US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

Tough Toenails Paring 563
Rear Admiral Fort retained direct command of the Wickham Occupation
Group, and flew his flag in the destroyer-type minesweeper Trever. He
withdrew his two senior subordinates from their normal assignments and
placed one of them in command of the task units carrying troops to Viru
Harbor and the other in command of the follow-up landing at Segi Point.
His Chief of Staff, Captain Benton W. Decker (1920), commanded the
Segi Occupation Group and Commander Stanley L. Leith (1923), Comman-
der Minesweeper Group, drew the more interesting Viru Harbor assignment.
No one of these three task units polished off its operational tasks exactly
“according to plan.” Their trials, tribulations and eventual success will be
related in some detail in the following pages.
The over-all task organization established was as follows:
I
VIRU HARBOR
OCCUPATION GROUP
TU 31.3.1
Lelth
I
I
I
SEGI POINT
OCCUPATION GROUP
TU 31.3.2
Decker
The detailed composition of the task units was as follows:
I
I
WICKHAM ANCHORAGE
OCCUPATION GROUP
TU 31.3.3
EASTERN TASK GROUP ORGANIZATION TG 31.3
VIRU HARBOR, SEGI, WICKHAM ANCHORAGE
(a) VIRU
Leith
HARBOR OCCUPATION GROUP TU 31.3.1 Commander
(1) Achmce Unit, Lieutenant Colonel Michael S. Currin, USMC
4th Marine Raider BattaIion (Designated companies)
(2) l~t EchelonTU31.3. 11 Commander Leith
llopkim
USN
(DMS-13) (F) Lieutenant Commander F. M. Peters
Kilty (APD- 15 ) Lieutenant Commander D. L. Mattie, USN
Cro~by (APD-17) Lieutenant Commander A. G. Grant, USNR
(3) 2zzd Echelon—TU 32.3.12 Lieutenant B. F. Seligrnan, USNR
APC-24 Lieutenant B. F. Seligrnan, USNR
LCT-134 Ensign J. W. Hunt, USNR
Fort