Basic Black; 3117; Forgotten Warriors: Blacks In The Korean War

You You Always hungry always thirsty your best friend is your weapon voices from a past long forgotten

Soldiers who fought for democracy, but we're denied it on the home land We're not recognized as having contributed to the national defense. These are the forgotten men of the Korean War You The Korean War 36 ,000 American soldiers lost their lives 8 ,000 were unaccounted for and nearly 7 ,000 were POWs From

1950 to 1953 the United States fought in a bloody conflict that today is almost lost in this nation's memory and If the Korean War is the forgotten war Then African -American soldiers are its forgotten warriors. Good evening. I'm Darren Duarte and welcome to basic black Tonight we go back a half a century to bring you the African -American experience in Korea A war memorial serves as a testament to the honor and courage sacrificed for all Americans These Helen monuments are a tribute to the men and women who fought and died for America's freedom The recognition of all our efforts strengthens our national identity From 1950 to 1953 U .S. And United Nations military forces fought side -by -side in Korea on the

50th anniversary of the war The Korean War Memorial in the nation's capital is a place of somber reflection For veterans of the war visiting the monument evokes a mixture of emotions I have a flush of memories Mainly it makes me think it all the men that died Because I went on a many patrol like this and many men have gone on patrols like this It's a very very dangerous thing Out of the men you see behind me in this monument a Lot of patrols would go out and only the first one Would live because they would let him go by and kill everybody else Sometime the only guy that got back was the point man 68 -year -old Lawrence Hogan is

proud of his Korean military service. He wears his uniform with pride Today Hogan works for the Massachusetts State Lottery, and he's a member of the ancient and honorable artillery company a military institution that dates back to the 17th It's members have included officers from the Revolutionary War as well as a few presidents including John Kennedy There are only four current African -American members of the ancient and honorable But that small number doesn't deter Hogan. He believes it's important for black military men to be part of the military mainstream Every word this country is for everything that is about this country black men have participated in a military manner Because it's not known about It doesn't mean that we shouldn't be in these organizations. We should be in them because we we are part of this country The

son of a laborer and a school teacher Larry Hogan grew up on the streets of Harlem Hoping for a better life. He joined the army when he was only 17 I went in in 1952 there were very few jobs or opportunities for black men of the ages of 16 17 18 19 in the United States a Lot of the young men that I went to high school with We all came to the conclusion it was our monetary conclusion You could go in the military and you were guaranteed $78 a month plus You could have an allotment sent to your parents Which is more than your father or somebody was making they had made it that time You went in and you also

got extra money if you went into combat and If I get killed My family would get ten thousand dollars and ten thousand dollars in 1950 Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money African -americans had few options for advancement in post -World War two America, but there were symbols of hope In 1947 Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball and Conceding to pressure from civil rights activists President Harry Truman signed executive order 9981 The 1948 order called for the ending of racial discrimination in the military But it didn't set up a timetable or a procedure for the order to be carried out It would take the invasion of a country a half a world away To accelerate the integration of the US military The Korean War sets in motion the actual desegregation of the armed forces

why military necessity The United States is is approximately 8 ,000 miles away from North Korea How are you going to get troops from the American mainland to Korea in a timely fashion? There were American troops in Asia and particularly in Japan in the early weeks after the outbreak of the Korean War African -american troops white American troops, but the military is segregated So in terms of initial fighting in the Korean War in early July of 1950 You see black regiments black infantry regiments particularly the 24th infantry regiment and white infantry regiments engaged in combat But they're fighting as racially separate The the 24th infantry regiment which had a proud and distinguished history for African Americans Took part in some of the early campaigns in the Korean War And they were among the african -american military regiments who were

singled out because of their heroic performance in the early weeks and months of the Korean War The military presence and the military performance of black troops was a source of great pride to black newspapers Once again to show a sign of manhood that black troops when tested could perform and perform well in terms of military military settings and military situations But after a few months into the war the tide turned in the battle North Korea's army was well trained well armed and it outnumbered its American opponents White and black troops suffered heavy casualties and began to retreat But the retreat of black troops would be seen differently than that of white troops They say we were cowards and everything now i'm here to tell you K company, myself, we were no

cowards They say we ran Yes, but we had to fight our way out and all the two run Where the white troops were running in drugs All right, but we had to run all four So don't say we were cowards we ran to like everybody else To help set the record straight about the 24th infantry regiment and the african -american soldier in korea The congressional black caucus sponsored a forum in september of 2000 in washington dc Former members of combat units shared their experiences of the korean war Usually the chinese they hit us at night And they get as close to you out there You know you just firing at Muscle black and showers

that you see every so often one would run by you You really don't have time to refocus You know you're so engaged and you're just drawn hanging these and you fight it And the next morning you notice the hole here would be covered with dead bodies They fought well they fought well But like other american military regiments white regiments and again before the integration of the army under combat in korea When they're being um when their positions are being attacked By the um by the people's republic the armies from the people's republic of china american troops are in retreat The cold reality was that within four months from the start of the war American and u .n. troops were in retreat because of china's military support of north korea The communist giant poured arms and hundreds of thousands of soldiers into the war We were all caught up in this massive attack We were told approximately 200 000 soldiers that's had already been indicated the volume of soldiers It's very hard to defend And

it's nothing you could do and so they were working their way through the lines Official military histories of korea reflected the racist attitudes of the times portraying black units as disorganized or lacking valor Regardless of the lack of merit of the accusations or the fact that the commanding officers of the 24th infantry were white The unit was inactivated in october of 1951 Its members were integrated into other army units Integration had come but for the 24th its price was high A cloud would hang over the valor of the 24th It besmirched the entire history of the 24th infantry regiment It permeates all the the accounts written by military historians of the korean war While the retreat proceeds in orderly fashion The united nations seek to arrange a ceasefire order and to clear the entire korean problem and bring about world peace When they say black troops ran they would say white troops had a strategic withdrawal When they said

black troops bugged out They would say white troops advanced to the rear These subtleties have always been a part of what the infantrymen and the black soldiers lived with And we made no bones about this being a presidential act People at right history make history I feel a clean ship to the men of the 24th Because they have no control of history And that is one of our problems We don't write the history When I got to korea Those men were integrated into the 7th They were integrated into all of at that time. They were integrated into all the other divisions I was in the 7th So I had sergeants from the 24th Which we were glad to get because they had the experience of having been there

Knowing what to do Simple things that somebody could tell you any day that will save your life And you have to be under those conditions to understand it You'd listen to anybody that you believed That could get you home alive Ron Armstead a vietnam veteran and an activist for veterans issues helped to organize the forum If there's one thing that I have learned over the time that I've been With proud privilege to be with the congressional black hawkers and attend their annual legislative conference And do these forms around veterans It is the lack of recognition Public recognition and acknowledgement See we're never recognized We're recognized for the gang banging We're recognized as the welfare queen that's getting over on the system We're not recognized as having contributed to the national defense The nation behind this country

They don't recognize us as playing a cardinal role making a major contribution to what this country is One korean war veteran armstead believes deserves recognition is oscar dottsin Dottsin is a roxbury resident who wasn't able to travel to washington for the veterans forum A veteran of the 24th infantry dottsin was also one of the many thousands of us and un soldiers captured as prisoners of war I'm gonna tell you when I was a prisoner of war They taught you me I've been taught you with hot iron my body I was just lucky I have my nails pulled out for me. I was beaten I've been banged side of head in my back I ate mud I ate leaves to stay alive Because you don't give enough food don't give enough water I remember the night it was winter and cold when we escaped Oh, it was so cold So cold I'll

tell you you can do your air like that and you can break it off Well, it was about 12 months We all hit the same time Then we take the keys They were all bunched together get the gun with them. I got my right kneecap shot out I got shot in the low left leg Frozen frostbite More than 2000 POWs died in captivity in korea Oscar Dotson was one of the fortunate ones. He came home And although the war was many years ago He's bitter that the u .s never fully appreciated the sacrifice that he and other african -american soldiers made Well, sometimes I think we're the fellows Then I left behind I got killed God let me come in for a reason You know, I'm talking like this because They didn't give no

recognition the right recognition for what we are Despite the courage displayed by african -american military combat units in korea and in world war two Historically military policy relegated most black soldiers to support details They were often soldiers who fought with shovels rather than with swords However, there were exceptions The integration of the military brought about many firsts including friendships In the old navy we would have black stewards And uh, it was they who served us in our meals. They took care of our rooms And they did the cooking for the officers and It was just as clear as could be how much they idolized jesse Jesse was ensign jesse leeward brown The navy's first black aviator and the only black officer aboard the aircraft carrier

usslaty He was the son of a sharecropper and picked cotton as a child But his future would not be in the cotton fields of haddysburg mississippi It would be in the cloud filled skies above I met him in the fall of 1949 And he said i'm jesse brown and he didn't make any Move to come over and shake my hand And when I got up he readily came over But I definitely got the idea that he didn't want to Take the initiative In uh shaking my hand because of what my reaction might be But from then on we were good friends thomas hudner is the former commissioner of veteran services for massachusetts And a decorated veteran of the korean war When he went to ohio state Well without knowing the details, I do know that he was successfully able to get into navy flight training But there are a lot of people in the navy who are adamantly against his coming into

the flight program because he was an african american I remember jackie robinson His coming into major league baseball was about the same time that jesse got into the flight program And I think they both went through the same problems We were flying in fighter aircraft, which were introduced during world war two in the pacific They were the corsairs the f4u's the gall winged aircraft On the 4th of december of 1950 Is about a week after the elements of the united states army Were attacked by surprise by the chinese And on this particular day jesse and I were two of a flight of six Who were sent out to fly around? The area of the chosen reservoir and what we call the armed reconnaissance and we were Well into our flight when jesse called on the radio He said i'm having trouble with my engine and my engine's

about to quit. We have no idea why We assumed that he was hit by a bullet of troops down below Brown's plane lost power But he managed to glide into a clearing on a mountain His plane hit hard The force of the impact Buckled the aircraft And the crash appeared to be fatal Then we looked down again and saw that he had opened his canopy and was waving at us And we talked among ourselves then on the radio. wonder what's happened. Why doesn't he get out of his airplane? There's a little bit of smoke coming out from under the cowling and I finally Called on the radio to let the crew knew that I was going to go in and try to get jesse out of the airplane hudner crash landed his plane near browns But couldn't remove him from the mangled aircraft Ensign jesse leeway brown died from internal injuries and exposure to the severe cold A helicopter retrieved hudner a few days later

Navy planes returned to the site They found our airplanes Jesse's body had been stripped of all of his clothes We don't know whether it was peasants or troops, but it was so cold those people were desperate for any type of warmth at all They dropped napalm on my airplane and jesse's He wanted to cremate jesse's body so that wouldn't be exposed either any wild animals or whatever So those two aircraft uh as far as we know were never seen again certainly not by our people daisy brown jesse's widow attended the ceremony when president truman Presented tom hudner with the congressional medal of honor for trying to save his friend All of us uh felt so strong about jesse the uh question in our minds Why did it happen to be jesse? Because he was a very special person and he turned out to be what we thought at the time

of being a damn good officer And he was a good pilot And he was an inspiration to everybody. was a he was a man's man and he loved brother man The war is horrible, but uh it did serve as the means where individuals will become famous first in terms of african -american history And african -american military history will be able to continue their um advancement um in the officer core and an officer rank at the military services of the united states But despite the new opportunities for african -americans in the military Support for the korean war was not universal in the black community If one looks at the korean war and how african -american leadership responded to korean war certainly the nacp supported the war But it's interesting that two of the most prominent critics of the korean war were two of the most noted african -americans in the united states Dr. W. B. Du Bois and paul robson Viewed the korean uh korean war as an imperialist venture by the united states that the united states had no role in terms of the korean war Like du Bois he

argued this was something that should be decided by the korean people But america in the early 1950s was the era of the cold war the rise of the atomic threat And the black listing of anyone suspected of sympathizing with communist ideology Consequently paul robson and w. e. b. Bois would be hounded by the american government for their political beliefs Indirectly one could argue that paul robson and w. e. b. Bois made the nacps appear to be more legitimate in the eyes of the federal government The f40 united states will begin begrudgingly and and very late to offer support To the nacp in terms of its efforts in terms of brown for supportive education Partly because the united states realizes that other countries are watching the treatment of african -americans So first six months were

cold and snow and pain Some wins some losses Always taking the high ground another hill to gain This was the start of the killing game And we who stayed to play this game swiftly so how quickly the endless dying came New young players came to die in april may june and july And all the while the wounded cried god help us We don't want to die But the dying came Lieutenant tomson who was our company commander was black Sergeant brenton who was our first sergeant was also black tomson who one of the best leaders that we ever had He inspired us He really made us a cohesive company He made the squads function And when we went to take a hill

We were with him In sand and dust or tears like rust they tried to kill the best of us brenton and tomson both game -famed because they played hard this killing game I think brenton was was killed in the trenches I think he was killed in the trenches because he was in the trenches But tomson tomson got he got hit by a theory To all of the men of the 31st Who fought and bled and died And to the 55 of you who managed to survive In tribute to you men both the young and the old Who assaulted it Who took it Who secured it And somehow lived to whole Your pork chop hill story is finally told And

the killing stopped july 27th career Too many people died And I guess it's the vulnerability of it all not the deal that you can't stop it You really don't have any control over it You just do the best you can what you have And you try to be the best And part of being that best Is also knowing that You're not just doing it for you Because you can't do it all for you You are doing it and you do think or at least I did I thought of other people I thought of black people that Boy, you'll never have to come and do this again

Freedom is not free someone has to pay for it Someone has to pay for it and we've paid for it So I have to challenge our community I have to challenge our nation. I have to challenge our institutions to say that the oscar dot sands Of our community are not supposed to be alive Are not supposed to die in obscurity All right, because they've earned their place their rightful place in history If we won the war in career It was because of the black troops that were there if we won the second world war It was because of black troops that were there We were there and we when we will continue to be there This is our country

You The history books often don't tell the full story of the contributions African Americans have made to our nation And in the case of the korean war It is important to acknowledge a generation of quiet warriors Who fought valiantly for freedoms denied them in their own country and for the respect do them as soldiers Follow us at basic black. I'm garen duarte. Thank you for watching and good night For questions and comments, please contact our website at wgbh .org keyword basic black You

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