MCCOY, Granville K., St. Helena Parish, Louisiana File prepared by D.N. Pardue and submitted by Inez Bridges Tate. ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ From "St. Helena Vets Remember World War II: Personal Interviews With World War II Vets", published by St. Helena Historical Association, 1995. Compiled and edited by Inez Bridges Tate and reprinted with permission. Granville K. McCoy (G.K.) was born and grew up in the Kedron Community. He attended school at Woodland. After school, G.K. was in the CCC's stationed at Grangeville. In 1941-42, he worked at Equitable Equipment Company in Madison- ville, building barges and tug boats. For a time he worked as a welder at Higgins helping to build PT boats. This was after he had taken a welder's course. He was drafted in 1943. At the base, a Marine Sergeant came and asked for two men to serve in the Marines and this was how G.K. came to be in the Marines. Basic training was at San Diego, CA. Additional training was at Fall Brook, CA where he was assigned guard duty on trucks that hauled ammunition on the coast. First overseas duty was on Nee Caledonia and then to Guadalcanal for six months of rigorous training. They were supposed to hit Bougainville, but missed that one. On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, G.K. was in the invasion of Okinawa. He was hit by shrapnel from a hand grenade. This was not disabling as he stayed with his unit. G.K. was with the 22nd Marines who fought at Charlie Hill and in the town of Naha on Okinawa. From a book he has of the history of the Marine Division, we obtain the following about these two engage- ments. "Charlie Hil was formidable as the Japanese were completely dug in, fortified in three levels with tunnels and corridors that widened into rooms, some used as galleys, some as field hospitals. In one there was a Japanese Ford sedan completely intact. in all areas there were weapons of all sizes including one heavy field piece on tracks, ammunition dumps and hundreds of satchel charges of dynamite. Naha had once been the capital of Okinawa and a city of 65,000 people. Now only the Japanese were there as the people had fled. The city was taken but the casualties for the 20 days were well above 4,000." Both of these objectives were costly in lives and wounded. G.K. was hot in both legs and removed to Guam for two weeks. He was then sent to Pearl Harbor for two-three months. When the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, G.K. was in Hawaii. They went aboard a ship in Hawaii. They were elated as they thought they were headed home. To their dismay, they were sent to Kiosho, Japan to serve as occupations troops. Finishing their time in Japan, they returned to Camp Pendleton, Ca. where he was discharged on New Year's Day, 1946. G.K. was a Cpl. in a Machine Gun Squad. He received the Purple Heart and one Battle Star. Returning to St. Helena he farmed a while. He and Miss Evelyn Bridges were married on September 1, 1949. G.K. worked as a game warden for the State of Louisiana from 1953 - 1978. Now retired, he keeps his yard immaculate (it is a show place) and grows outstanding daylillies. He wants to keep these as a memorial to his late wife. G.K. has two sons and two grand- children which he enjoys very much. ------ Newspaper Clippings: 16 June 1944 Granville Knight McCoy, son of Mr. Hubert Homer McCoy and the late Mrs. McCoy of Wood- land Community of St. Helena par- ish, has graduated from the Infan- try and Brown Automatic Rifle Section School of Training Center at Camp Elliott, San Diego, Cali- fornia, according to the official re- port of the Marine Corps. Graduates of this school have completed thorough training with the B.A.R., Mi Garand and Car- bine rifles, hand grenades, anti- tank grenades and are exception- ally well versed in the use of the bayonet and knives for jungle war- fare, the report stated. Pfc. Mc Coy, born August 20, 1920, attend- ed Woodland high school where he participated in all major sports. He enlisted in the Marine Corps on March 16, 1943. 24 Aug. 1945 Pfc. Granville Knight McCoy, son of Mr. Hubert Homer McCoy and the late Mrs. McCoy of Woodland community of St. Hel- ena parish, was wounded on 30th of May and is now recuperating in a government hospital in Hon- olulu. * * *