The world of nearly 70 years ago was a very different place in many respects. This was particularly true in the United States were a goodly segment of its population was treated as second-class citizens. Basically, if you were not of European descent, then the ability to succeed in life was a constant struggle. This was particularly true of African Americans, who were held back by wide ranging prejudices in all aspects of life, and that included military service.

However, the needs of the war eventually broke down many of the barriers though probably not as much as was initially hoped. Prejudice is a difficult thing to eliminate and many will tell you that it still exists, though no where at the level that it was in the early 1940s.

During that time, there were few black soldiers, few black sailors and no black marines or airmen.

It was realized that no manpower could be wasted so these men were recruited and allowed to join the various services. The Army had the largest cadre and several avenues to command were available, though this was still quite limited in scope. Probably the most successful group was the 332nd Fighter Group; the Tuskeegee Airmen. These men showed that race had nothing to do with abilities and in spite of horrendous hurdles, served with distinction. Other units were not so lucky and were mired in overwhelming prejudice from white commanders who would do all they could to ensure failure. This was also shown in many Army combat units. Some were successful, while others were not.

The Navy always had black sailors, though these men were generally restricted in scope to service ratings. As the war went on, these men also were able to serve, albeit on mostly black crewed ships. The Marines were the most resistant to men of color and so had to be forced to recruit men into the service. These men often served in supply and defense units, so did not see as much combat as they could, though ironically, the supply units saw considerably more combat than did the defense units.

Finally, there was the Coast Guard. Again, it started out mostly white, though it had the vision to integrate black sailors in with standard white crews. It found, as we knew it would, that there was no problems with racial intermixing in the crew, and the ships operated just fine.

Author Bielakowski tells the story of these men service by service and covers some of the greatest successes as well as some of the failures. This is all enhanced by quality period photos and the illustrations of R. Ruggeri.

In all, a superb book on a part of WWII that gets very little press. A book I can justifiably recommend to you.

December 2007

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