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At the Point Salines airstrip, the Rangers managed to clear the runway of pipes, boulders and vehicles, which had been placed there by Grenadians and Cubans. The Rangers could now fly onto the field in C-130s. By 7:15 a.m. the airstrip was secure. Hundreds of Cubans had thrown down their weapons and surrendered to the superior U.S. firepower.
But the fighting was far from over. An additional 400 Cubans, it turned out, plus an unknown number of Grenadian soldiers and militiamen, continued to rattle the Rangers with sniper and mortar fire. They had isolated the medical school's Grand Anse campus from its True Blue buildings. They roamed the back streets of St. George's, pounding on doors, and melted up into the hills, seeking either hiding or sniper sites. They continued to control the capital's small harbor.
Moving from Point Salines, the Rangers pushed toward the nearby True Blue campus. At 8:30 a.m., students heard and saw soldiers near the men's dorm. One Ranger ran across the runway and shouted, "We're Americans. You are all right." The soldiers warned the students to stay away from windows, but to collect a few belongings and gather in the adjacent lecture hall. There an officer told them, "We are the U.S. armed forces and we are here to get you out if you want to go." Students applauded with joy and relief.
The medical students set up makeshift treatment centers in the lecture hall and in a library. They helped a score of wounded Grenadians and Cubans. The U.S. wounded were also given first aid. But morphine to relieve pain was running low. An outdoor basketball court was turned into a helicopter pad to lift the wounded to the Guam or to hospital facilities elsewhere. Recalled Student Paula Prezioso of Great Neck, N.Y.: "One minute we'd be under a desk, the next up looking for a Coke, the next treating some Cuban sniper. Then back under a desk."
With some 1,900 U.S. troops now on Grenada, the Pentagon ordered two battalions of reinforcements from the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. That brought the invasion force to 3,000. Conceded Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman John Vessey: "We got a lot more resistance than we expected."
On Tuesday afternoon, the Guam moved to the west coast of the island. The enemy troops had grouped in a significant force north of St. George's. They held Fort Frederick and were assumed to be holding hostages at Richmond Hill prison, on high ground east of the capital. From the Guam, 250 Marines boarded 13 amphibious vehicles, carrying five tanks, and stormed ashore at Grand Mai Bay north of the city. They began moving south, while the paratroopers headed north toward the capital in a pincer movement.