by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian

FIRST CIC-TRAINED OFFICERS ARRIVE IN AUSTRALIA

On Apr. 9, 1942, the same day U.S. forces surrendered to the Japanese in the Philippines, the first four Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC)-trained officers arrived at Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters in Australia. Previously, the CIC, and its predecessor Corps of Intelligence Police, was comprised solely of enlisted men in the rank of sergeant. While officers commanded these NCOs, most had no experience in CI operations. Not until early 1942 did the Army authorize officer spaces in the CIC and only then did the organization begin specifically training them in CI procedures. Upon arrival in Australia, these four officers formed the nucleus of the CI effort in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) and eventually the famed 441st CIC Detachment.

Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Elliott Thorpe, the G-2 of the U.S. Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA), took command of the four new arrivals. 1st Lt. John N. Irwin II was placed in charge of all CI activities and served as assistant executive officer of Thorpe’s G-2 Section. 2d Lt. Leo J. Nielsen, Jr., was assigned as assistant military censor, and 2d Lts. Harold G. Gelwicks and Blair P. Labatt were both assigned as G-2 investigations officers. Initially, this small group focused on tightening security measures in U.S. troop areas, imposing censorship, investigating sabotage activities, and tracking Japan’s movements on a map pulled out of an old National Geographic magazine.

While the American troop build-up in the Pacific accelerated throughout 1942, the increase in CIC agents failed to keep pace. By July 1942, when the USAFIA became the U.S. Army Services of Supply (USASOS), Thorpe’s G-2 section was comprised of twelve officers, sixteen enlisted men, and nineteen civilians, all involved in CI work but not necessarily trained in CI work. Fortunately, in late March 1943, Maj. Albert Vreeland, the first field grade officer trained in CIC procedures, arrived in Australia with another CIC officer and twenty agents. Vreeland was appointed the chief of CIC in the SWPA; the newly promoted Maj. Labatt served as his executive officer. Vreeland physically and administratively separated all CIC functions from Thorpe’s G-2 section.

The first combat-trained CI agents arrived in Australia in April 1943 and had their first operational mission during the landings on the islands of Kiriwina and Woodlark in July. CI agents would accompany U.S. combat forces on nearly every operation in SWPA thereafter. On Apr. 20, 1944, the 5227th CIC Detachment (Provisional) was formed to assume command of all CIC personnel in SWPA. Four months later, on Aug. 17, 1944, the 5227th became the 441st CIC Detachment, commanded by now Col. Vreeland, who provided centralized control over the activities of thirty-nine numerically designated CIC detachments throughout SWPA. Colonel Vreeland was replaced in January 1945 by Col. Jennis R. Galloway, who led the 441st throughout the rest of the war.

Of the four original officers who arrived in April 1942, only the later military assignments of Irwin and Labatt are readily known. Irwin was promoted to lieutenant colonel and, as Thorpe’s CI field representative, he coordinated all CI work in Luzon after MacArthur’s triumphant return to the Philippines in the fall of 1944. Labatt, who became Vreeland’s executive officer in the 441st, later took command of the 306th CIC Detachment, which participated in the recapture of Leyte. Both Irwin and Labatt accompanied the 801st CIC Detachment into Manila once American forces had established a foothold there in February 1945. Vreeland left active duty in August 1945 and spent six years as police commissioner in East Orange, New Jersey. He later returned to his law profession.

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