This is Patriotism Denied

[IM2]

These were men that fought to free others around the world but did not have freedom here. After WW2, over one million returning black soldiers were unable to get GI benefits. My father was one of those soldiers. I think about the life we could have lived if my father had been able to get one of those low-interest business loans returning white soldiers got after WW2. This is the type of thing the right misses when we talk about reparations. Jim Crw impacte the lives of current blacks people living today.

This is patriotism denied.

Once-secret military document sheds light on why Black soldiers in WWII were denied honors​

 

[Auld Phart]

These were men that fought to free others around the world but did not have freedom here. After WW2, over one million returning black soldiers were unable to get GI benefits. My father was one of those soldiers. I think about the life we could have lived if my father had been able to get one of those low-interest business loans returning white soldiers got after WW2. This is the type of thing the right misses when we talk about reparations. Jim Crw impacte the lives of current blacks people living today.

This is patriotism denied.

Once-secret military document sheds light on why Black soldiers in WWII were denied honors​

there was a good reason for that.

 

[Correll]

These were men that fought to free others around the world but did not have freedom here. After WW2, over one million returning black soldiers were unable to get GI benefits. My father was one of those soldiers. I think about the life we could have lived if my father had been able to get one of those low-interest business loans returning white soldiers got after WW2. This is the type of thing the right misses when we talk about reparations. Jim Crw impacte the lives of current blacks people living today.

This is patriotism denied.

Once-secret military document sheds light on why Black soldiers in WWII were denied honors​

You had your chance to made complaints, and you over did it.

Now we are done.

It is time to talk about OUR complaints.


Anti-white discrimination needs to end. Those that did it, should be punished by laws and fines.

And those that are still doing it, need to be destroyed.

 

[longly]

These were men that fought to free others around the world but did not have freedom here. After WW2, over one million returning black soldiers were unable to get GI benefits. My father was one of those soldiers. I think about the life we could have lived if my father had been able to get one of those low-interest business loans returning white soldiers got after WW2. This is the type of thing the right misses when we talk about reparations. Jim Crw impacte the lives of current blacks people living today.

This is patriotism denied.

Once-secret military document sheds light on why Black soldiers in WWII were denied honors​

I agree with you that it was an injustice. The GI Bill was written to apply to everyone who was honorably discharged, so honorably discharged Black veterans should have had all the rights granted by the GI Bill.

If the law had been written so that it applied only to combat troops, Black veterans would have been disproportionately affected, since only about 50,000 Black servicemen were assigned to combat units, and most of those units saw limited or no action. This was largely because commanders tended to favor units that had already proven themselves successful, while units that had not performed as well were sent into combat less often. Some Black combat troops returned home without ever seeing battle.

But since the GI Bill was offered to all honorably discharged veterans, the discrimination Black veterans faced was indeed an injustice. Unfortunately, unless any of those veterans are still alive, there is not much that can be done for them now.

 

[IM2]

I agree with you that it was an injustice. The GI Bill was written to apply to everyone who was honorably discharged, so honorably discharged Black veterans should have had all the rights granted by the GI Bill.

If the law had been written so that it applied only to combat troops, Black veterans would have been disproportionately affected, since only about 50,000 Black servicemen were assigned to combat units, and most of those units saw limited or no action. This was largely because commanders tended to favor units that had already proven themselves successful, while units that had not performed as well were sent into combat less often. Some Black combat troops returned home without ever seeing battle.

But since the GI Bill was offered to all honorably discharged veterans, the discrimination Black veterans faced was indeed an injustice. Unfortunately, unless any of those veterans are still alive, there is not much that can be done for them now.

Many blacks did not see combat because of the racism among officers that made them believe that black troops were not capable of fighting.

 

[longly]

Many blacks did not see combat because of the racism among officers that made them believe that black troops were not capable of fighting.

You can’t really blame the generals. They’re not social workers, and they’re not interested in social justice. Their job is to destroy the enemy’s war‑making capability. Naturally, they’re going to use their best troops, and they determine who the best troops are by past performance. It’s a kind of Catch‑22: you can’t get the job unless you have experience, and you can’t get experience unless you get the job.

The irony is that many of the Black troops in World War II who never saw combat were actually glad of it at the time, because no sane person truly wants to go into combat. You do it because you have to. I was willing to do it, but that’s because I can imagine an alternative world where the Communists dominated.

Some people claim something similar about the 24th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division in Korea, which was primarily a Black unit. It reportedly performed very poorly during the Pusan Perimeter encirclement. After they were retrained and their officers were replaced, they did better, but I’m not sure they were ever placed in a comparable situation again. So how can anyone really judge a unit except by how it performs under the worst conditions?

 

[IM2]

You can’t really blame the generals. They’re not social workers, and they’re not interested in social justice. Their job is to destroy the enemy’s war‑making capability. Naturally, they’re going to use their best troops, and they determine who the best troops are by past performance. It’s a kind of Catch‑22: you can’t get the job unless you have experience, and you can’t get experience unless you get the job.

The irony is that many of the Black troops in World War II who never saw combat were actually glad of it at the time, because no sane person truly wants to go into combat. You do it because you have to. I was willing to do it, but that’s because I can imagine an alternative world where the Communists dominated.

Some people claim something similar about the 24th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division in Korea, which was primarily a Black unit. It reportedly performed very poorly during the Pusan Perimeter encirclement. After they were retrained and their officers were replaced, they did better, but I’m not sure they were ever placed in a comparable situation again. So how can anyone really judge a unit except by how it performs under the worst conditions?

Stop making excuses. Social justice has nothing to do with what went on. And you can top using one regiment in Korea to justify the racism when history shows us the Tuskegee Airmen were highly successful, as was the First Kansas during the Civil War. Blacks soldiers have done just as well as white ones.

 

[longly]

Stop making excuses. Social justice has nothing to do with what went on. And you can top using one regiment in Korea to justify the racism when history shows us the Tuskegee Airmen were highly successful, as was the First Kansas during the Civil War. Blacks soldiers have done just as well as white ones.

Stop making excuses. Social justice has nothing to do with what went on. And you can top using one regiment in Korea to justify the racism when history shows us the Tuskegee Airmen were highly successful, as was the First Kansas during the Civil War. Blacks soldiers have done just as well as white ones.

You’re right — it wasn’t the general’s job to give the Black soldier a chance to show what he could do. His job was to win battles. If a group of people got left behind, then they got left behind. That’s simply how it was at the time. I’m not making excuses; that’s just the reality of the situation.

 

[Correll]

You’re right — it wasn’t the general’s job to give the Black soldier a chance to show what he could do. His job was to win battles. If a group of people got left behind, then they got left behind. That’s simply how it was at the time. I’m not making excuses; that’s just the reality of the situation.

It's also been nearly 90 years now. Kind of time to get over it.

I know I'm done hearing about it.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Stop making excuses. Social justice has nothing to do with what went on. And you can top using one regiment in Korea to justify the racism when history shows us the Tuskegee Airmen were highly successful, as was the First Kansas during the Civil War. Blacks soldiers have done just as well as white ones.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the best of the best of the best. Thanks to the doubts of their battle worthiness, they stayed in the states and got triple or more the training hours of the average pilot of the time. They did well flying second line aircraft (the P-40) getting the maximum performance from a second line machine made getting maximum performance out of P-51s a snap.

The Ist Kansas Colored Infantry mostly fought skirmishes against Stand Waite’s Confederate Indian forces. Only one battle involved more than four thousand troops, of the eight battles, the Confederates won three and the Union five. Those battles were spread over nearly two years.
If you want a heroic black unit, look to the 54th Massachusetts Infantry which was sent into battle against odds and took heavy casualties in nearly every battle. By the end of the war the 54th had shrunk to fewer than six hundred men from a roster strength of one thousand despite being brought back up to strength after being reduced to two hundred seventy after the debacle at Fort Wagner. The 54th was sent directly into the assault after a retreat and three day forced march without food or rest.
That’s a unit to be proud of, not one that spent the war fighting inconclusive skirmishes in a tertiary theater of war.