African American Men and Their Involvement in the Armed Services
...ade outstanding contributions to winning the war. They served in antiaircraft batteries they also operated smoke generators at the front and served in ambulance companies. The 92nd and 93rd Divisions and the 24th Infantry Regiments were among the key Black combat units. Most black regiments were located over seas, Italy, France and other parts of Europe to name a few. Another outstanding black unit was the 761st Tank Battalion. They were the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. The Red Bull Express was a trucking company ran by black men that supplied all the regiments with hauling their food, ammunition and other material and supplies. But these men were not just truck drives, often they would stop their trucks and get out their rifles and other weapons and join combat troops in enemy attacks. There was an air of urgency surrounding the outbreak of the Korean War. This became an instrumental tool for the progression of integration within the military. At first, the black soldiers who were sent to Korea fought in segregated units. The largest of these was the 24th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division, which was ordered into a major battle within a week of arriving in Korea. The United States' quick entrance into the war provided a further push toward integration. Officers decided to fill some depleted white units, which had been weakened by heavy casualties suffered in the first few months of the war, with black soldiers. African-Americans served in all combat and combat service elements during the Korean War and were involved in all major combat operations, including the advance of United Nations Forces to the Chinese border. “In June 1950, almost 100,000 African-Americans were on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, equaling about 8 percent of total manpower. By the end of the war, probably more than 600,000 African-Americans had served in the military.” Changes in the United States, the growth of black political power and the U.S. Defense Department's realization that African-Americans were being underutilized because of racial prejudice led to new opportunities for African-Americans serving in the Korean War. “In October 1951, the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment, a unit established in 1869, which had served during the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and the beginning of the Korean War, was disbanded, essentially ending segregation in the U.S. Army” In the last two years of the Korean War throughout the services, hundreds of blacks held command positions, were posted to elite units such as combat aviation and served in a variety of technical military specialties. Additionally, more blacks than may have done so in a segregated military, chose to stay in the armed forces after the war because of the improved social environment, financial benefits, educational opportunities and promotion potential. African-American servicemen distinguished themselves in combat during the ground battles with the North Korean Army and in the air war over Korea. On July 21, 1950, a battalion combat team commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Pierce Jr, a black man, compiled of three infantry companies and an engineer’s company, recaptured Yech'on. The action, which received national attention in the United States, was considered the first significant successful offensive operation by the U.S. Army in the war. “Captain Charles Bussey, commander of the engineers’ company, was awarded the Silver Star for having prevented a flanking operation by a North Korean battalion during the battle. Bussey's platoon-size unit killed more than 250 enemy soldiers. Captain Bussey's bravery inspired his regiment and exemplified the preparedness and leadership capabilities of African-American soldiers.” Although the African American community largely ignored the Vietnam conflict in the early 1960s, as the war continued many blacks began to oppose the growing U.S. military escalation in Southeast Asia under President Lyndon Johnson. “In 1964, for example, black activist Malcolm X argued that the U.S. government was hypocritical in drafting black soldiers to fight for freedom in Saigon since it did not protect black voters at home from violence. In 1965 the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party newsletter openly criticized U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and the following year both Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) advocated a peaceful solution to the Vietnam conflict. Echoing Malcolm X, SNCC chairman John Lewis sought to link the struggle against oppression at home with the struggle against U.S. imperialism abroad.” Opposition to the war proved controversial within the African American community, however. African Americans had fought long and hard for civil rights and by the mid-1960s had made great strides. “The Voting Rights Act of 1965 promised to greatly expand the number of black voters by the end of the decade, and black spokespersons appeared prominently in public life, includin...