European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 23, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse Lost three tw6 an armoured car and two if you asked the 614th to battalion Frank Pritchard of hed Tell if you Only knew How Goddam proud i am of my he was one of six White All the rest were in the last Pritch Ard was a Buck there All proud of the from the Divi Sion cd the division cd is supposed to have said hed fight like hell if anyone tried to take the 614th to away from this int just and it int just top Hitler would have a Haemorrhage if he could see the White boys of the 411th infantry bullies going out of mixed sleeping in the same bombed sweating out the same Chow line with negro and the White boys of the 411th Are mostly Southern the negroes come from the not Only but the c company 1st Walter will be the first to Tell you that his boys Arent specially picked As in some that most of them Are uneducated farmhands from North hell Tell that a few of his boys Are troublemaking screw ups who drink too that lots of his boys were almost scared into constipation during their first baptism of hellfire when they fought in Germany alongside the 3d cavalry in other hell Tell you that his outfit is just like any other Hes got a Small percentage who were never meant to be but most of the boys Are Good boys Good with plenty of you get used to he said you get used to he was no longer talking about Slimbach and Germany he was talking about Back in Cher he was remembering All those negro port battalion boys who came to him and begged to be transferred into a fighting they were willing to take they didst want to hear any More White soldiers ask Why there we rent More negro troops in the front i thought every Soldier knew that its up to the army to decide who goes said maybe if people just didst worry about us being something he was groping for maybe if somebody could come up Here and see How weve been fighting and killing and How it Doest seem to matter a Damn what your color Smith broke off there was a strained and then he it was a Rich he remembered something that had happened Only last week when the out fit was moving toward the he had noticed quite a Liberal sprinkling of White soldiers in several of the trucks and asked the first sergeant if they were said the there part of our gun after he finished the the lieutenant sat there quietly for a with a wonderful wide smile on his you he maybe were just a Bunch of Battle virgins compared with some out but weve sure been learning a hell of a lot of things about by August Loeb yank staff correspondent with the 5th Italy Charles a 33yearold artillery scout who describes his prese vice profession As operator of Duck and Dodge ducked and dodged three German shells that hit his there was a fourth Shell he didst that one got him in the lung and after 30 Days in a Hospital in Orrett had a Choice of being reclassified or of going Back to his old that was easy to he my outfit is a Field artillery battalion of the 92d and i do i know what in talking about because i came to the 92d from another Ive Felt like a different Man since i got into the Orrette outfit is the Only division in Europe whose ranks Are made up entirely of its Black Buffalo shoulder Patch is envied by Hun in Mark Reed of dress of other negroes in other it was worn by the 92d division of the first world also a negro every body else in the92d agrees that Orrett made the right decision in that leghorn Charles Bowden of Rocky a wire Man the same Bat is one of the men who he and or rett and most of their friends have been with the battalion since it was activated in november 1942 at Camp Breckin he went to Arkansas and and then on Louisiana and finally to Italy As part of the com plete 92d division under command of Edward our training Back Home was said but now we know on this front a Man must be in top Hes no Good if he limps theres no Way to catch a ride up and you might have to March 25 if youve done it Back its a Little easier Bowden ought to know what Hes about according to Orrett and he has one of the Riskiest jobs in the ing wire under the eyes of the he has been out with Forward observation parties several times and has stayed so Long everybody Felt cer Tain he had been he always came Back his friends by the smell of Ezekiel Butts Cpl a gunner from is another Man who now knows the value of the endless Drill they put him through Back in the he now thinks automatically in the once terrifying metric Maurice a 23yearold radio operator from said something in Praise of the outfits fire Mcclain agreed and added and we can get ready to fire in 15 minutes or Walker said he thought the outfit had been very Lucky in getting the officers it i think i speak for most of the men in saying that it Doest matter to us whether the officers Are White or he color Means nothing at the everybody has a rough and that does a lot to bring the men the important thing is not what color an officer but whether he knows his if he hell get the respect of his most of our officers Are the proportion of negro officers in the 92d has been rising when Almond took command of the All the officers were now two thirds Are there Are three negro lieutenant two of them in command of Allegro Field artillery battalions and the third the division the outfits White it Robert Ross of new York came in for a great Deal of Walker said whether an officer came from the North or from the South has nothing to do with his the others agreed with him and mentioned Bradley of Kibbie of North Carolina and Davidson of Georgia As some of the Southern officers who have the respect of the the said is a great leveling theres a great Deal More actual democracy up there than in garrisons Back in the where people have time to get into arguments about things like the seating arrangements on Mcclain frowned at the mention of i was on one in coming Back from a he there were no seats in the Back part that was reserved for coloured and two White soldiers up front made room for when i sat the Driver stopped the bus and told me to go to the i squeeze through the but that made no Dif Ference the Driver thought it was something to argue Orrett compared his treatment at the leg Horn Hospital with the situation at fort i was born in of West Indian Par he and spent my Early life in in the British West then i went Clark pins a combat infantryman badge on Nolan a member of the fifth army 92d to new York with my parents and went to school and worked i never knew what discrimination meant until i went to fort where there were three big Post one for coloured soldiers and two for White and after the few rows reserved for us in the two mixed Heaters were filled we get when i was being treated for my wounds in there was no such thing As White and everybody was fighting together and suffering together brings people i think most people Are too pessimistic about race relations after the the White american Soldier has Learned what artificial barriers of any sort mean and will be just As determined As the coloured Soldier to do away with them of the demagogues May try to stir things but i dont think get very far with the veterans of this the veterans will be smarter than the demagogues most of the men have thought about what the future will bring them and How such plans As the i Bill of rights will affect after the said id like to take an advanced course in radio under the id stand More of a Chance then of getting a Good id say that most of the men in this outfit Are inter ested in learning a so they wont be thrown on the unskilled labor Market for Sale to the lowest with a an 11yearold son and an 8yearold daughter Back in has Simi Lar he wants to study and become a radio repairman in where everybody knows including the people who Orrett was talking about his Days As a policy it was so so so in he that i never thought much about making an honest it was an easy a Day for doing the men in the outfit have had privileges in Italy they never had Back in the but that Hast lessened their feeling of it int just wanting to get Back to our Fame said its because we feel More than Ever that the is the Best place in the world for us to this weeks cover Down i the Concrete Tunnel off a fort captured from the on the Western William Hogon of a letter to his sitting Here on a Stra Cov ered floor and writing with a Light shielded by a ration Box his thoughts carry him Tor from this foreign photo Pat Jaha Warran 12 Oil upper Jart Lamar eau Siaana a Agar Siadal fart Michael a Page 7
