Courtesy Photo | 2d Lt. Marvin C. Goff, Jr. (center) with Wesley Baldwin (L) and John Stapleton (R) at...... read more read more
By Fiona G. Holter, USAICoE Staff Historian
On 25 February 1944, Capt. Marvin C. Goff, Jr. received the Soldier’s Medal for courageous actions taken in an explosion in Noumea, New Caledonia, in November 1943. Goff, the first Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) officer to take a CIC team overseas during the Second World War, later earned a Bronze Star for meritorious achievements during his service in the South Pacific.
In September 1942, 2d Lt. Marvin Goff arrived in Noumea, New Caledonia, with a team of six CIC agents. The South Pacific (SP) Provisional Detachment, led by Lieutenant Goff, initially focused on surveillance in New Zealand and the French, British, and joint territorial islands of New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji, to help prevent sabotage and espionage from any Vichy French sympathizers.
By the end of 1942, Gott’s CIC detachment focused primarily on New Caledonia, in support of the U.S. Navy’s port at Noumea. By late spring 1943, the small unit had become so busy, the Army sent new agents and reorganized CIC efforts in the region. Over the next nine months, the CIC SP Provisional Detachment covered all of the commands in New Caledonia and had agents attached to the 37th, 43rd, and 93rd Infantry Divisions and the 13th Air Force. As the South West Pacific islands became the marshalling yards for equipment and thousands of soldiers heading for the South West Pacific Theater, Goff and his fellow CIC officers and agents observed and surveilled suspicious persons and investigated incidents across the island.
One incident occurred on 1 November 1943 at the Nickel Co. docks in Noumea. At approximately 1410, an explosion sent “bright red tongues of flame leap[ing] over a large part of the docks” and “huge billowing clouds of smoke upward into the sky.” For the next four hours, the docks were engulfed in flames and additional small blasts. Goff and a CIC team set off for the docks to investigate, initially suspecting sabotage. On the scene, Goff exposed himself to flying debris and shell fragments as he assisted the efforts to extinguish the fire and remove valuable government property from the path of destruction.
Once the fire was extinguished and the CIC could properly investigate, they determined the initial explosion occurred as ammunition and explosives were being unloaded from ships docked in the harbor. They ruled the incident was the result of improper storage and handling of explosives by inexperienced personnel rather than sabotage. On 25 February 1944, Goff received the Soldier’s Medal for his courageous actions at the Nickel Co. docks.
Captain (later Maj.) Goff went on to serve with the CIC in the Solomon Islands and the Philippines. While serving with the 214th CIC Detachment in Manila, Goff’s investigations were lauded for being “responsible for the uninterrupted advance of [U.S.] forces.” [See This Week in MI History #26, 2-8 February]. In 1945, he received a Bronze Star for “meritorious achievement against the enemy.” Like in Noumea, Goff consistently went beyond the call of duty to “secure and correlate information of tactical value.”
After the war, Major Goff earned his law degree at University of Virginia in 1947 and was a practicing attorney in Germantown, Tennessee, until he retired in 1983. He passed away on 13 May 2009 at the age of ninety-three.
| Date Taken: | 02.22.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 02.22.2022 11:28 |
| Story ID: | 415040 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 91 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Capt. Goff receives Soldier's Medal, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
