YES WE SERVED
YES, WE SERVED in World War II. Many soldiers of color served their country with Distinction during World War II. There were 125,000 African Americans who were overseas in world war 11. Famous segregated units such as the Tuskegee airmen and 761st Tank Battalion and the lesser known, but equally distinguished 452nd Anti Aircraft Artillery Battalion proved their value in combat. This war produced hundreds of African American heroes. Some of these heroes included Benjamin O. Davis who served as commander of the famed Tuskegee airmen during the war. He later went on to become the first African American general in the United States Air Force. His father, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., had been the first African American Brigadier General in the Army (1940).
Doris Miller was the first African American recipient of the Navy Cross awarded for his actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Miller had voluntarily manneCad an anti- aircraft gun and fired at the Japanese aircraft, despite having no prior training in the weapon’s use. In 1944, the Golden Thirteen became the navy’s first African American commissioned officers. Samuel L Gravel Jr. became a commissioned officer the same year, and he would later be the first African American to command a U.S. Warship and the first to be an admiral. In the midst of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, General Eisenhower was severely short of replacement troops for assisting military units which were totally white. Consequently, he made the decision to allow African American soldiers to pick up weapons and join the white military units to fight in combat for the first time. More than 2000 black soldiers had volunteered to go to the front. This was an important step toward a desegregated United States Military. A total of 708 African Americans were killed in combat during World War II.
Yes, we served in the Korean War. Many African American troops served to reinforce white troops in several of the derisive battles. These battles included the conflicts at Heart Brook Ridge and Tear Hill. During this time Jesse L. Brown became the U.S. Navy’s first black aviator in October 1948. He was killed when his plane was shot down during the Battle of Chosen Reservoir in North Korea. He was unable to eject from his crippled F4U Corsair and crash- landed successfully. His injuries prevented him from leaving the plane. He later died of his injures. The U.S. navy honored Jesse Brown by naming an escort ship after him. (The U.S.S. Jesse L. Brown).
Yes, we served in the Vietnam War. Hundreds of African Americans lost their lives during this war. African Americans suffered casuality rates slightly higher than their percentage of the total population. This conflict also saw many great accomplishments by many African Americans, including twenty who received the Medal of Honor for their actions. In 1967, President Johnson presented the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army Specialist Five Lawrence Joel. Joel was the first living African American to receive the Medal of Honor since the Mexican American War. He was a Medic who in 1965, saved the lives of U.S. Troops under ambush in Vietnam and defied direct order to stay to the ground, walking through Viet Cong gunfire and tending to the troops, despite being shot twice himself.
The Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston Salem, North Carolina is dedicated to his honor. On August 21, 1968, with the Posthumous Award of the Medal of Honor, U.S. Marine James Anderson, Jr. became the first African American U.S. Marine recipient of the Medal or Honor for his heroic actions and sacrifice of life. On December 10, 1968 U.S. Army Captain Riley Leroy Pitts became the first African American commissioned officer to be awarded the Medal of Honor. His Medal was presented posthumously to his wife, Mrs. Eula Pitts, by President Lyndon B Johnson.
YES, WE SERVED in the Gulf War. In 1989, President George H. W. Bush appointed Army General Colin Powell to the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, making Powell the highest ranking officer in the United Sates Military. Powell was the first and so far the only African American to hold that position. The chairman served as the Chief Military Adviser to the President and the Secretary of Defense. During his tenure, Powell oversaw the 1989 United States invasion of Panama to oust General Manuel Noriega and the 1990 to 1991 Gulf War against Iraq. General Powell’s four year term as chairman ended in 1993. General William E. Kip Ward was officially nominated as the first commander of the new United States Africa Commander on July 10, 2007 and assumed command on October 1, 2007. The previous Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlton W. Kent is African American as were the previous two before him in other wars.
YES, WE SERVED and we will continue to serve in our country’s battle against terrorism. Many African American troops and special agents continue to participate in secret missions and covert operations that are needed to protect American citizens on U.S. soil and abroad. YES, WE SERVED with class, dignity, and honor to ensure the security of our nation’s ideals and principles.
