained throughout a Google search, the final surviving Buffalo Soldier was a person named Robert Dixon, who handed away in Nov. 2024 on the age of 103 — the identical age Roy Caldwood is immediately. (So, for these of you who imagine all the things AI tells you, strive performing some analysis by yourself generally.)
However, Roy shouldn’t be solely nonetheless very a lot alive, he’s a vibrant man who can nonetheless do “in all probability 40” pushups (though he says 20-30 is his typical restrict) and who loves recounting his tales of the Second World Struggle and his century-plus-long lifetime of wonderful tales. When you ever get the prospect to fulfill him, ask him to inform you one story and you’ll find yourself being regaled by many tales of bravery, heroism and true proof of why the members of the American navy who fought in — and in the end received —WWII have been dubbed “The Best Technology.”
From Humble Beginnings
Roy J. Caldwood was born in New York Metropolis on July 10, 1922. Though his dad and mom by no means divorced, he says they had been separated as a result of his mom, a religious Christian, couldn’t cope with his father’s playing.
“My father didn’t stay very removed from us,” Roy says. “He labored as an elevator operator and after I grew to become a teen and wished to take a younger woman on a date, I might go to my father at work and he’d give me a greenback. However I used to be raised with no father and the self-discipline that a lot of my buddies had rising up.”
In actual fact, Roy says, when he was picked on by bullies at college — which occurred quite a bit as a result of he was small and slight — he needed to run dwelling to get his “sister” (really a cousin that Roy’s mom raised) to assist him combat his battles. “If I went dwelling and bought my sister,” he laughs, “these boys can be scared.”
Finally, a a lot bigger classmate on the Parochial faculty he attended, “regardless that we weren’t Catholic,” took pity on him, “and taught me the best way to field. After a few classes, I didn’t want my sister to combat my battles for me anymore.”
He admits that the nuns on the Catholic faculty had been the one ones who ever actually disciplined him. “If our instructor left the room and got here again, she’d ask, ‘Who was speaking whereas I used to be out?’ and among the children would rat on one another,” which may trigger them to get whacked on the knuckles by a ruler. “That was sufficient to maintain me from getting out of line too usually.”
He additionally recollects an incident the place, “I assume I did one thing unhealthy. I don’t keep in mind precisely what I did, however one factor I’ll always remember was that the nuns known as for an even bigger man, an older scholar, and he picked me up and stuffed me within the dumbwaiter. I’ll always remember that. However, it was really good for me. I discovered the best way to management myself.”
On To The Military
After highschool, Roy says he went to his draft board and talked about that he was serious about drugs. “They put me within the Military, with 16 different Black guys, and stated they had been going to place us in a medical outpost or one thing, however they despatched us to Camp Patrick Henry in Virginia and we fashioned a basketball staff. And we had been good. However then, I heard about this man they known as ‘Sweetwater’ Clifton, and I stated, ‘We gotta this man,’ so we drafted him and we performed in opposition to faculties within the south…and beat the hell out of them.” (Word-Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton went on to grow to be one of many first Black gamers within the then-fledgling NBA after serving in WWII from 1942-45.)
After they weren’t capturing hoops, Roy says that every one he and his basketball buddies did at Patrick Henry was kill mosquitoes, “and all of us hated it. However then, I learn an article in Stars & Stripes journal that the 92nd Infantry Division was badly in want of extra assist, so I bought two of my buddies to go together with me and we had been despatched off to Fort Huachuca in (southeast) Arizona,” which was the bottom of operations for the Buffalo Troopers of the tenth Regiment from 1913-33 and was dwelling to 25,000 troopers throughout WWII.
“So, they put me and my two buddies within the medical unit and we needed to move a check to grow to be Military medical/surgical technicians, and all of us handed, no downside.”
However then, Roy says he bought diarrhea and ended up within the hospital. He says the Military was “breaking down Black fight outfits and making them into labor battalions. They’d already accomplished that with the one Black division that they’d earlier than — the 93rd — they usually despatched them to the Pacific. They had been going to do the identical factor with the 92nd, however the Black leaders fought them. So, they got here to a compromise. They stated, ‘We’ll enable one infantry unit to go to Italy and go into fight and see how they do. Within the meantime, I’m within the hospital making an attempt to get out, they usually wouldn’t let me out, so I simply left.”
Roy says he went to the Day Room and spoke to the clerk there, who stated, “Effectively, it’s important to move the ‘Match to Battle’ check, so you possibly can qualify if the 92nd Infantry Division does go abroad.”
However, regardless that he had simply left the hospital, “I’m dragging, you realize, however I nonetheless handed. The one downside was that they made my two buddies corporals, however not me. They made me a non-public.”
Off To Struggle
So the 370 Regiment (which participated within the Allied assault on the Gothic Line, together with the seize of Lucca, Italy, as a part of the 92nd Infantry Division) did simply high-quality in battle.
“However, you learn nothing about us within the American papers, whereas the European papers had been full of reports concerning the ‘Buffalos.’ However they stated, ‘O.Okay., the remainder of the 92nd division can go over.”
In 1944, because the European marketing campaign was winding down (Word – In Sept. 1943, Italy was not allied with Germany, after fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was ousted), Roy says he and the remainder of the 92nd went in zigzag on a ship, “as a result of the Germans had been proper there and, as we had been approaching Italy, the boat tried to cease at one island, however they requested , ‘Do you might have Blacks on board?’ They stated, ‘Sure,’ in order that they stated, ‘Effectively, then you possibly can’t cease right here.’”
However then, the boat pulled up into Naples, the place there have been plenty of black longshoremen, “and oh, had been they glad to see us,” Roy says. “They stated, we’re having a horrible time right here due to the ‘Ugly Individuals.’ The Italian longshoremen known as White Individuals ‘Ugly” as a result of they appeared down their noses at each different nation. So, they had been glad as hell to see us they usually stated, ‘We’ve been following you guys, so that you received’t be having any issues anymore.’”
After spending that one night time in Naples, the 92nd proceeded on to Viareggio.
“I believe it was possibly the primary morning, and I hear us firing our mortars,” Roy says. “I am going exterior and I see the lieutenant and the squad, they usually’re working towards their mortars. They are saying, ‘If the Germans come, they’ll come two methods — over the mountain, and now we have a platoon up there, and we’re defending down beneath.’”
Roy says he stated to himself, “They need to be warning the folks the place these mortars are falling. After which, I hear the sergeant say, ‘I believe we hit one among their mules.’ I wished to do one thing to warn the folks within the village, however I can’t inform the lieutenant what to do. I’m only a medic. However, I can go warn these folks myself. So, I stated to the sergeant, ‘I’m going over there to inform the people who we’re working towards our mortars and it’s a harmful space, so they need to take precautions — go of their homes and safeguard their animals.’
“The sergeant stated to me, ‘You possibly can go over there, however I’m not going to cease firing the mortars.’ So, I stated to him. ‘I’m going over there. You possibly can carry on firing these mortars over there. However, if you happen to don’t kill me, don’t be right here after I come again.’”
He provides, “Then, the lieutenant says to me, ‘You don’t discuss to my sergeant like that.’ I stated, ‘OK, high-quality.’ However, I nonetheless went over there to warn them and got here again and no person stated something.”
However then, over the following couple of days, one of many troopers got here to Roy and stated he had a rash on his again. “I checked out it and stated, “I’m sending you again to the rear. You want remedy. I can’t enable you to right here [on the front lines].
“However, the lieutenant stated, ‘Personal, I don’t have sufficient troopers up right here now. You possibly can’t ship anyone again to the rear.’
“However, I didn’t pay him any consideration,” Roy says. “I despatched [the soldier] again to the rear anyway. I knew when he was presupposed to be going out on patrol. And, when that day got here, I picked up a rifle and took off my gear and I took his place. The lieutenant was shocked.
“However, that began it. From then on, any suggestion I made to the lieutenant, he’d say, ‘O.Okay.’ And sure, I made all types of options.”
For instance, Roy bought the lieutenant to agree to permit the troopers to have a dance — “Even the lieutenant danced the night time away — as a result of I stated I assumed it will be a good suggestion for morale, and it was. That was the primary of many ‘O.Okay.s’ I bought from him.”
The ‘Purple Coronary heart Stretch’
Because the American troops had been shifting by way of Viareggio, they had been notified a couple of harmful stretch of highway often called the “Purple Coronary heart Stretch.”
“After we bought into this village,” Roy says, “the lieutenant known as for a gathering of the townspeople and informed them, ‘You’ll not be allowed to go away this village for any cause by any means. No person leaves this village.’ And this man, he’s just like the mayor of the village, or no matter, says to the lieutenant, ‘We have now not been capable of purchase meals. I don’t know why. And we’re all actually getting hungry. We’d like meals very badly.’
“However then, the lieutenant says, ‘I informed you, no person leaves!’ However, I’m at all times making an attempt to resolve issues and I’m considering, ‘I gotta assist these folks,’ however what can I say? The captain already gave the lieutenant his orders — ‘No person leaves the village.’ So, what can I say?”
So, Roy says to the lieutenant,“What if I escorted them myself, since I converse Italiano. And once more, the lieutenant says, ‘O.Okay.’ So now, he’s defying his captain’s orders, and he’s gonna take heed to a non-public — me — as an alternative!
“I stated, ‘O.Okay., however I’ll should take two volunteers with me. And straight away, guys are saying, ‘I’ll go.’ I say ‘We go away within the morning.’ However, subsequent morning. No shops. I do know, nice. That takes care of that. However, I hear plenty of noise — we had been upstairs and there’s plenty of noise downstairs. And I say, ‘The ladies are there. My guys are there. I gotta be there. I reduce downstairs and I stated, let’s go. We’ll let the ladies paved the way. I didn’t need it to appear to be I’m strolling behind these ladies’s skirts, so I allow them to stroll approach forward. We weren’t strolling very lengthy after I appeared the place we had been and I rattling close to fainted. I stated, ‘We’re on the Purple Coronary heart Stretch!’
“The Germans can look down from the mountain and see us. They’ll kill us proper now. I gotta decide what the hell to do. I’m not gonna attempt to run out of there. I’ve to persuade the Germans that we’re humanitarians — that we’re making an attempt to assist people who find themselves ravenous. I gotta persuade them. That’s my solely hope. I’m gonna stroll with my head straight up, like I don’t give a rattling. Like I don’t care if I die. I stated, ‘Let’s go’ to my two guys. It’s a superb little stroll however we get to the shop. The ladies went in. And, after I went in, I noticed the shop was in full blackness. I can’t see something. I stated, ‘There’s no getting any meals in right here. There’s nothing.’ So now, I walked the Purple Coronary heart Stretch for no meals, nothing.”
He provides, “Now we gotta return. So we began off. We bought possibly a bit of greater than midway there and a mortar drops. Growth! So now, I’m mendacity within the mud there ‘trigger they’d rain. And I stated, ‘It appears like I made a giant mistake, however I’m not gonna be capable of apologize to those folks as a result of I’m gonna be lifeless.’”
However, Roy says he realized, “Germans don’t typically miss with their mortars — they’re very correct. So, I’m mendacity there, ready for the following one to complete me off, however nothing. So I elevate my head up, I go searching and I see a partial stone or cement wall and I stated to my guys, ‘We’re gonna get behind that cement wall’ and I hollered to the group of ladies up forward, ‘To the wall! To the wall!’ They usually all rise up they usually begin operating and my guys are operating. So then, I rise up and I run. And, after I get behind the wall, the ladies had their prayer books and their Rosary beads out they usually’re all simply crying.
“Simply as I made it to the wall, the Germans elevated the mortars. They need to’ve thrown 30 or 40 of them, they usually’re going ‘Growth, Growth, Growth!’ It appeared just like the extra the ladies prayed, the more serious it bought. I stated to myself, ‘Possibly I ought to inform them that it isn’t serving to. Cease praying.’ However after all, I stated nothing to them.
“So then, I’m mendacity on the bottom there, and the mortars are nonetheless dropping. And I stated to myself, ‘Wait a minute. These mortars are usually not even falling shut sufficient to kill us. They’re not making an attempt to kill us. They’re speaking to us! They’re telling me one thing.’
“So, I begin making an attempt to interpret the mortars. I discovered that the Germans are telling me that they discovered that I’m a humanitarian. I’m really deciphering what this all means. It’s like they stated, ‘We had determined earlier that we are going to combat to the dying.’ However then they stated, “Now, we’re not going to kill you.’ So, I stated to everybody there, ‘They’re not gonna kill us. I’m going to maneuver exterior in a short time. If I bought it proper, I’m alive. If I bought it fallacious, I’m lifeless.’
“So I moved exterior, and I stood there. And all of a sudden, no mortars. That’s the God’s trustworthy fact. So I stated, ‘Let’s return.’ And my guys and the ladies got here out, and all of us headed again.”
Then, when Roy and his group went again, he says, “The lieutenant was standing exterior up there ready for me. Once I met him, he informed me, ‘The Germans despatched a detachment to the village. They wished to search out out what the hell you had been doing there — and our outpost noticed them.’
“The lads known as the lieutenant and informed him, ‘We see Germans coming into the village.’ The lieutenant known as his captain who informed him, ‘I need you to ascertain new quarters within the city.’ And, the lieutenant, stated, ‘I can’t go away now as a result of the physician’s not right here but.’ So, the captain stated to the lieutenant, ‘Don’t trouble these Germans. Go away them fully alone.’ ‘Trigger he knew in the event that they did, me and my group had been lifeless. The captain says, ‘When he will get again, then you definitely reestablish.’
“So now, I’m again with the lieutenant and we’re hurrying to get to the brand new quarters down beneath. So, we get down beneath and we moved proper in as a result of we believed that the Germans had been coming to peacefully give up to us. So, we needed to hurry.”
The Give up Of The Germans
“So now, had been again in the home, and we stroll within the entrance room and one among our troopers yells out to us, ‘The Germans are peacefully surrendering to us!’ So, he and I are operating now to assist with no matter. I see the lieutenant and the German troopers lined up in twos, with no Individuals standing guard over them. We don’t even have sufficient guys. They’re busy upstairs processing the opposite guys…the opposite Germans… which might be nonetheless coming. It’s only one huge, lengthy line. And I can see what the Germans are saying.
“They stated, ‘We have now to thank that man for what he’s doing. He’s a humanitarian. He has saved our lives. We had been going to combat to the dying. However now, we aren’t combating to the dying anymore. We owe our lives to that man now, as a result of we’re going dwelling and we’re going to do humanitarian work, similar to he’s doing.’
“It was like 40 or 50 German troopers and we solely had twelve. All we had was only one platoon. There could have been others behind us, however we didn’t know for positive. And, I don’t actually know what number of guys the Germans had, however they believed they had been gonna die. They stated, ‘We have now him to thank. He has saved our lives.’
“So now, they’re all lined up and what I need to see now could be the man in cost who didn’t kill me. The one answerable for me nonetheless being alive. I simply wanna see him. And, as I stroll down the road trying, I hear some speaking and I’m listening and there are two guys talking English. And, you realize what they’re saying? ‘There he’s!’ A few occasions. I may take a look at them, I may even go over and shake fingers with them. However, I stated to everyone, ‘Proper now, issues are going one hundred percent. The Germans are cooperating. There’s nothing I may do now to make this case any higher. I may mess it up by saying or doing one thing fallacious, however I’m not gonna do it.’ We didn’t even have sufficient guys to face there and watch them. The lieutenant is saying, ‘I don’t have sufficient males,’ which was true. The captain knew he didn’t have sufficient males. So, the lieutenant known as for an Italian civilian, a man who helped us with our provide mules. ‘We’d like Joe,’ the lieutenant stated. ‘I need Joe to escort these prisoners.’
“The Germans had loads of males and ammunition. Extra American and allied forces for positive would have died if the Germans had determined to combat to the dying. However, one or two days after that, the Military issued an announcement saying that, ‘The Italian marketing campaign is over.’
On Celebrating The Military’s 250th
On June 15, Roy posted on his Fb web page, “So grateful for being honored and invited to the 250th Military Anniversary Ball by Gen. Butler. An superior night of giving a toast, chopping the official Military cake and sitting within the Military warfare jeep behind the steering wheel.”
He provides, “I had no concept how I might be obtained and my pal, Basic Butler, additionally stated he had no concept. He stated, ‘Roy, you’ve bought so many individuals right here!’
“It was nice — Generals, their wives…All sitting on the similar desk! Basic Butler’s spouse was sitting subsequent to me.”
Roy says if he by no means moved to Florida, he in all probability would by no means have met Gen. Butler.
Diane agrees, though she additionally credit Viera with making the introduction.
“Councilman Viera is who actually made the connection. It was at the least a 12 months or two within the making. Luis stored saying, ‘Oh, Roy — I’ve bought to attach you with the Basic. And it’s been a incredible bond and relationship and like a love with out them ever understanding one another earlier than.”
As to why the native New Yorker made the transfer to the Sunshine State, Roy says, “I ended up shifting to Florida as a result of my spouse, Muriel, was very sick, and we moved in with my daughter, Diane. It was the perfect transfer I ever made.”
Diane provides, “They had been being thoughtful of my husband (Donald) and myself, as a result of we moved to Tampa in 2001 and we had been having to journey again to New York each time to examine on them, regardless that they had been very impartial. After which got here the pandemic. They determined to maneuver right here on the finish of 2020 for our sake.”
In our Aug. 19 New Tampa difficulty, I’ll inform you about Roy’s 21-year profession in corrections, together with his guide about being held hostage on Rikers Island. Thanks, Roy & Diane!
