FIRST ALL-BLACK UNIT SEES ACTION ON GUADALCANAL

South West Pacific Area HQ, Brisbane, Australia January 24, 1944

On this date in 1944 an advance party of the 93rd Infan­try Divi­sion landed on the Pacif­ic Is­land of Guadal­canal, the first Afri­can Amer­i­can (“colored” was the term used at the time) infan­try unit to see action in World War II. Reacti­vated on May 15, 1942, at Fort Hua­chu­ca, Ari­zona, home of the famed Buf­falo Sol­diers, the 16,000 all‑Black “Blue Hel­mets,” a nick­name the sol­diers had acquired when their divi­sion fought in France in the First World War, saw ser­vice in the Pacific Theater during World War II: at Bou­gain­ville (Solo­mon Is­lands), where they were attached to the Ameri­cal Divi­sion (the only U.S. divi­sion in World War II with a name instead of a number); on the Admi­ralty Islands (Bis­marck Archi­pel­ago) and Dutch New Guinea; and in the Philip­pines. The divi­sion’s regi­ments mainly acted as con­struc­tion units (for exam­ple, con­struc­ting air­fields from which fighter and bomber oper­a­tions could pum­mel other Japanese-held islands) and in defensive and security operations.

In the European Theater the counter­part to the 93rd Infan­try Divi­sion was the all-Black 92nd Infan­try Divi­sion (known as the “Buf­falo Divi­sion”), which was part of Gen. Mark Clark’s U.S. Fifth Army in Italy (see photo essay below). The 92nd Infan­try Divi­sion entered com­bat in Naples, Italy, on August 24, 1944. (The most-dec­o­rated infan­try unit in World War II, the Japa­nese Amer­i­can 442nd In­fan­try Regi­ment (Nisei), was attached to the 92nd.) Three months later, in Novem­ber 1944, men of the all-Black 761st Tank Bat­tal­ion, the so-called “Black Pan­thers” attached to Gen. George S. Patton’s U.S. Third Army, made his­tory as the first Afri­can Amer­i­can armored unit to enter the war, engaging the German enemy for 183 straight days and spear­heading many of Patton’s offen­sives at the Battle of the Bulge and in 6 Euro­pean coun­tries. No other tank unit fought so hard (suf­fering a casualty rate close to 50 per­cent) and for so long without respite.

All of the segregated divisions, irrespec­tive of their thea­ters of oper­a­tion, fought a 2‑front war—against the enemy and against chron­ic racism and the widely held belief that African American sol­diers, sailors, and air­men and airwomen were not up to the task.

In Standing Up Against Hate: How Black Women in the Army Helped Change the Course of WWII award-winning young-readers author Mary Cronk Farrell tells the remark­able, little-known story of how the only all-women, all-black unit of the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) ever deployed over­seas brought speed, effi­ciency, and order to a chron­ically chaotic mail processing and delivery system in the last 6 months of the war in Europe. Letters and pack­ages from the States were stacked floor to ceiling in 6 air­craft hangers in England. Under the plucky leader­ship of Major (later Lt. Col.) Charity Adams, a former high school math teacher from South Caro­lina, the 6888th Central Postal Direc­tory Bat­talion began the process of sorting and deliv­ering mail to over seven mil­lion GIs, civil­ians, and Red Cross workers during the remainder of the war, first from Birming­ham, England, and later from out­posts in Rouen and Paris, France. The motto of the Six-Triple-Eight, as the women liked to call their bat­talion, was: “No mail, low morale.” Farrell’s book is a must-read addi­tion to the canon of coming-of-age books that saw the U.S. armed forces trans­formed from a racially seg­re­gated force into a deseg­re­gated one where the color of one’s skin slowly but even­tually mattered far less than a person’s talent, ability, posi­tive atti­tude, and hard work.—Norm Haskett

African American Servicemen in World War II in the Pacific and European Theaters

African American servicemen in World War II: 24th Infantry Division soldier at Empress Augusta Bay, BougainvilleAfrican American servicemen in World War II: 93rd Infantry Division soldiers on Numa-Numa Trail, Bougainville, May 1, 1944

Left: African American troops of the 24th Infantry Divi­sion, attached to the Ameri­cal Division (less com­monly known as the 23rd Infan­try Divi­sion), wait to advance behind a tank assault on the Japa­nese near Empress Augusta Bay on the island of Bou­gain­ville in Papua New Guinea. Photo likely taken in April 1944.

Right: Cautiously advancing through Bougainville’s jungle while on patrol in Japa­nese terri­tory off the Numa-Numa Trail on May 1, 1944, these mem­bers of the 93rd Infan­try Divi­sion were among the first African Amer­ican foot soldiers to go into action in the South Pacific Theater.

African American servicemen in World War II: Black American troops at Normandy, France, June 1944African American servicemen in World War II: A field artillery battery, Normandy, France, June 1944

Left: A platoon of African American troops surrounds a farmhouse near Vierville-sur-Mer, France, as it prepares to eliminate a German sniper holding up the U.S. advance from the Omaha beachhead. Normandy, Oper­a­tion Over­lord, June 10, 1944.

Right: Following the advance of infantry from the Omaha beach­head, these African Amer­i­can members of a field artil­lery battery set up a new posi­tion for their 155 mm howitzer. Normandy, France, June 28, 1944.

African American servicemen in World War II: A 92nd Infantry (“Buffalo”) Division mortar company near Massa, Italy, November 19444African American servicemen in World War II: 92nd Infantry Division decoration ceremony, Italy, March 1945

Left: Members of an African American mortar company of the 92nd Infantry (“Buffalo”) Division pass the ammu­ni­tion and heave it over at the Germans in an almost end­less stream near Massa, Tuscany, some 200 miles/­322 kilo­meters north of Rome, the Italian capital, November 1944. The mortar company was credited with liquidating several enemy machine gun nests.

Right: Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, Commanding General of the 92nd Infantry Division, inspects his troops during a deco­ration cere­mony in Italy, March 1945. The 92nd Division was strengthened with the addition of the highly decorated Japanese American 442nd Infan­try Regi­ment (Nisei). The 2 units were never very com­for­table with each other. But that did not inter­fere with black sol­diers volun­teering 17 blood trans­fu­sions to save the life of a then 20‑year-old 2nd lieu­tenant and future U.S. Senator, Daniel Inouye from Hawaii, whose right arm was ampu­tated after a German rifle grenade shattered it.

African American servicemen in World War II: 332nd Fighter Group members, Italy, August 1944African American servicemen in World War II: Black crew members of USS Mason on day of ship’s commissioning, Boston, March 20, 1944

Left: Five members of the 332nd Fighter Group, nick­named the “Red Tails,” converse in the shadow of one of the P‑51 Mustangs they fly. Italy, August 1944. Seen on the left is Lt. Dempsey W. Morgan, a graduate of the Flight School at Tuskegee, Alabama. On an Octo­ber 4, 1944, mission over a German airbase in Greece, Morgan and 4 other 332nd Fighter pilots destroyed 9 enemy planes while they were still on the ground. For this mission all 5 were awarded the Dis­tin­guished Flying Cross. They joined 91 other Tuskegee Airmen to have won the DFC.

Right: Black crew members of the USS Mason proudly look over the destroyer escort on the day it was com­mis­sioned at Boston Navy Yard on March 20, 1944. The Mason was the first U.S. Navy ship to have a predominately African American crew.

Tribute to Buffalo Soldiers in Italy, 1944–1945