A DRIVER OF DESTINY: TEC 5 Douglas Westbrook, the “Red Ball Express,” and the Living Legacy of New Trinity Cemetery in Haltom City.

A DRIVER OF DESTINY: TEC 5 Douglas Westbrook, the “Red Ball Express,” and the Living Legacy of New Trinity Cemetery in Haltom City. https://youtu.be/uDqphR0z03k?si=p-nPAItSm_QrWM7G

“Keep ’Em Rolling” — African American Service in the Red Ball Express

HALTOM CITY, TEXAS - History does not always arrive with applause or parade. More often, it waits—quiet and patient—beneath the soil, its truth etched into weathered stone, until someone willing to dig for dignity stops long enough to listen.

That moment came at Historic New Trinity Cemetery when First Sergeant Clinton Warren, a respected Buffalo Soldiers historian and trusted authority on Black military heritage, attended a Wreaths Across America ceremony at the invitation of Pastor Kyev Tatum. What began as an act of remembrance soon became revelation.

Among the headstones, Warren paused at the marker of Technician Fifth Grade Douglas Westbrook, U.S. Army—assigned during World War II to the 380th Quartermaster Truck Company. In an instant, the meaning was clear. His training and lived experience left no doubt:

This was a Red Ball Express soldier.

Further research confirmed it. TEC 5 Douglas Westbrook served in the legendary Red Ball Express—the dangerous, relentless supply operation that kept the Allied advance moving and made victory in Europe not merely possible, but inevitable.

Today, he rests where his service still speaks—at New Trinity.

When Logistics Steered History

In June 1944, following the Allied landings at Normandy, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, faced a crisis that threatened to slow the liberation of Europe. Allied forces were advancing at breathtaking speed—sometimes seventy-five miles in a single day—while rail lines lay in ruins, ports were choked with cargo, and supply lines stretched to the breaking point.

“Our spearheads were moving swiftly,” Eisenhower later wrote. “The supply service had to catch them with loaded trucks.”

The answer was bold, urgent, and unprecedented: the Red Ball Express.

From August through November 1944, nearly 6,000 GMC 2½-ton trucks, marked with red-ball priority symbols, thundered across France, Belgium, and into Germany. Operating day and night—often without headlights—more than 23,000 soldiers delivered over 400,000 tons of fuel, ammunition, food, and medical supplies to the front lines.

Between 70 and 75 percent of those drivers were African American, serving in segregated Quartermaster units like the 380th QM Truck Company.

These men did not advance with rifles and bayonets.

They advanced the war on wheels.

General George S. Patton said it without hesitation:

“The 2½-ton truck is our most valuable weapon.”

Without the Red Ball Express, the Allied drive across France would have stalled—and the course of history itself would have turned.

Through Enemy Fire—and American Prejudice

Red Ball drivers faced danger without pause:

• Luftwaffe strafing runs

• Mines and artillery fire

• Pitch-black roads and narrow village lanes

• Explosions that turned highways into graveyards of twisted steel, fallen soldiers, and dead horses

Nineteen-year-old driver James Rookard remembered watching trucks explode beside him.

“I was scared,” he said. “But I did my job.”

They drove fast. They slept little. Their motto became the French command “tout de suite”—right now.

Yet even as they faced the enemy overseas, Black soldiers fought another battle at home and within the ranks. Military leadership—constrained by racism—questioned their intelligence, courage, and fitness for combat, assigning them overwhelmingly to service roles.

The Red Ball Express became a rolling rebuttal to that lie.

Under fire and under pressure, these soldiers delivered with precision, discipline, and resolve—proving that logistics, leadership, and bravery know no color line.

Their service embodied the promise of the Double V Campaign: victory over fascism abroad and victory over racism at home.

TEC 5 Douglas Westbrook and the 380th Quartermaster Truck Company

The 380th Quartermaster Truck Company was one of more than 130 predominantly Black Quartermaster units pressed into Red Ball service. Their mission was grueling, dangerous, and indispensable.

Among them stood TEC 5 Douglas Westbrook—driving, loading, repairing, and delivering the lifeblood of the Allied advance. His steady service helped make the U.S. Army the most mobile and mechanized force of the war.

Today, his headstone stands as quiet testimony to a soldier who kept armies moving, nations free, and history pressing forward.

New Trinity Cemetery: Sacred Ground. Living Memory.

New Trinity Cemetery is more than a burial place.

It is a classroom, a sanctuary, and a national archive written in stone.

More than 500 Buffalo Soldiers and African American veterans from World War I, World War II, Korea, and beyond rest here—men and women whose service shaped the nation even when the nation failed to fully honor them.

Beginning January 2026, the Texas Buffalo Soldiers Association will lead guided historical tours at New Trinity Cemetery, sharing stories like that of TEC 5 Douglas Westbrook and the Red Ball Express—stories of courage, endurance, sacrifice, and faith under pressure.

Through these tours, the ground speaks, the stones teach, and the legacy lives.

Honoring the Legacy

On MLK Day of Service, Saturday, January 17, 2025 at 10:00 a.m., the Friends of New Trinity Cemetery will honor TEC 5 Douglas Westbrook, the Red Ball Express, and all who rest in this sacred soil.

New Trinity Cemetery

4001 Beach Street

Fort Worth, Texas 76104

Join us as we clean, clear, and commemorate—transforming remembrance into action and history into hope.