In Touch With World War II African American Soldiers

By Betty Miller Buttram
FWIS Contributing Writer

Over the Memorial Weekend, I visited the World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. I knew three months ago that I would indeed be visiting the museum because I am related to a retired military officer who was determined in seeing the place. I was interested in other places in New Orleans, like the French Quarter; but to get to these other places, I had to stay close to my ride…the retired military officer. My attitude at the time that I stepped across the threshold and went into the museum’s open doors was of dubious thoughts. Would there be any contributions attributed by African American soldiers who served our country doing World War II on display or even mentioned in the museum? I should not use the words “contributions” or “attributed” because some of the Black soldiers did not come home; and those who did return home came back to places where they were still disrespected because of the color of their skin. One thing that I was certain of was that the Tuskegee Airmen would be in that museum, and they were there; and then it became a more informative visit.

The museum has taken time and detail in portraying the African American soldiers in World War II during a segregated time in America. Seventy-eight years had passed since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, and the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The United States was still a segregated nation and was now going into World War II with segregated military forces.

World War II forced the United States to use every available resource. Military leaders, despite their prejudices, often had no choice but to extend recruitment to previously excluded groups. Although some minorities served alongside white Americans, patterns of discrimination prevailed. Many military leaders believed that African Americans were incapable of performing complex military jobs and that they would fail in combat. Consequently, they were assigned to segregated support units commanded by white officers. The military recruited African Americans to transport material, prepare meals, build roads, and dig graves but not to fight. Many African Americans were conflicted by the “forked tongue” language of fighting for their country when their country was giving them racial injustices by assigning them to manual labor, laundry, and other servant duties in segregated units. The realities of combat, however, blurred racial lines. As American soldiers were losing their lives, the military realized that they would need more troop replacements. African Americans became infantry soldiers, pilots, tankers, and medics. Despite racial discrimination, 1.2 million African Americans served in the military during World War II.

Other men of color who served in the military during that the war were 500,000 Latino Americans and that number included Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans. Latino soldiers were not segregated into separate units as African Americans were. After Pearl Harbor, 44,000 Native Americans around the country enlisted to defend the United States. More than 70 percent of the men in some Native American communities joined the military during the war. The Native American soldiers were not segregated into separate units as African Americans were. On January 20, 1944, young men of Japanese ancestry who were born in the U.S. could enlisted in the military and 33,000 joined the military force and were assigned to segregated units just like the African American soldiers were.

The African American soldiers were assigned to segregated units; the Japanese American soldiers were assigned to segregated units; but the Latinos and the Native Americans were integrated into the military forces.

Seventy percent of African Americans soldiers were dedicated drivers of the Red Ball Express which kept a steady stream of fuel, ammunition and supplies flowing to the soldiers on the front lines. Driving day and night in all weather and under threat of air attacks they contributed significantly to the Allied victory in Germany.

The 92nd Infantry Division was one of the two segregated African American infantry divisions to see combat during World War II.  It took part in the bloody campaign to secure northern Italy and suffered almost 3,000 casualties in fighting from August 1944 to May 1945.

I walked out of the museum with more knowledge about our African American soldiers’ participation in the battles that occurred in Italy, Nazi Germany, and Japan during World War II. I am not a history bluff but sometimes it takes looking back to see today’s military and how it has evolved from lessons learned.