Black Men At War

This photo is of soldiers of the 369th that won the French decoration the Croix_de_Guerre in 1919 for gallantry in action. The French awarded many decorations to Black fighting men in WWI. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Everyone has probably studied American history and heard the name Crispus Attucks. He was the first man killed by the British at the Boston Massacre. He was not military however, but part of a mob defying tthe British in a riot.

Black men were part of the military during the revolution. Washington used to call Black soldiers that represented 15 percent of the men in his army, his "mixed multitude". The Continental Army was completely integrated.

Historians William Cooper Nell and George Washington Williams have written of Black fighting men in the Revolution, the Civil War, the Indian Wars, and the Spanish American Wars. Black men were part of the fighting forces at Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill, and Valley Forge during the revolution.

At the end of the Civil War, over 10 percent of the Union Army was Black. Most people know that free Black men fought for the Union. However, what is not so well known is that ex-slaves from South Carolina, who had become Union soldiers, captured Jacksonville, Florida on their own.

During a dark chapter of our history when this country fought against the natives of this land, Black men known as the Buffalo Soldiers comprised one fifth of the "Indian"-fighting Army.

During World Wars I and II, the country was steeped in white supremacy politically, historically, and philosophically. In the 20th century during the world wars, revisionism controlled American culture. There were laws known as "JIm Crow" laws and entertainment like minstrel shows.

Revisionists rewrote history and actually taught their theories in public schools. The heroism that Black men had shown was written out of the history books as though it had not happened. The myth of the "happy slave" was born and Black soldiers didn't jibe with this story.

In WWI, Black American soldiers fought side by side with the French, with French guns, wearing French uniforms. When the Americans joined the fray, the French had two Black generals, four Black colonels, 150 Black captains and hundreds of Black lieutenants. The French deployed Senegalese troops who proved they were heros in 1914 at the Battle of the Marne.

A runaway slave by the name of Eugene Jacques Bullard, who was from Georgia, joined the special Friends of France Battalion of the French Foreign Legion. He joined the French Army when the Foreign Legion returned to Africa. He would go on to win the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire at Verdun. He was injured and decided on a dare to join the French Air Corp. He was the first Black fighter pilot in history, and he shot down a German triplane in 1917.

Bullard remained in Paris between WWI and WWII and since he spoke French and German, the French recruited him as a spy in 1939! He was wounded in 1940, and decorated by the French once again. He had joined other WWI vets at the French's last stand against the Germans.

He (Bullard) escaped to America and in 1959 the French made him a Knight of the Legion of Honor. In 1960 Charles De Gaulle hugged him in his Foreign Legion uniform, at that time he was working as an elevator operator at Rockefeller Center.

When the Japanese ambushed the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Doris Miller was a messman on the West Virginia, one of the only jobs the Navy would allow African Americans to hold. He, despite having no training manned a machine gun and returned fire on the Japanese. This was after he carried his wounded captain to safety. He would eventually shoot down at least three Japanese planes.

He (Miller) died the next year when his ship the Liscome Bay sank in the pacific with all hands. He was awarded the Navy Cross, the first Black to win that honor only after protest by African Americans. It seems the Navy was embarrassed one of the only heros at Pearl was Black. The medal was awarded to Miller by Admiral Chester Nimitz. (see photo below)

The 761st Tank Battalion was an all Black segregated unit that proved their worth to many and they came under the watchful eye of a legend. In 1944 the legendary General George Patton chose the 761st to fight for him. To paraphrase General Patton, he said that he didn't care what color they were, he chose them because they were the best and he wanted nothing but the best. He stated, "go up there and kill those Kraut sons-of-bitches".

Photo of a few members of the 332nd Fighter Group in Ramitelli Italy. Photo in the public domain as it is a work of the United States Government

The 332nd Fighter Group was commanded by the first Black graduate of West Point of the 20th century, Colonel Benjamin O. Davis. The men of the 332nd were trained in Alabama hence their nickname. Their training and their unit was segregated, but they proved themselves many times over on the field of battle.

The men of the 332nd were well educated so called middle class Blacks for the most part. They were graduates of some of America's prestigious institutes of higher education. They had to be well spoken and prepared to take part in any type of verbal discourse. Their commissions in the armed forces depended on these facts. The whole exercise was an experiment that many hoped would fail. They were representing their entire race along with having to fight for their country. They came through with flying colors, so to speak, no pun intended.

Captain Lee 'Buddy' Archer was an ace, and Captain Roscoe Brown Jr. was the first American to shoot down a German jet. At that time the US did not have jet aircraft. Captain Brown achieved this feat without missiles of any kind and without jet engines. He used a 50 caliber machine gun.

The 332nd flew more missions than any other unit in Europe, and they never lost a bomber to enemy action. Protecting the 'flying fortresses' was a duty of fighter squads. One of the skippers of the B-24s was an avowed racist. That was until he met the men of the 332nd. He was one of the pilots charged with going to bomb Berlin.

He had received his orders and noticed he was being escorted by someone other than the 332nd and he protested. His commanding officers, knowing his racist background said, "who do you want, you know the 332nd are the colored boys'? He said, "I've been checking and the colored boys ain't never lost a plane to enemy action. If I'm going to Berlin, I want the colored boys to take me".

Attitudes were changing among servicemen, after witnessing the heroics of the African American servicemen. However, they still had problems at home.

Photo of U.S. Air Force Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., (at that time Davis was a Colonel, he would later be promoted to the rank of General) commander of the 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing, leading a three-ship North American F-86F Sabre formation during the Korean War in 1953. Photo is in the public domain as it is a work of the United States Government

African Americans fought and died in the Korean conflict after world war two. Race relations were improving in the military. There was still trouble at home. A young man who would become a United States senator, wrote a letter to the sitting senator from Mississippi. The senator's name was Theodore Bilbo an avowed racist. The young man was Robert Byrd. He wrote his letter in 1944 saying that he would never fight alongside of a Negro and he believed race mixing of any kind was the worst thing whites could do. He said he would rather die than to see his country "degraded by race mongrels". Byrd did not serve in the military during world war two.

President Harry Truman desegregated the military in 1948 by an official executive order. The military didn't actually desegregate until the Korean war was nearly over. The Air Force which was new at this point in time, integrated immediately without fanfare. The Army on the other hand, came up with a plan to have separate but equal status in their ranks. This was the height of hypocrisy.

President John F. Kennedy made changes in the military and made it clear that he felt segregation was pointless. He saw that the military did away with segregation and ordered that ranking officers did not discriminate against personnel or their dependents. No matter where they happened to be located. So there would be no more discrimination off base with regard to military housing or on the base with regard to the assignments the men were obligated to perform.

Vietnam would be the first war that did not see segregation in the ranks. For the first time since the revolution the war was integrated and men were given assignments based on their qualifications, rather than their race.

The military became a bastion of rights for African Americans and people of all races. General Colin Powell would be appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . General Powell was the obvious poster person for the Army's new slogan "Be All That You Can Be".

The Army once one of America's most racist institutions would become a haven for young men and women seeking to serve their country, regardless of their race or gender. General Powell said he didn't believe in separating his race from his nationality.

The history of Blacks in the military is not a story of race, it is a story of Americans that happen to be Black. it is a story that chronicles the hardships and victories of a specific group of Americans. The military actually created many successful people. General Powell eventually became Secretary of State under George Bush.

This has been the story of a group of people fighting for their country and not a story of the race of those people. The people just happen to be African American and because we had been overlooked in the history books, you find stories like this one in abundance now.

This history has not been the history of a race of people who are American. It completes the history of America, by adding the story of a group of Americans that had been overlooked. We are all American no matter what race we are or the color of our skin.