The Exclusion of Black Soldiers from the Medal of Honor in World War II

The Exclusion of Black Soldiers from the Medal of Honor in World War II PDF Author: Elliott V. Converse
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147660732X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
The purpose of this study, commissioned by the Army, was to document the process by which the Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded from December 7, 1941, through September 1, 1948; to identify units in which African Americans served; to identify by name all black soldiers whose names were submitted for the medal and to document any errors in the processing of their nominations; and to compile a list of all black soldiers who received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award. Based on this work, in January 1997 President Clinton awarded seven African Americans the Medal of Honor. The authors were selected by Shaw University of Raleigh, North Carolina, to conduct this study under a United States Army contract.

The Exclusion of Black Soldiers from the Medal of Honor in World War II

The Exclusion of Black Soldiers from the Medal of Honor in World War II PDF Author: Elliott V. Converse
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147660732X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
The purpose of this study, commissioned by the Army, was to document the process by which the Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded from December 7, 1941, through September 1, 1948; to identify units in which African Americans served; to identify by name all black soldiers whose names were submitted for the medal and to document any errors in the processing of their nominations; and to compile a list of all black soldiers who received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award. Based on this work, in January 1997 President Clinton awarded seven African Americans the Medal of Honor. The authors were selected by Shaw University of Raleigh, North Carolina, to conduct this study under a United States Army contract.

Black Americans and the Medal of Honor in World War II

Black Americans and the Medal of Honor in World War II PDF Author: Daniel K. Gibran
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medal of Honor
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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Book Description


Taps for a Jim Crow Army

Taps for a Jim Crow Army PDF Author: Phillip McGuire
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813128269
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Many black soldiers serving in the U.S. Army during World War II hoped that they might make permanent gains as a result of their military service and their willingness to defend their country. They were soon disabused of such illusions. Taps for a Jim Crow Army is a powerful collection of letters written by black soldiers in the 1940s to various government and nongovernment officials. The soldiers expressed their disillusionment, rage, and anguish over the discrimination and segregation they experienced in the Army. Most black troops were denied entry into army specialist schools; black officers were not allowed to command white officers; black soldiers were served poorer food and were forced to ride Jim Crow military buses into town and to sit in Jim Crow base movie theaters. In the South, German POWs could use the same latrines as white American soldiers, but blacks could not. The original foreword by Benjamin Quarles, professor emeritus of history at Morgan State University, and a new foreword by Bernard C. Nalty, the chief historian in the Office of Air Force History, offer rich insights into the world of these soldiers.

Immortal Valor

Immortal Valor PDF Author: Robert Child
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472852869
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
The remarkable story of the seven African American soldiers ultimately awarded the World War II Medal of Honor, and the 50-year campaign to deny them their recognition. In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during World War II, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African-Americans served, not a single black soldier received the Medal of Honor. The omission remained on the record for over four decades. But recent historical investigations have brought to light some of the extraordinary acts of valor performed by black soldiers during the war. Men like Vernon Baker, who single-handedly eliminated three enemy machineguns, an observation post, and a German dugout. Or Sergeant Reuben Rivers, who spearhead his tank unit's advance against fierce German resistance for three days despite being grievously wounded. Meanwhile Lieutenant Charles Thomas led his platoon to capture a strategically vital village on the Siegfried Line in 1944 despite losing half his men and suffering a number of wounds himself. Ultimately, in 1993 a US Army commission determined that seven men, including Baker, Rivers and Thomas, had been denied the Army's highest award simply due to racial discrimination. In 1997, more than 50 years after the war, President Clinton finally awarded the Medal of Honor to these seven heroes, sadly all but one of them posthumously. These are their stories.

The Medal of Honor and African Americans in the United States Army During World War II

The Medal of Honor and African Americans in the United States Army During World War II PDF Author: Elliott V. Converse
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : African American soldiers
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description


Fighting for America

Fighting for America PDF Author: Christopher Paul Moore
Publisher: One World/Ballantine
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
The African-American contribution to winning World War II has never been celebrated as profoundly as in "Fighting for America. In this inspirational and uniquely personal tribute, the essential part played by black servicemen and -women in that cataclysmic conflict is brought home. Here are letters, photographs, oral histories, and rare documents, collected by historian Christopher Moore, the son of two black WWII veterans. Weaving his family history with that of his people and nation, Moore has created an unforgettable tapestry of sacrifice, fortitude, and courage. From the 1,800 black soldiers who landed at Normandy Beach on D-Day, and the legendary Tuskegee Airmen who won ninety-five Distinguished Flying Crosses, to the 761st Tank Battalion who, under General Patton, helped liberate Nazi death camps, the invaluable effort of black Americans to defend democracy is captured in word and image. Readers will be introduced to many unheralded heroes who helped America win the war, including Dorie Miller, the messman who manned a machine gun and downed four Japanese planes; Robert Brooks, the first American to die in armored battle; Lt. Jackie Robinson, the future baseball legend who faced court-martial for refusing to sit in the back of a military bus; an until now forgotten African-American philosopher who helped save many lives at a Japanese POW c& even the author's own parents: his mother, Kay, a WAC when she met his father, Bill, who was part of the celebrated Red Ball Express. Yet "Fighting for America is more than a testimonial; it is also a troubling story of profound contradictions, of a country still in the throes of segregation, of a domestic battleground wherearrests and riots occurred simultaneously with foreign service-and of how the war helped spotlight this disparity and galvanize the need for civil rights. Featuring a unique perspective on black soldiers, "Fighting for America will move any reader: all who, like the author, owe their lives to those who served.

Forgotten

Forgotten PDF Author: Linda Hervieux
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062313819
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
"An utterly compelling account of the African Americans who played a crucial and dangerous role in the invasion of Europe. The story of their heroic duty is long overdue.” —Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation The injustices of 1940s Jim Crow America are brought to life in this extraordinary blend of military and social history—a story that pays tribute to the valor of an all-Black battalion whose crucial contributions at D-Day have gone unrecognized to this day. In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a unit of African-American soldiers, landed on the beaches of France. Their orders were to man a curtain of armed balloons meant to deter enemy aircraft. One member of the 320th would be nominated for the Medal of Honor, an award he would never receive. The nation’s highest decoration was not given to Black soldiers in World War II. Drawing on newly uncovered military records and dozens of original interviews with surviving members of the 320th and their families, Linda Hervieux tells the story of these heroic men charged with an extraordinary mission, whose contributions to one of the most celebrated events in modern history have been overlooked. Members of the 320th—Wilson Monk, a jack-of-all-trades from Atlantic City; Henry Parham, the son of sharecroppers from rural Virginia; William Dabney, an eager 17-year-old from Roanoke, Virginia; Samuel Mattison, a charming romantic from Columbus, Ohio—and thousands of other African Americans were sent abroad to fight for liberties denied them at home. In England and Europe, these soldiers discovered freedom they had not known in a homeland that treated them as second-class citizens—experiences they carried back to America, fueling the budding civil rights movement. In telling the story of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, Hervieux offers a vivid account of the tension between racial politics and national service in wartime America, and a moving narrative of human bravery and perseverance in the face of injustice.

Immortal Valor

Immortal Valor PDF Author: Robert Child
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 1472852842
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The remarkable story of seven African-American soldiers denied the Medal of Honor for more than 50 years due to their race, and their extraordinary acts of bravery. In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during World War II, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African-Americans served, not a single black soldier received the Medal of Honor. The omission remained on the record for over four decades. But recent historical investigations have brought to light some of the extraordinary acts of valor performed by black soldiers during the war. Men like Vernon Baker, who single-handedly eliminated three enemy machine guns, an observation post, and a German dugout. Or Sergeant Reuben Rivers, who spearheaded his tank unit's advance against fierce German resistance for three days despite being grievously wounded. Meanwhile Lieutenant Charles Thomas led his platoon to capture a strategically vital village on the Siegfried Line in 1944 despite losing half his men and suffering a number of wounds himself. Ultimately, in 1993 a US Army commission determined that seven men, including Baker, Rivers and Thomas, had been denied the Army's highest award simply due to racial discrimination. In 1997, more than 50 years after the war, President Clinton finally awarded the Medal of Honor to these seven heroes, sadly all but one of them posthumously. These are their stories.

War! what is it Good For?

War! what is it Good For? PDF Author: Kimberley L. Phillips
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807835021
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Examines how African Americans' participation in the nation's wars after President Truman's order to intergrate the military, and their protracted struggles for equal citizenship, galvanized the antiwar activism that reshaped their struggles for freedom.

African Americans and the Pacific War, 1941–1945

African Americans and the Pacific War, 1941–1945 PDF Author: Chris Dixon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107112699
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Dixon provides the first comprehensive study of African American military and social experiences during the Pacific War.