In his Opinion piece, Fred Jerome states that black soldiers “fought only in segregated units under white officers.” Blacks also fought in unofficially integrated units. In the spring of 1945, when combat casualties depleted all-black infantry fifth platoons in Europe, the black GIs fought as squads within white platoons and eventually as individuals. Thus blacks did fight side-by-side with their fellow white GIs in Europe. They shared the dangers and discomforts of combat, living and eating together. Many of the black volunteers, selected from labor service units in France, took reductions in rank to have the privilege of serving their country in combat. 1–3 The experiment worked.
REFERENCES
1.
U.
Lee
, The Employment of Negro Troops
, US Army Center of Military History
, Washington, DC
(1966
), p. 688
. 2.
A. L.
Gropman
, The Air Force Integrates, 1945–1964
, Office of Air Force History
, Washington, DC
(1978
), p. 50
. 3.
M. J.
MacGregor
, Integration of the Armed Forces 1940–1965
, US Army Center of Military History
, Washington, DC
(1985
), p. 448
.© 2006 American Institute of Physics.
2006
American Institute of Physics