The Harlem Hellfighters

[elkhound]

 

[Neb]

Before Woodrow Wilson the military Wasn't segregated.

Ben

 

[Weedygarden]

Before Woodrow Wilson the military Wasn't segregated.

Ben

I wonder when it was desegregated?

 

[Neb]

I wonder when it was desegregated?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/face2f...-african-slave-who-served-in-the-u-s-army/amp

I believe one of the first people killed at Lexington was black.

Not sure when it was reintegrated but by the time my father went in the Marines for the Korean war it was integrated. Growing up an Air Force brat I never saw signs of it.

Ben

 

[rice paddy daddy]

Harry Truman wrote an executive order integrating the US armed forces in 1948.

I grew up in the segregated South and never was around black people until I joined the Army.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

My main area of study is World War Two, but I have dabbled in World War One.
The Harlem Hellfighters were an excellent unit, and really earned their knickname.
Perhaps the most famous soldier of the 369th was Pvt Henry Johnson. He and another soldier were out front, in a listening post to warn the main line if the Germans approached.
They did approach, and the other guy was wounded. Pvt Johnson refused to leave his injured buddy and fought alone, using everything he had, down to a knife. He sustained 21 wounds, and killed or wounded many enemy.
The French heavily decorated him, but not the Americans, because he was black.
He FINALLY received his due when President Obama posthumously awarded him the Medal Of Honor. Which he so richly deserved.

Please, do an old soldier a favor and google Pvt Henry Johnson, and google Harlem Hellfighters.
Thank you.

 

[Weedygarden]

Harry Truman wrote an executive order integrating the US armed forces in 1948.

I grew up in the segregated South and never was around black people until I joined the Army.

I have had the impression from relatives who were in the integrated service that there is still a divide, each sticking with their own kind. I think this is still true in lots of society.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

Here is Pvt Johnson's official citation, straight from the Congressional Medal Of Honor Society.
https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/henry-johnson
And, while you are on that website, type Roy P Benavidez into the search bar, and be prepared to be astounded!!
Where do we get such men?

I never was a hero, but I served with some.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

I have had the impression from relatives who were in the integrated service that there is still a divide, each sticking with their own kind. I think this is still true in lots of society.

It was that way in the rear areas in Vietnam, and in the States.
In combat units, not so much.

 

[Bacpacker]

Here is Pvt Johnson's official citation, straight from the Congressional Medal Of Honor Society.
https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/henry-johnson
And, while you are on that website, type Roy P Benavidez into the search bar, and be prepared to be astounded!!
Where do we get such men?

I never was a hero, but I served with some.

Benavidez's story is nothing short of amazing.

 

[joel]

Harry Truman wrote an executive order integrating the US armed forces in 1948.

I grew up in the segregated South and never was around black people until I joined the Army.

I saw African Americans in the farm community, but not in School until third grade (1969?).