The Omaha guide., 1944-11-04
Why I
am
Anti


ing a commission in our military and naval services
becomes an officer and a gentleman. The Ninety
fifth and Ninety-Six Articles of War which govern
his conduct substantiate the assertion. While | am
in somewhat dubious agreement with his becoming
an officer by such legislative action, | am %unalter-
ably convinced that Congress cannot make a gentle
man white or black. The facts bear this out. In
the case of making officers it has too often taken the
equivalent OF an act OF God to confer this honor upon
Negro service men.
No group of Americas fighting men have
faced quite the same ignominious treatment as the
Negro officer. His has been an uphill fight all the
way with the cards squarely stacked against him..
Repeatedly ignored, more often merely tolerated,
frequently Inundated, the Negro officer has run the
gauntlet of everything insulting and debasing that
America could offer. Yet there has never rested
upon any group greater responsibility. The War De
partments reluctance to commission Negroes in the
first place, added to the convictions strongly held
by many military brass hats that 1T is inconceivable
that niggers should become officers" has made it
incumbent upon Negro officers to make good in spite
of the dirty deal they have been given. Shifted about
from place to place without reason or common sense,
denied promotions and the opportunities to qualify
for same, given unassigned status because the War
Department in many instances indicated that it did
not know what to do with them, segregated in mess
halls, officers clubs, and barracks, the Negro officer,
in spite of his failures in some instances, has made
a most creditable record in this emergency.
In a regiment to which | was once attached
there were two colonies, although the Table Of Or
ganization called for but one. In another regiment
to nv knowledge there were two medical officers
with the rank of major although the I. 0. in this case
too called for but one. In another instance a group
of colOred officers, among whom were men In the
field grades, was sent from Michigan to the state of
Washington. When these men arrived and 1t was
discovered that they were Negroes, the military au-
thorities told them that there was no place for them
to serve out there. They, therefore, sat around, en-
barrassed and ashamed of their nation while the
military authorities frantically sought to transfer
them to some post where there were colored troops.
Many weeks passed and these men sat around in
idleness while the nation pretended to prepare itself
to resist its enemies. Still another parallel situa-
ton existed when a group of officers was transferred
from my regiment to a post in Utah. A loyal wife,
several months pregnant, followed her husband into
this situation and died of heartbreak and childbirth.
At Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Negro officers of
an infantry regiment of the 92nd Division who work
ed along with white officers throughout the training
hours during the day, were jim crowed in the regi-
mental mess hail. 1t is to the credit Of these men
that they refused to eat under the circumstances
They withdrew in a body and ate their meals else
where at great expense to themselves. incidentally,
the colored chaplain in this case was severely reprim-
anded by the division chaplain Ia colored officer re
ferred to contemptuously by the enlisted men as a
'long coat') for sympathizing with the colored Of
fcers. The officer who thus showed his manhood
by resenting such an insult was soon relieved of his
assignment and shipped off into the South Pacific.
At the same post scores of Negro officers as
signed to the 92nd Division were court martialled for
what in many instances were petty offences. There
never was a white officer SO disciplined. The Com
handing General of the Division organized a dis
culinary school for so-called inefficient officers" to
which only Negro officers were sent. The white Of
ficers in this Division equalled, if not outnumbered the
colored officers. | suffered the personal embarrass-
ment at this post of having been made subordinate
to a white officer with the rank OF first lieutenant
while | held the rank Of captain.