European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 9, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                From colonial times to world War 11, Blacks periodically were banned from the ranks accepted when the need was severe then dismissed again from the armed forces. Waru War i fight Pilot Eugent a Eutt Bullard. Struggle continued from Page 13 draftees shipped out after about two months poorly trained equipped and led and got the reputation of a unit that could do Little right. The 93rd inf made up of National guard units and draftees was assigned to Light with the French. The first unit of the 93rd to arrive in France the 369th inf earned the French Crox a gusto after fighting More than six months in the trenches. The germans called the Black troops the hell fighters. More than 400,000 Blacks served during world War i. Although Only about 10 percent went to combat units. The rest served in Stevedore depot and other labor units. About 1,300 Blacks became officers the most since Blacks entered the army. Still they were less than 1 percent of All officers after the War Many in the War department Felt that Blacks should be removed from the ranks again. In 1924, the army War College submitted a secret report to the chief of staff stating that Blacks were inferior and should be used Only in limited roles in the future. In 1940, the War department announced a quota for Blacks amounting to about 10 percent of the Force roughly their proportion of the . Population. More than z5 million Blacks registered for the draft in world War ii and about half entered the military. Almost three quarters of those Blacks went to the army. Blacks made up 16.5 percent of combat support units but Only 2.8 percent of combat units Dod figures show. Within combat support Blacks were found mostly in quartermaster 46.6 percent and transportation 32.3percent. M the two Black divisions trom world War i were reactivated. The 92nd was sent to the Mediterranean where it saw Only limited service and was considered cowardly after certain battalion size units tailed to seize and hold objectives. But the division earned More than 12,000 decorations trom two distinguished service crosses to nearly 1,100 purple hearts. One of the Best known Black units was the 761st tank in that fought in Europe. It once fought for More than 180 straight Days conducting More than 30 major assaults. It was the Only All Black unit to win a presidential unit citation although it did not Jec Elve it until 1978. The German offensive in the ardennes in late 1944 forced the Only integration of units that occurred during the War when about 2,500 Blacks were assigned to All Pilert of a p-51 my rang group of la 15th 4- we top companies in the 1 St and 7th armies. Blacks had been banned from the Navy from the of world War i to 1932, but about 150,000 Jol Riad during the War. Two ships were staffed with Alm Jat Crews except for White officers. ,.about 140,000 Blacks served in the army Ajr Jug and five All Black tighter and bomber que oops a trained at Tuskegee University in Alabama almost 1,000 awards were won by "tu8keegeetmj airmen their units never overcame a reputation a Lack of aggressiveness and for poor Maln tenant integrated officer candidate schools were o1 Blacks at the time the 10 percent quota Wass five Blacks graduated from West Point during a by 1945, Blacks made up nearly 2 percent of the., off Leer corps but none won. Star rank. A an Alwardt of Manning to a gun la Fra att during Weru War ii. Focus on equal by Clint Swift Washington Bureau t he defense department is taking it first systematic look in More than five years at the 170 jobs command equal Opportunity advisers say they  think it la amount to a  of the defense equal Opportunity management Institute said Navy capt. John Gamboa acting director of the Pentagon s equal Opportunity office. A Survey a year in the making has gone out to commanders and supervisors in All the services asking what they expect their equal Opportunity advisers to do for them Gamboa said. Another portion of the Survey asks hundreds of advisers what they see As their tasks and what training they eel they need. The responses due by May or june will be matched against the curriculum at the Institute to see How Well it is preparing specialists to advise unit and base commanders on race relations and other matters. A spokesman for the Institute said the $300,000 first phase of the evaluation included interviews with men and women involved in equal Opportunity in the United states Europe Japan. Korea and Okinawa. Well come out with a current look at the services needs Gamboa said. On rut a matter Gamboa said a recent race relations assessment of Pilot training should help slow a minority group attrition rate twice that of White Pilot candidates. Faced last Spring with what one Dod training official called an unacceptable rate of attrition among minority group candidates Donna Atvell the former Pentagon equal Opportunity chief Max a memo to each service. The memo required each service to assess the human relations climate surrounding Pilot training. After three to four months of review no c of overt discrimination was reported Gambogi the services said human relations Trall Najya place for students and instructors and the study instructor relationship is the key  he said the services obtained the help of Tuskegee airmen inc., the Black airlines plur Tsal association and negro airmen International to identify candidates with a High likelihood of successful in the training. The pipeline for producing pilots is 18 to20j months Long and figures Are just beginning to of into the Pentagon on whether the Effort has r effect the training official said. Gamboa said his intuitive feeling is that the 1 statistics Wilt begin to show an improvement. They the services knew what our t he said suggesting some areas May have t shored up during the inspection. Gamboa s Deputy. Marine maj. Doris Daniels recruiting end keeping Black officers is  concern. While Blacks Are 18.9 percent of the e Force 50 percent More than their proportion Obj . Population hey Are 6.4 percent of a latest defense manpower data show. Blacks make up about that same proportion c officers 0-1 to 0-3 but Only 4 percent of 0-4s and percent of 0-5s,Ando-6s. Since 90 percent of officers have College c Page 14 the stars and stripes