Part One: Prelude to Korea

Even though Harry S. Truman ordered that the armed forces were to desegregate at the beginning of the Korean War, most branches save for the infant U.S. Air Force still had segregated units. For most of the soldiers who were black, that meant that they were to go through basic training in a segregated environment from the beginning:

When I went to basic training, the Drill Sergeants said, "white
troops over here, Black troops over there, and what are you guys?"
And they'd say Cuban or Mexican or whatever tribe, and I said,
"we're misfits." He said, "Pick a side." (Keaton, p. 2)

I went to basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1948. I didn't
finish there; I did eight weeks there and then we were sent to
Japan to finish the last eight weeks. I was in Japan two years
prior to the Korean War. I was only enlisted to do three years, but
because of the Korean War ended up doing four. I was stationed
in Camp Yepu, Japan which was all black soldiers. During Basic
Training we had white officers, and black non-commissioned
officers (NCO's). When we got to Japan we had black officers; it
was a black regiment. There were three regiments, the 35th, the
27th and the 24th. The 27th and the 35th were all white, the
24th was all black. (Transcript from the Interview with Donald
Carter, p. 1)

Basic training was at what was then Camp Lee, Virginia. They call
it Fort Lee now. At the time in 1949 when it was all black, it was
a basic training center for blacks, and whites were trained at the
same fort but at a different location, probably at the other end.
After that, they called everybody out. They told us you can either
go to the South Pacific and burn your butt off, or to Alaska and
freeze your butt off. The first thing I thought about was
mosquitoes and malaria in the South Pacific, so I chose Alaska.
(Transcript of the Interview with Grant Hoskins)

Black pre-1950 soldiers were limited in where they could be stationed. While basic training was predominately segregated, there were opportunities, however limited that may have been, for some black soldiers to serve in integrated units. Some black soldiers were stationed in Germany, such as Grant Hoskins, or Mississippi, in the case of Jim Sumner. For many soldiers who were sent to Korea in the early stages of the war, they were part of the occupational force in Japan, where the 24th was based. As the war progressed, it became obvious that the preparation, or lack there of, played a large part in the hard going that American troops, both white and black, were experiencing:

I was stationed for three months on Hokkaido with the 7th
Regiment of the 1st Cavalry. Piece of cake, mostly messing around.
It did not prepare me for Korea. From there I was shipped to Korea.
My Co. with the 578th was integrated with about 20% black; we
had no problems. In fact, our Sergent Major was black. (Transcript of
the Interview with Curtley L. Boudreaux, p. 1)

Poor preparation compounded by the assurance of higher-ups that not only was this a "Police Action" but they would all be home by Christmas served to bring American troops to the wrong mind set, and in turn to fight the first months of the war with little success.

Part Two: Isolated Incidents
Much of the Army was integrated by the time the Korean War started. The 24th Infantry Regimental Combat Team was an all black unit which had other all black support units, such as the 555th or "Triple Nickel," with them. Considering the contemporary state of contemporary race in America, one would think that there would be many problems as blacks and whites were placed together in the same unit. However, this was not the case for the majority of units:

The integration of the 510th MPs and the 709th, which was all
white, was extremely successful. We were expecting fights, slurs,
epithets, and you name it. We didn't experience it, not on a
wholesale basis, [but] on the individual level. There was one in
particular, Beard. He was just a simple, die hard, worthless
redneck peckerwood. I'm telling it like it is. He was just a die
hard that would not bend. He was in the Military Highway Patrol
and he flipped his car in snow on the Highway and he died. All
the black soldiers were applauding like crazy. They was walking
around chuckalucking beer, and those that didn't drink was
chackalucking soda. And I was one of them, cause I was glad to see
him gone. But looking back it was a horrible thing to do, because I
was only 22 years old then, and as I matured, I realized through
reading and going to school that any man's death diminishes me
because I am involved in man-kind. I think it was Sir Francis
Bacon who wrote that. And I'm sorry, but he was such a pain in
the butt. (Hoskins, p. 5)

Hoskins' account of the integration of the 510th and the 709th details an unexpectantly good report. However, as he says, it was not without the too familiar blemish of racists. Other veterans' recollections support Hoskins' description of what it was like in an integrated unit:

Could you talk a little about the racial atmosphere in Korea during
the war?
I was in a funny unit to start with. One I was a
different kind of person in a sense, and two, I was never in a
segregated unit. When I was in the 8th Army Headquarters, the
2nd Ranger Company was all black. And they knew me and I
knew them. I knew 1st Ranger Company guys too, but they had an
all black Ranger company. I thought this was interesting because
you're going to stand out in the snow. But the racial thing with the
airborne and with the Rangers was if you worked together, like if
they integrated the teams, the 1st Ranger Co., and the 2nd Ranger
Company. would do an operation together, you worked together as a
team, because if you didn't you're dead. Life is simple when it
gets down to life and death. In the paratroopers, I know when I
was with the 511th, you got to (have somebody) check your #7
cord on the back of your back pack before you jump, because if he
breaks it, and you jump out of the plane, you're chute doesn't
open. There is a different atmosphere--an attitude of cooperation.
(Keaton, p. 3-4)

Was their a voluntary segregation among white Soldiers and
black soldiers in your unit? Was this just in leisure time or did it
occur in day to day operations?
It was voluntary 24 hr's a day. Their was no color barrier back
then.
Do you think blacks were treated differently by soldiers in
general?
A soldier was treated as a man regardless of his race. . . .
Once again, you said you had a Sgt. Major who was black. Were
their any other minorities in leadership positions in your unit?
In my outfit all blacks if I recall held stripes. Their rank
was from PFC to Sgt. First Class and Sgt. Major. <
You said that there was "no color barrier back then" in response
to my question whether or not there was segregation between
whites and blacks in social settings. Your answer that it was
voluntary 24 hours a day suggests to me that even though blacks
and whites did socialize in separate groups, it was not because of
racial tension or bigotry, rather just personal preference?
Just like friends, we hung together. Yes occasionally, a few blacks
would get together, but you have to realize we ate, worked and
sleep together. We also attended movies and blacks and whites sat
together. The blacks were accepted as equal. I can't see why this
is so hard to understand. My personal preference was my black
friends. . . . I
came from a very poor family and went to sea at the age of 15 and
worked on ships with blacks and lived in the same focel--or room--
with them, and thought nothing of it. My upbringing was to
respect everybody unless they gave you a reason not to.
(Boudreaux, p 2-3)

As far as I saw, minority troops were all treated the same. We
mixed freely and even all black units next to us were all part of
the war doing their job the best they could. We did see some
minorities of eastern extraction surrender to the enemy rather
than fight. The general feeling among everyone was, "better have
them out of the way than risking the lives of men who were
willing to fight." Leaders didn't see color when each man was
part of a team. . . . When minorities began coming into the
company, they began to hang out with one another. But I was
rotated soon there after. Other outfits I served in had mixed
troops, and one Sergeant under me at the time was one of the
better leaders, although we had men who had held ranks much
higher than he. We went on pass together, and although some
resented mixing at first, those feelings were erased as they got to
know one another. Most of the men had the feelings that blacks
segregated themselves from the whites, and if this did happen,
commanders were quick to mix troops so there was more
interactions between the races. The Army at this time was under
pressure to integrate, and I felt the Army was doing a good job of
breaking down walls. (Transcript with the interview with Harold
Richards, p. 3-4)

The previous accounts of conditions in integrated units describe a military which seems to be out of place as an American institution in the 1950s. As Mr. Hoskins related in his description of the integration of white and black troops, all was not without incident. There were many racial incidents where whites and blacks fell into conflict.

They (other soldiers) told us the story of a black and white G.I.
who had gotten cut off, that they had survived fifteen or sixteen
days or something drinkin' out of the same canteen, smokin' the
same cigarettes. . . . They had gotten rescued, and just
out of habit, and the black G.I. offered the white G.I. a drink out of
his canteen. The white G.I. said, "I'm not drinkin' water from no
nigger." The black G.I. damned near killed him. Almost went to
jail or the stockade over it.
(Transcript of the Interview with Jim Sumner, p. 3)

When I went to leadership academy, I had so many points
ahead of everyone else for Honor Graduate, everyone knew I had
it. And the Commandant called me in at the end and asked if I
would mind sharing honor graduate with the person in second
place because I had so much experience, and he wanted to further
this soldier's career. And I just shrugged and said it was no big
deal. It was probably the only Honor Graduate that was shared at
graduation. (Keaton, p. 5)

There were other instances where we would go into a bar and a
guy would be in a fight, and we'd go to arrest him and he'd say,
"No 'N-word' can arrest me," and he was summarily beaten into
submission because he was putting up a fight, and spitting in our
face, and hit an MP. We'd beat his butt and take him into the
police station where lo and behold the desk Sergeant is black
and the turn key is black, so only then he calmed down because
he'd realize there was nothing he could do. There were other
times those incidents were from regular line type soldiers,
enlisted men, but there were a few incidents that involved officers
as well. They would refuse to cooperate and we would get on the
radio and call for the Officer of the Day, who was an ex-Marine--
white-- and he was tough. His name was Ketzman. He was
Jewish from New York, and he was as straight as an arrow and he
didn't take any crap from blacks or whites. It didn't seem like he
had any animosity for anyone. We really appreciated that. (Hoskins, p. 5)

Part Three: Race in 1950's America

These instances where whites and blacks came into conflict, and in the majority of incidents where whites discriminated against blacks, went largely unnoticed. The lack of recollections of white veterans, may be construed as being omissions of the truth because of guilt. Whether or not this is the case, it should also be understood that for those who were not affected, these "isolated incidents" which randomly afflicted black soldiers were nothing they had not seen in the United States. Likewise, these incidents many times went unnoticed by blacks as well. As one black veteran said, "we were so regimented to it, it was nothing that was so out of the ordinary" (Sumner, p. 5). As unlikely as it may seem, in the late 1940's and early 1950's, racial conditions in the United States made Korea seem like it was a place of racial harmony, at least as far as the integrated units were concerned.

Biloxi was a lot harder than Korea. I had a harder time from
March of 1954 to August than I did from August until I came back
from Korea. In 1954 Biloxi was totally segregated. When we went
off the base there was absolute segregation. We only had two
streets we could go on. When I got my orders to go to Korea, I
went to Mobile, Alabama, and I had to go to through the kitchen to
get to the so-called "colored waiting room" to come back home to
New York. I shipped to Japan and from Japan to Korea. That year
there was some degree of segregation, but no where near as
coming back to the states in 1955. There were black G.I.'s that
stayed over there. I knew a guy who put two years in Japan, and
they made him come back to the states. He reluctantly came back
to the states, joined up, tried to go back to Japan, had to go to
Korea for a year, did that, and went back to Japan, and that's
where I left him. But the years in the states from 1954 to 1955 in
the southern states, they were tough. There were so many racial
incidents on the base in Biloxi. So damned outrageous, from
damned near lynchings to whatever. They had an area in
Biloxi for blacks to stay in; they were barracks from W.W.II. . . .
The scary thing to me is that the only scary time to me was in
Biloxi, Mississippi, and if they had given orders to go to Biloxi, and
given an air or train fare, I would have gone AWOL. I would
have been gone. But they took us directly from our barracks and
flew us straight there, that's the only reason I got there. I would
not have made it. . . . I had to
go home after that and I had to go by train. To go from New York
City non-segregated to Washington D.C., and to go from
Washington to Biloxi on a segregated train, and you're in your Air
Force Blues and sit in the segregated section. I had to go and see
my grandfather in Arkansas two years previously, and I had to
stand up from St. Louis to Camden because there were not enough
seats in the colored section. I had a very bad attitude for the
balance of my time in the service. (Sumner, p. 4)

We had just completed our basic training in August of 1949 and
we were given our job assignment and a train ticket along with
special orders to proceed delay en route so as to have some leave
with the home folks. I found myself in Atlanta, Georgia train
depot waiting room with several hours to kill until the next train I
needed was due in. It was the middle of the night and so I was
walking around outside when a voice called from several feet
away. "Hey Gates!" I turned and it was PFC Evans (We both got
promoted at completion of basic training). It never dawned on me
where he had been and so we began walking around the area,
chewing the fat and what have you when all of a sudden an Army
MP Jeep pulled up and began questioning us. Of course Evans and
I stood at rigid attention and answered questions including
handing over our special orders per their request. Then the
apparent GI in charge said OK and turned to Evans and said, "You
can't walk around in this area." And then directed him to where he
should go. So, Evans immediately left and I said to his departing
figure, "I'll see ya later Evans." I really liked that guy and it was
not for several years that it finally dawned on me what it was all
about. Of course the reality was that there were separate facilities
and Evans had his waiting room and whites had their waiting
room. I would give anything if I could find him today and re-
establish our friendship. But all I know is that he was from
Lackawanna, New York.
In another incident and by this time I had returned from
Korea, was a buck Sgt. myself and had recently gotten married.
The wife and I were given living quarters in a building that had
two apartments upstairs and two downstairs. A fellow instructor,
Eddie (can't remember his last name) and his wife lived next door
to us and we were always cavorting about each other's apartment,
spent time chewing the fat out on the landing and every now and
then sharing a meal followed by a card game etc. Just two
married families enjoying each other's company. Well, one day
the wife and I were returning from downtown Biloxi and upon
boarding the bus we noted all the seats taken except the very rear
seat which went clear across the back of the bus. So we headed
for that, sat down and a couple of stops later, Eddie got aboard [and]
came down the aisle. We hollered at him and moved over so he
could sit down. But instead he said, "Nah--I've been sitting all
day. So I'll stand awhile." Well now I know the reason Eddie
didn't sit with us on the public bus, but damned if it didn't take
me a few years to understand that.

While it was always offensive to be treated as a second class citizen, for many who served in the military overseas, in Korea, as well as in Japan and Europe, it provided extra insult. Many soldiers returned after being treated as equals to white soldiers by locals in Korea only to be reminded of the ugly reality of American racism as they tried to function at home as they did overseas.

Going to Fort Benning from Fort Bragg we got on a bus. On
the way we stopped at a restaurant--this was in early 1950. And
the restaurant said that the black troops had to get their food on
the bus. The Major, who was in charge of the group, said fix
lunches for all the troops and we'll eat on the bus. I think we
stopped in Georgia. They wouldn't allow any blacks in the
restaurant, they had a window around back where the blacks
would go to get their food. And sitting in the back of the bus, and
all of the other things that were going on.
But as a soldier, if you stayed on post, the military community
itself is contained, and if you're going somewhere it is from point
A to point B. The biggest problem traveling is if you have POV
(privately owned vehicle). In the deep South it could get
scary. The third time I came back from Korea, I was going to go
pick up my POV in New Orleans which is an interesting place. I
picked up the car and I was driving through Louisiana, stopped at
a restaurant, parked and went in. The waitress looked at me,
went over to the manager, came back looked at me again, looked
at the car--which had Japanese license plates. The manager came
over and looked at me and then looked at the car and then said,
"It's alright, he's Japanese." And they fed me, and I knew I didn't
look like a Japanese. I was awful big to be a Japanese. But I didn't
even think about it when I walked in there because I had spent so
much time in the Far East that I just nonchalantly walked in in
my uniform. (Keaton, p. 8)

I happened to have about 47 months in Germany. I tried to stay
over there as long as I possibly could because obviously the
conditions for blacks were better in Germany-- anywhere in Europe--
than the United States, which was still totally segregated at the
time. We kept signing extensions to stay in Germany. We in the
MP unit would sign six month extensions. Normally the tour was
36 months, but I think I signed a total of three six month [extensions], but
after a while they started weeding us out as they were building up
for Korea. . . . I was married to a white girl, and they sent me to
Fort Benning, Georgia, in the 1960's. That should tell you
something. There were about six of us, I guess they wanted to use
us as guinea pigs, to break down the racist barriers in Columbus,
Georgia and Phoenix City, Alabama. But lo and behold, not just in the
community but at Fort Benning because I had a commander who
made the statement that I'd never be promoted as long as I was
snoring in the face of that white bitch out there, and I wrote it all
down and put it in the form of a letter and sent it to President
Kennedy. I mailed it, and I got answers. I [have] paper clippings where
white soldiers were being promoted to E-6 (Staff Sergeant) with
seven, eight, and ten months in the Army and I had ten years in
grade. (Hoskins, p. 2, 4-5)

I remember when I came back over the bridge I had forgotten
myself, because we weren't paying any taxes and everything else
was free except food. And I was looking to go into a barber shop
and I was rudely awakened that I was back in the United States
when I was in Downtown San Francisco 1955, on my way home
trying to kill some time, so I thought I'd get a hair cut. So, without
even thinking I walked into the first barbershop, and it was white
in there, and talk about looks of shock. It was like EF Hutton in
there, and I thought, oh yeah, back home. It made me realize I
felt freer over there in Korea living in a tent, than I did back in
the U.S. (Sumner, p. 4)

This homecoming was a rude reminder to American minority veterans who risked their lives fighting for the "Land of the Free." Under these conditions it is obvious why many black soldiers tried to remain overseas, in Europe or Asia. While by today's standards, the treatment of black soldiers in Korea was unacceptable, in the context of the time, it was as progressive as an American institution could be expected. However, a segment of black soldiers in Korea were not fortunate enough to experience the temporary equality that shared risk of life with white troops afforded black troops in integrated units. The men of the 24th Infantry were abused and neglected by the Army, and as a result, their legacy, until recently, has been one of disgrace in the eyes of many.

Part Four: The 24th Infantry Regimental Combat Team

The 24th Infantry Regimental Combat Team was the remainder of all black troops in the U.S Army. In World War II, and earlier wars, black troops had fought with distinction. The history of the 24th dates back to July 28, 1866, when it was a seperate "Negro" regiment. The 24th fought in a number of American conflicts such as the Spanish-Amercan battle for San Juan Hill, which it captured, the Phillipines insurrection, and campaigns against the Comanche Indians. During World War II the 24th was sent to the Pacific Theater, where they recieved the surrender of the Japanese garrison on the island of Aka-Shima in 1945. They were subsequently joined with the 25th Infantry Division who were occupying Japan. In July of 1950, the 24th was sent to Korea and found action almost immediately, winning the first battle of the war at Ye'chon. The unit was deactivated on October 1, 1951, a month short of its eighty-second birthday (With a Black Platoon in Combat, Lyle Rishell, pp. 170).

From almost the beginning the men of the 24th were discriminated against. As the war brewed on the horizon, the question of whether or not blacks would fight surfaced. The result was a questioning of African-American soldiers' patriotism.

Before the war everyone was talking about whether black soldiers
would fight against the communists. Paul Robison the world
famous singer, he attended the University of Moscow, he stated
that the black soldiers would not fight communists. Jackie
Robinson said that the black soldiers would fight communism.
Before the war, black units were given a test to see whether they
would be chosen to fight in the Korean War. (Carter, p. 1)

After giving the black soldiers tests which questioned their patriotism, the Army sent the 24th, along with other units of the 25th Infantry Division, to Pusan, Korea. They then moved on to Ye'chon, where they were asked to hold a perimeter against the North Koreans.

We were told "this is it." We were improperly trained: A
bunch of green soldiers going into combat, half of them not
knowing which way was up and which way was down. I was a
non-commissioned officer, a corporal, and a squad leader-- heavy
mortar which was in support of the infantry. Our unit probably
had forty men; my squad, probably nine. We set up our perimeter
around there and I said, "men you got to hold your ground." There
were North Korean troops already in there. They needed us to
push them out. We held our ground and claimed our first victory,
the Battle of Ye'chon. They made a big deal about it in the papers.
'Black unit wins first U.S. victory in Korea.' Then they were saying,
"wow, they'll fight." That made us really proud. From then on we
had to fight Jim Crow. Every time they were in need of a unit,
they'd send us in. (Carter, p. 2)

Carter contends that after their victory at Ye'chon the 24th caught the eye of the leadership, and from then on they were called on to fight more than many of their other white counterparts.

Every time they were in need of a unit, they'd send us in. They'd
call the "Duece-Four. " Everytime the 1st Cav, McArthur's pet unit
needed something, we were it. We went with the 35th and the
27th, but really never heard much about them. McArthur had his
eyes on the black troops; the 24th became very popular. . . . The
35th and the 27th, we never heard or read about what they did.
They kept it all quite. They tried to court martial black soldiers.
Doggone the 35th and the 27th, Wolfhounds. I met a fellow who
said he was in the 27th and I said no kidding. He said I heard
about you fellows. . . . I'll put it this way, they were kind of
protected. You know the battle plans would be made up, there'd
be one sector, another sector and they'd get a sector that was a
safe haven. He told me, "Hell, we went to sleep at night. We'd be
miles back and we'd just lob shells." We could have only had it so
easy. We had to keep running around; they made us drive around
so that the enemy would think that there were more people. The
27th, the 35th and the 24th were all divided. Had they combined
us, we could have been formidable. "They were playing cards," he
said. We never took baths. He gave me a funny look when I said
I would have liked to have been in that unit because I was black
and he was white. They wouldn't even bring us water. (Carter p.
1, 5)

Other veterans agree with this assessment: black soldiers were called upon to fight in battles which white troops were in turn sheltered from. This is quite an accusation, but considering that a number of separate sources give similar accounts of this practice, it can be assumed that black troops were used in excess, and often times, when white troops refused an assignment because of grim, perhaps suicidal conditions.

They were the same instances that happened in Vietnam. Like on
a night patrol they would send 14 people and 10 and 12 of them
would be black. I hate to jump forward but I must come back ,
and at that time 15% of the military was black and 20% of the
casualties. In Korea, the same identical thing happened, but less
blacks were killed. I think that it was due to the fact that some of
the North Koreans knew what was happening, and they let the
blacks live. (Hoskins, p. 5)

In June we were advancing again, taking hills, and one of
the worst fights I was in took place about that time.
They put a squad of us out on a hill two hundred yards in
front of the main lines. About twenty guys. We went out there
and dug our foxholes, two guys to a hole, and then for every hole
they gave us a machine gun. Only twenty guys and we get ten
machine guns. I'm thinking, Lord, what are they gonna do to us
out here?
We had a machine gun in each hole. We had rifles. We had
.45 pistols. And we had grenades. Plus, they zeroed us in with
artillery. They told us, "You stay out here, and if you see Chinese
you open fire. And you hold this hill."
Well, it dawned on us then. Somebody was planning to kill
themselves some Chinese, and we were the bait. I learned later
that another company had been ordered out to that hill, and they
refused to go. They disobeyed, and they were charged
with mutiny (No Bugles, No Drums, p. 128-129).

Even in such daunting circumstances the men of the 24th fought with distinction. How could this be the same unit that was characterized by "bugging out?" As the veteran telling the latter story said, "Sometimes we'd take up a position and hold it for a while, until it seemed that we'd be overrun. But at the last minute we'd always get the word to pull back. The Chinese took the tanks, they took the valley, they took everything (No Bugles, No Drums, p. 127). Other accounts of facing "human waves" of the Chinese have been given.

I talked about the mass when the Chinese came across, and
they would just come at you with a mass of people, and you'd just
stack bodies up in front of you, and the next wave would come.
Tootutudodo! They'd blow their bugles, making noise, and you'd
just kill them and they'd just keep coming. It was just. . . . Like
fighting ants and they were endless. Nightmare Alley: the sun
would come up and they'd come up with the sun. They been out
there with the snow all night, but they sneak up at you, and at the
dawn they came at you. There were a lot of units that got
overrun. (Keaton, p. 7)

That's where the Chinese overran us [Kunu-ri]. We were
outnumbered. They came across the Chosun Reservoir and
overran and surrounded the Marines. They sent us up there, to
give them support. We had to march 25 miles to Hung Nam, and
we had to fight our way out. The action got so that everyone was
lost, not eating. We ended up retreating, or fighting in the other
direction. We were supposed to be coming home for Christmas.
My birthday is the 24th of November, and that's when the Chinese
entered the war. We had run the North Koreans all the way back
to the Yalu River into China. We had to fight our way out of the
mountains near Kuneri, which was a North Korean stronghold. We
had B-29's which dropped bombs on the roads as we got out of
there. That's how we got out. We had to fight our way out, and it
was so cold. 65 degrees blow zero. Sometimes our weapons would
freeze up and we wouldn't have any guns. We were near the
Manchurian border. [Manchuria's] cold and when that cold comes
down off the mountains let me tell you something, if you're crying,
there'll be no tears coming out of your eyes. And you had to sleep
out in that cold, in those cold foxholes. (Carter, p. 3)

In understanding why the 24th was forced to retreat in disarray it is pertinent to be aware of other contributing factors. First of all are the accusations of substandard leadership. One black officer of the 24th said about his white peers: "there was that patronizing expectation of failure. White officers came to the 24th Regiment knowing or suspecting or having been told that this was an inferior unit" (No Bugles, No Drums, p. 178).

They were improperly trained too. Hell half of them just
came out of Officers Candidates School, OCS. Some of those
Sergeants been in there twenty years and some 2nd Lieutenant is
going to tell him about Field Manual 25. He's a ninety day
wonder. You'd say, "how long have you been in?" He'd say,
"ninety days." That's who's leading us into combat?
One officer was threatened with a court martial because
he refused to go up a hill, just out of OCS. The order read that we
were going to have to go up a hill, and he radioed, "can I get a
damn round (artillery support)?" They said, "yeah but you're still
going up there." "I'll be damned if I'm going to take my men to
the slaughter." He got court martialed; he wanted out anyhow. He
was a Major. Field trained officers, didn't know any tactics, didn't
know how to treat their men. . . white officers were afraid of the
black soldiers because they had abused them and the black
soldiers had threatened them back, saying they weren't going to
get out of there alive. That was a key to distrust. Mistreating
soldiers would come back on them. That led to distrust. They all
wanted to get the white officers out of there [and] put the black officers
in there. (Carter, p. 4)

This distrust between the black soldiers and the white officers led to the opposite of what the case was in integrated units. As Laf Keaton stated earlier, in combat soldiers had to trust each other. In the case of the 24th, the officers did not trust their men, and in turn the men had no trust of the leadership. Other factors led to the poor state of the 24th. Supplies that other troops were issued were not made readily available to the soldiers of the 24th.

The white officers came forth (later) and they told us that things
were not fair for us. That made us feel better. The black soldiers
were mistreated, ill supplied; half the time we didn't have any
ammunition. They told us it was being rationed. . . .
So you're saying that supplies were not properly
distributed?
What happened was, a lot of the units, they told us they were being rationed.
You'd say the supplies that were being given to other units were
not given to you?
Yes.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, the 24th's experience in Korea was unique to their situation. They were dealt with in a completely different manner than were other units, such as those in their same division. Where other black soldiers were respected by their white comrades, higher leadership and line officers treated the 24th with ill regard. To say that the leadership purposefully set out to send black soldiers to their graves would be to come to a inaccurate, and horrible conclusion. However, we can conclude that rather than put integrated or white troops in perhaps a more compromising situation, the 24th was put in jeopardy.

Part Five: Foreigners in Their Homeland

As all different aspects of the African-American veteran's experience in Korea and back home, the question surfaces of why would someone so put down, so discriminated against fight to preserve a country that was holding him/her down?

Even the North Korean's told us, "what are you fighting us for?"
They'd say, "you're no better off than we are."
That was what they told those black soldiers.
"Do you hear that guy?"
"Yeah!"
"Have you been to the states?"
"No."
"Speak good English."
I read. I read how they treat you black soldiers back in the
states."
I said that is something else. This guy is trying to shoot me;
and I thought, this gives me something to think about. That
was the attitude . . . the propaganda. . . . It's not propaganda.
That was a fact that he read. Like my grandkids seeing
something on T.V. that is out of the ordinary. They'd say, "That
white man called him a name, why?" And you have to explain to
them why.
I was born and raised in the South. I had to live with Jim
Crowism all my life. They say you live in Seattle, Washington and
you don't have to put up with that. The hell you don't. Why
should the black fight when he's not free? (Carter p. 5-6)

They had these loud speakers set up in Korea, and they would try
to brainwash the blacks by saying, "Hey black soldier, what are
you doing here? Your war is not here but on the streets of America,
where they treat you like pigs and dogs." Which they did and
which they still do. Its more sophisticated now, and I don't care
who knows it. Some of the guys would yield to it, and some would
not. If you recall, there where three Black soldiers among the 21
who refused repatriation and ended up in China. (Hoskins, p. 3-4)

While the questions that their experiences and the North Korean propagandists posed to them were difficult ones, and ones that make the most patriotic pause in doubt, African-American soldiers still fought, and fight with distinction.

It made me think exactly what they were saying: what the hell am
I doing over here and at the same time I remembered the oath
that I took to uphold the Constitution and protect America. That's
a hard pill to swallow--to do anything out of loyalty for this
country and we're still going down the drain. (Hoskins, p. 4)

At this time when there was so much alienation with those who
had black blood, how could you have kept the same level of
commitment to the Constitution? Is it your professionalism?
Yes, for me it was. But there were a lot of African-Americans who
were over their and did a good job and some who died, because
they believed in what the country had to offer: that America,
regardless of its problems, is still the best country in the world.

As bad as it is, or as bad as it was, I found myself saying thank
God, I'm back in the U.S.A. Better or worse, its still mine. All mine!
I can deal with the domestic problems. (Sumner, p. 5)

Conclusion

In light of the fact that the 24th was poorly equipped, had leadership which had no faith in their troops, faced daunting odds, and held little promise of coming home to a place where they might be treated equally, the 24th, as well as all black soldiers, fought valiantly. Korea itself held its own scourge, unique from other wars the U.S. had fought. One veteran said:

I can tell you was that it was cold. Most miserable thing in your
life is that it is so cold that you don't care whether you live or die.
You get cold to the bone [and] it's hard to thaw out. Everybody
complained about Vietnam being hot. You can deal with the heat a
whole lot easier. There were a lot of casualties in Korea because of
the weather. (Keaton, p. 1)

A white veteran added:

I suffered the cold of North Korea along with every G.I. during
the Northern campaign. There were so many unsung heroes of
that war; only men there could understand. To we who had not
tasted WW II, it was just another war as any other. I heard it
said by some WW II vets it was much worse, but that is hard
to distinguish if you ask the dead. (Richards, p. 2)

The treatment of minorities in America even today is sadly far from the sentiment Jefferson expressed when he wrote that all men are created equal. Even as treatment of blacks and other minorities has improved, it still is not equal to that of white Americans. As George Orwell once said, "All men are created equal, some are just more equal than others." Perhaps this best surmises the way blacks were treated in the Korean War. Yes, there was a marked improvement in the way blacks were treated in comparison to the United States. And for the most part incidents were held to a minimum. Even so, the 24th remains an example of how the racist beliefs of a nation can lead to the loss of the lives of men who did not stand to gain anything from their opposition to communism. Neil Young once begged the question: "what is the color, when black is burned?" Whatever that color may be, it would represent the bitterness, and malcontent that is the result of cutting short those men who paid the price, yet received none of the benefit. Let us thank those who did fight to defend a Constitution that failed to do the same for them. Through their risk, and indeed sacrifice, we can now enjoy the priviliges of this nation. Even so, many African-Americans and other minorities still feel alienated in America, a result of 400 years of despotism at the hands of whites. For a solution to our problems of race, there are no easy answers. Just as the events detailed earlier seem foreign to the youth of today (although they still do happen), perhaps in time the racial atmosphere of America in 1997, with its more subtle prejudice, will seem just as far removed from 2020 as the blatant segregation of the 1950's.

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