{"id":79057,"date":"2016-11-11T22:32:35","date_gmt":"2016-11-12T02:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/?p=79057"},"modified":"2018-05-15T20:54:35","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T00:54:35","slug":"six-wars-a-history-of-exceptional-valor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/?p=79057","title":{"rendered":"Six Wars: A History of Exceptional Valor"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am not a historian or a student of military history yet, as I was writing my recent novel, \u00a0Provenance<\/em>, I did a lot of research about America\u2019s wars. Provenance<\/em> takes place in the American South soon after the Civil War and, in Paris just before World War II. Throughout this research I kept finding example after example of the exceptional valor of African-Americans in the military.<\/p>\n

When I went to school, the significant military contribution of African-Americans in defending the freedom of the United States was not part of the history we learned (I hope they teach it now). Through family, friends and community I learn about some of it but, as I did my research, I learned there was more than I could imagine. What a sad revelation to know that these heroes sacrificed so much for freedoms they would not attain, yet they\u00a0fought non-the-less.<\/p>\n

In light of the election results this week, Veteran\u2019s Day provides an opportunity to remind or enlighten us about the contribution so many people of color have made in service to this country and the world. There is so much history to tell and much has been written \u2013 if you choose to find it. The following images, and links that take you to the stories behind them, are just a fraction of the rich and unsung history of exceptional valor. On this day let us\u00a0honor, remember and respect the sacrifices veterans of all colors, and their families, made in the past and continue to make every day.<\/p>\n

1. The Revolutionary War<\/h2>\n
\"Crispus
Crispus Attucks from the 19th-century lithograph by Paul Revere depicting the Boston Massacre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Crispus Attucks is believed to be the first person killed in the American Revolution at the Boston Massacre. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

2. The Civil War<\/h2>\n
\"captain-william-matthews-1st-kansas-colored-volunteer-infantry-regiment-at-fort-scott\"<\/a>
Captain William Mathews<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Captain William Mathews \u2013a free black, a businessman and station master on the Underground Railroad\u2013recruited former slaves into the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Fort Scott. He lost his rank when the unit was federalized but later served as an artillery officer. \u00a0Read more<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

The Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment Infantry 1863 – 1865.<\/h3>\n
\"Detail
Detail of the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial in Boston.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry saw extensive service in the Union Army and was one of the first official African-American units in the United States during the Civil War.\u00a0Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

3. The Spanish-American War<\/h2>\n
\"The
The Buffalo Soldiers – 9th United States Colored Troops Calvary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Buffalo Soldiers fought during the Spanish-American War, including the Battle of San Juan Hill , the Philippine-American War (1899 – 1903 and the 1916 Mexican Expedition. Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. World War I<\/h2>\n

Harlem Hellfighters<\/b>, the\u00a0<\/span>Black Rattlers<\/b>\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span>Men of Bronze \u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n
\"Harlem
Harlem Hellfighters who won the Croix de Guerre for gallantry in action. Left to right. Front row: Pvt. Ed Williams, Herbert Taylor, Pvt. Leon Fraitor, Pvt. Ralph Hawkins. Back Row: Sgt. H. D. Prinas, Sgt. Dan Strorms, Pvt. Joe Williams, Pvt. Alfred Hanley, and Cpl. T. W. Taylor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. gave the 369th Infantry Regiment military to the French during World War I rather than have white Americans fight along side them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The nickname “Hell Fighters” was given to them by the Germans due to their toughness and that they never lost a man through capture, lost a trench or a foot of ground to the enemy. Read more<\/a>.<\/sup>Eugene Jacques Bullard<\/p>\n

\"Eugene
Eugene Bullard with American Flyers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eugene Jacques Bullard makes an appearance in my novel, Provenance<\/em>. He was America’s first black military aviator – though he could not fly for his country. He flew for the Lafayette Flying Corps of the French Air Service and took part in 20 combat mission earning the nickname, “Black Swallow of Death.” Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0World War II<\/h2>\n
\"Admiral
Admiral Nimitz awards Dorie Miller the Navy Cross<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Doris “Dorie” Miller<\/strong>\u00a0(October 12, 1919\u00a0\u2013 November 24, 1943) was a Mess-man Third Class that the\u00a0United States Navy\u00a0noted for his bravery during the\u00a0attack on <\/a>Pearl Harbor\u00a0on December 7, 1941. He was the first\u00a0African American\u00a0to be awarded the\u00a0Navy Cross, the third highest honor awarded by the U.S. Navy at the time, after the\u00a0Medal of Honor\u00a0and the\u00a0Navy Distinguished Service Medal. Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Tuskegee
Tuskegee Airmen 332nd Fighter Group Pilots<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0Tuskegee Airmen,<\/strong>\u00a0were the first African-American\u00a0military pilots (fighter and bomber) in the then segregated United States military. They fought in\u00a0Europe and North Africa during World War II.\u00a0 Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

6. The Korean War<\/h2>\n

\"african-american-solider-in-the-korean-war\"The 77th Engineer Combat Company, 25th Infantry, 8th US Army in Korea, UN Command committed to Korean War action 7-12-50, and inactivated 6-30-52, was the last black combat unit of the US Army ever to engage an enemy of the US and is said to be the most decorated American unit in the Korean War. Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am not a historian or a student of military history yet, as I was writing my recent novel, \u00a0Provenance, I did a lot of research about America\u2019s wars. Provenance takes place in the American South soon after the Civil War and, in Paris just before World War II. Throughout this research I kept finding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[146,8],"tags":[184],"class_list":["post-79057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-african-american-history","category-diversity","tag-veterans-day"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Robert_Gould_Shaw_Memorial_plaster_original_04.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79057"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79408,"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79057\/revisions\/79408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/79059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donnadrewsawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}