Tuskegee Air Field History

The 369th Infantry Regiment otherwise known as the Harlem Hellfighters was the first all-black US combat unit that was shipped during WW I and was crucial in the WWII battles in Hawaii and Okinawa. These members who were skilled and very proud were shipped to Hawaii and protected the Hawaiian islands with antiaircraft from Japanese attack. William De Fossett was one of the main leaders of the 369th regiment, who joined it due to the regiments fame from the waning days of World War I. The original Harlem Hellfighters fought with the French Army and were awarded for their excellent service. De Fossett made the highly selective and demanding requirements of the 369th regiment. He grew up in the highly cultured

African Americans were on the open ground right in the way of deadly artillery fire. Although the attack failed, the black solders proved their capability to withstand the battle.

Three to four million men mostly of European descent fought in the Civil War, but the following groups also made significant contributions:

The 442 restored their honor. They returned home heros of war and were looked at differently by all Americans, not as aliens, but as United States citizens. They became the most decorated combat team in U.S. history and freed their families from internment camps restoring honor. “The 100th Battalion/442nd RCT, in just over one year, compiled an astonishing combat record. But this segregated unit, almost entirely comprised of Japanese Americans, suffered an equally remarkable number, about 800, killed or missing in action. They won seven Distinguished Unit Citations, including one awarded personally by President Harry Truman… Over 4,000 Purple Hearts, 29 Distinguished Service Crosses, 588 Silver Stars, and more than 4,000 Bronze

The real turning point for Davis and his black combat airmen came when the 332nd was assigned escort duty for strategic bombers. The Red Tails never lost a bomber to enemy fighters and shot down three of the first jet fighters employed by the Germans. Their truly unique achievement was sinking an enemy destroyer. During the war Davis flew 60 missions and was awarded the Sliver Star, the Legion of Merit and the Distinguished Flying Cross for mission leadership.

World War II happened when the nation was still racially divided in parts of the United States and many black Sailors only held jobs as cooks in the Navy. There were others who were soldiers but was considered an experiment to see if they had the capabilities to fight like their white counterparts. It was said that approximately 2 million African Americans signed up to fight in WWII and although there was still segregation going on in the military. Many African Americans didn’t see color as obstacle but to fight for a nation who have suffered multiple lives due to an attack from a foreign nation. This was also during the time the Tuskegee Airman was assembled and was one of the most successful air detachments during that time.

We see this when the Army had adopted literacy requirements. From public school, students of color were only expected to attend class when they weren’t needed in the fields. Results of this regulation were relatively low achievement rates and high illiteracy in black children, which followed them throughout their lives.(35) “A higher portion of blacks living in the North had completed grade school than whites in the south. Three in four potential black inductees rejected for this reason came from the south, compared to one in four whites.”(101) The military seemed to take this as an opportunity to use the lack of literacy in blacks while accepting illiterate whites into the army with no problem. The Secretary of war at this time, Henry Stimson, described this as “simply transferring discrimination from everyday life into the army. Men who make up the army staff will have the same idea about blacks as they had before.” (101) We see more secret exclusion in the lack of benefits black veterans received after coming home from fighting in the war. The GI Bill was made to provide assistance to all soldiers. Color should not be a factor. Benefits received through the GI Bill further propelled segregation in education, employment, and economics. The GI Bill “changed where and how americans lived. Suburbs sprang up like

Two things were unusual about this American fighter pilot. First, he had passed up a sure kill. Second, he was Black. He flew with the only U.S. Fighter squad involved in World War Two that could claim to have never lost a bomber they were escorting. The Group was the 332nd Fighter Group, "The Redtails," the famed all African American outfit that fought both American racism and Nazi militarism. Under the leadership and discipline of Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, the Redtails had learned that their mission in life was to protect the bombers(Respect and Honor 1).

Before this could happen there were a few problems on the camp that the recruits had to overcome. One of which being Colonel Von Kimble. As the commanding officer on the base, he oversaw the day to day operations of the entire base including, the training regimen and schedule of the current recruits. Von Kimble was a white man that was not very supportive of the program making it near impossible for expansion and advanced training to occur on the base. Col. Edward Glenn makes the point in his interview with Studs Terkel that “even on the base in training the whites ate separately then the blacks”. Von Kimble kept tight to the law of the land Alabama and did not deviate from the mentality that the southerners had adopted throughout the the decades.(Terkel) In December of 1942 Lt. Col. Parrish became the director of operations due to this, Von Kimble was relieved of his duties. Lt. Col. Parrish was much more cognizant of segregation and pushed for a completely desegregated airfield. (Historynet) He refused to cut corners and was determined to see the recruits as nothing more than trainees and not races. This determination and resilience helped to

‘The US military tested recruits to assign rank and found that black applicants scored lower than whites. However, analysis of the recruits were found to be due to educational differences; black recruits scored very low until the 1950s, when an increase in score corresponded to improved educational standards for all.’

In the short film, “The Negro Soldier,” the whole focus was to get African Americans to join the military. With the use of propaganda, the U.S. government hoped to promote getting African Americans to want to fight for their country. It hoped to instill patriotism in them. It showed that Germany and the Nazis had no respect for them and considered them the scum of the earth. It also portrayed them being accepted as equals into the American society. It was used to make them think they were wanted and play a major role in the success of the war against germany. And to ultimately make Germany and the Nazis look like the bad guys (destroying their monuments) instead of the racist America they lived in. It also portrayed African American soldiers prior contributions in previously fought wars as pivotal moments in American history. It made it seem like they were the reason for those victories. It also explained how the African American soldiers were honored with tributes, memorials, medals and parades for their service in the military. In the ongoing WWII, it was said that there were three times the number of African Americans soldiers in WWII than in WWI. Also, many more were getting commissioned and attending West Point and OCS (Officer Candidate School). African American men that were once printers, tailors, entertainers are now soldiers in the Army as gunners, tankers, radio operators, mechanics, quartermasters, and infantrymen. They were now the backbone of

In March 1941, 98 black enlisted men reported to Fort Knox, Ky., from Fort Custer, Mich., for armored warfare training with the 758th Tank Battalion (light). The pioneer black tankers trained in light tank operations, mechanics and related phases of mechanized warfare, as enlisted men from other Army units joined their ranks.

During American involvement in the war, African Americans were listed and reenlisted on the military draft at higher rates than any other nationalities including whites and Latin-Americans (Westheider 9). As a result, more African Americans than any othe r minority fought and died in combat. In addition, they constantly faced racism. One militant protested forcefully against the unfair conditions: “You should see for yourself how the black man is being treated over here and the ay we are dying. When it comes to rank, we are left out. When it comes to special privileges, we are left out. When it comes to patrols, perataions and so forth, we are first” (Gallagher). According to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., black youths represented an unequal share of early draftees and faced a significantly higher chance of seeing combat. “Rumors abounded that the U.S. government were using the Vietnam War as a form of genocide. Money was being pumped into Vietnam instead of poor black communities in America” (Gallegher).

When America entered the Second World War, in 1942, they required Black men to fight. Many Black men fought for America in the war and did everything expected of them. Although they fought in different regiments to White Americans they were treated with respect, something many Black Americans had not experienced before. Whilst at war they noticed that many other countries- such as Britain- had integrated regiments without complications, so many wondered why America could not do the same. When

Also, African American soldiers could not surrender under any circumstances. Since the confederate soldiers were so angry at the thought of African American soldiers, they would regularly shoot or enslave African American soldiers who had already surrendered. At the Battle of Fort Pillow, almost one thousand African American soldiers were slaughtered after surrendering to confederate troops.