2007 KWVA Election Results - Korean War Veterans Association

Integration In Name Only
I read your article in the March-April The Graybeards, p. 60,
entitled “Clarification...Or Correction?” I cannot argue about
when the US Congress abandoned discrimination in the military.
The law may have been passed in 1947, but I know for a fact
that several supply groups were all Afro-American while I was in
Korea during 1950 and 1951.
I was attached to the First Field Artillery Battalion. We had
105 Howitzers for a period of time. During one Chinese offensive—I
can’t remember if it was January, February, March or
April 1951—one First Rocket Battalion, which was an all Afro-
American Battalion, was hit so hard that they were almost completely
wiped out. The remainder of the Battalion was assigned
to our Battalion and became our Battery D.
My point here is that even though the law was passed in 1947,
it sure wasn’t enforced—at least not through 1951.
Arthur E. Berzon (via email)
Real Integration Came Years Later
The letter on page 60 pf the March-April issue disagreeing
with the statement that “the end of racial segregation in the
Armed Forces of the United States … resulted from the Korean
War” is an interesting example of how our view of significant
things that happened in our time is influenced by our sometimes
limited experience of those events.
I enlisted in the Army in June 1947. During basic training at
Fort Dix I saw only one black soldier - a Puerto Rican officer
who led our PT exercises for 13 weeks. All units there were segregated.
During 8 weeks of supply school at Camp Lee – segregated.
Fourteen months at Fort Lewis in 1948 and 49 – all units segregated.
(I saw one black soldier, a patient, at Madigan General
Hospital, during all that time). The same at Fort Sill, OK. And,
on arrival in Japan, in September 1949, I found the 24th Inf Div
on Kyushu and I Corps Hq in Kyoto segregated.
The 25th Inf Div on Honshu had the only black infantry regiment
in Japan at that time, and I suspect it was the only black
infantry unit in the Army then.
In April 1950 I was assigned to Yokohama Motor Command,
a transportation unit composed of two truck battalions and
Command Headquarters. The truck battalions were all black
(commanded by white officers), with the exception of one Car
Company in each battalion – one drove the staff cars for 8th
Army Headquarters and the other drove the buses for transporting
the Occupation Forces and their dependents around
Yokohama.
I was assigned to the all-white Command Hq Detachment and
as an E5 was assigned as Personnel Sgt Maj, notwithstanding the
fact that there were 3 black E6s assigned to the personnel office
from the truck battalions. Neither of them, though better qualified
than I, could be the SgtMaj because, being black, they could
not be assigned to the Hq Detachment.
When Korea broke out on June 25, 1950 we received orders
to separate the truck battalions, less the two Car companies, and
prepare them for movement to Korea. Two of the E6s from my
office were assigned as Personnel Sgts Maj for their respective
battalions and the third was assigned to maintain officer personnel
records in one of the battalion personnel offices.
The transportation responsibilities of Yokohama Motor
Command, within Yokohama, continued so it now became necessary
to pull all the black NCOs and soldiers who ran the Motor
Pool, Repair Facilities and the like (on detached service) from
the truck battalions, and finally assign them to the Hq
Detachment without regard to their race.
Integration had arrived, and it continued to happen in units
throughout Japan and especially, through attrition, in the combat
units in Korea. Yet, it wasn’t until I returned from Korea in May
1952 and was assigned as Receiving Officer to a mostly white
101st Airborne Div at Camp Breckinridge, KY that I had my first
experience of living in the same BOQ as another officer who
happened to be black. (The 101st was then a Basic Training
Division.) That was six years after President Truman ordered
desegregation.
So, yes President Truman did sign his Executive Order in
1947, but it seems reasonable, in my experience, to say that integration
of the United States Army resulted from the Korean War,
from which it eventually spread throughout the rest of the Army
and the other Military Services.
Armand R. Fredette
4355 South Lee St., Apt D2
Buford, GA 30518
fredar@bellsouth.net
They Are Both Right
Jack Kime is correct and the statement on the Korean War
Memorial is also correct. While segregation in the military officially
ended in 1947, the Korean War provided the impetus to
speed up the process.
Integration of the 839th Engineer Aviation Bn. (EAB) on
Okinawa started during the early phase of the Korean War when
personnel were transferred to the 839th from the 808th EAB;
both units served in Korea.
There were other units faced with the same situation.
Don Tomajan, via email
KATUSA At KWVA Convention
I would like to see all KATUSA personal who served in the
U.S. units during the Korean War at the National Convention in
Reno, Nevada. I do not think there are many to come, but I would
like to see some.
I would even like to see Korean houseboys who served during
the Korean War.
W. J. Kang
5980 Farthing Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80906-7650,
(319)557-9681, wjckang1@msn.com
Tooting Our Horn
I enjoyed your March-April 2007 item regarding the submission
of material. You spurred me to send you some pictures,
including one with me and John Chalk, combat artist. We were
both with PIA (Public Information Office) First Marine Division
61
The Graybeards
May – June 2007