The Apache sentinel., 1944-09-08

Brown, who wrote the script for
the unveiling of the mural, "The
Negro Soldier" wrote such sig
nificant document for the tableau
that we are using excerpts of it in
the Apache Sentinel in order that
every soldier on the Post may be
able to retain some portion of it
as a reminder of the glorious his
tory played by his predecessors in
Americas wars against tyranny.
We cannot reproduce the effects
interwOven in the script, nor the
background of music furnished by
the Post band. The stirring words
of American patriots, however,
from the dawn of our history
through World War /, can be re-
quoted and should be remembered
by every soldier who contributes
his efforts toward winning the war
and by every civilian, who also is
doing his part to sweep clean the
wOrld-Stage for real democracy
and freedom.
With this thought in mind, we
are reproducing some excerpts
from the script of "The Negro
Soldier:
COL. NELSON:
You are about to witness the un-
yelling of a mural, pictorial record
of the American Negro soldiers part
in the winning and in the preserva-
ton of the democratic principles
upon which America was founded.
This ambitious undertaking is the
fulfillment of a wish Colonel
Hardy, Post commanders wish =
that some kind of a visual tribute
be placed on exhibition at Fort
Huachuca to commemorate the GAL
1antry and unselfish devotion of the
Negro soldier to the serv-
ice of our country, from the war of
Colonial Rebellion to World War II.
The wish. as you will soon see, has
The work, executed by Sgt. Lew
Davis, is in five parts, or tableuaX:
The Revolutionary War, the War of
1872, the Civil War, the. Spanish
American War, and World War I.
Not only will you see, but you
will hear the story behind each one
of these representations-the STIR
ring story of the American Negro in
our wars.
NARRATOR: The Negro soldier
in the War of American Indepen-
dence! In each of the great wars he
has fought in for the land of his
adoption, the Negro has gained a
little more freedom than he had
ever before enjoyed Why did he
q slave volunteer to defend the
country that held him in bondage?
What was Independence" to him?
;. EVERYTHING. 1t spelled "Free-
dom"
In 1779, Sir Henry Clinton pro-
claimed: "His Majesty's govern
ment desires the military service of
every able-bodied Negro male" But
the colonists persisted in their OBJ
lection to the use of Negro soldiers.
Between ITS and 1888, the state
of South Carolina lost $4,000 Negroes
who went over to the British. Three
fourths of all Negroes in Georgia
wei AOoO w CllC AAllCl 1CdIlS. OIlG-
third of the British soldiers gar
risoned at Fort CORVALLIS were
General George Washington, who
had sternly prohibited the enlist
ment of Negroes, now filled his de-
pleted ranks at Valley Forge with a
battalion of black men. BY giving
three years of service to the CONT
mental Army, the slave was in turn
given his freedom Maryland raised
a contingent of $50 men of color.
CriSpus Attucks was one of the first
martyrs of American liberty. He was
in the front of those openly protest
ing against the quartering and bill
letting of British soldiers in Boston.
Other CriSpus Attucks served as
Minute Men at Lexington and Con-
cord and later as Regulars in the
ranks. A young Negro woman named
Deborah Shurtcleff, masqueraded as
a man and enlisted, and saw three
years of military service. Peter
Salem distinguished himself at
Bunker Hill by killing the British
officer, Major Pitcairn. Another
Negro soldier captured a Major Cen
eral of the British Army. In every
colony from Massachusetts to Geor-
gia, Negroes fought and died by the
side of Warren of Bunker Hill, Pu-
laski at Savannah.
Revolutionary War, 1st Panel
II. L