Recently, I was at the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. June 6, 1944, brought together 73,000 American men landing at Omaha and Utah beaches where more than 10,000 rest permanently at the American cemetery. Our allies landed another 77,000 troops the same day.
As a history major, I was fully aware of how many Afro-American fighting men were at D-Day – NONE. Most Black GIs were in service roles and kept from combat. But the African American 761st Tank Battalion, better known as the Black Panthers, arrived four months later and endured a record 183 straight days in combat, liberating 30 towns on their crusade into Germany.
The all-Black 92nd Infantry Division fought the Germans in Italy, the all-Black 93rd Infantry Division fought the Japanese in the Pacific. Black Marines saw combat on Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Guam. The famous Tuskegee Airmen escorted bombers in Europe. But none of these were at D-Day. I can only surmise that the country was not ready for men of color (Black or Japanese Americans) to fight with white troops.
So, as I visited those hallowed beaches and cemetery, I could not help reflecting on how far we’ve come as a nation. My own father was denied enlistment because the Negro quota had already been met. The irony of the U.S. fighting a war against Nazis motivated with racial hatred, when troops returning home had to submit to Jim Crow again was noted by many Americans, not just Black troops. Thus sprouted the seeds of the civil rights movement.
In 1947 African American soldiers and sailors (men and women) were finally integrated by presidential executive order. We’ve now had General Colin Powell serve as the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
We’ve come a long way… thanks to those WWII pioneers.
