St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-01-12

last minute surprise cOunter-a
The daily papers carry &C
manned and killed white CPS but
only occasionally mention those of
Negroes. This conclusion was ar
rived at after a study over a period
of the casualties released by the
War Department for publication in
New York papers. Few names of
Negroes were seen in this test
study for comparison, thus the as
sumption that either the War De-
partment is withholding complete
and up to date lists of the Negro
war wounded and dead, or that our
boys are not engaged in the thick
of the fight as many of us have
been led to believe.
Even Generals Get Killed
Unlike World War I, this con-
f1ict is one in which even generals
get shot and killed in close quarters
since it is war of movement and
not a war of tactical operations
because there has been much stress
placed on the basic training of the
raw recruit in teaching him the
rudiments of elementary and adj
vanced warfare so as to prepare
him to be soldier in every sense
of the word. Many generals use
privates' uniforms to avoid atten-
ton. That is why in this war there
are few cases on record in which
a CT knows nothing of fighting ex-
cept with shoe-shine rag and polish
on the generals boots from 500
miles to the rear in some quiet
rendezvous where only the dull and
distant boom of cannon would in
dictate that war is going on. The
truth of the matter, it would ap-
pear, is that Negro soldiers are
catching as much hell as any of the
others.
While we are not inclined to give
too much credence to wide-eyed re-
ports that Negroes are being car
ried around in baskets, others with
arms and legs shot off, some with
brass plates in the tops of their
heads, etc., we do know that Ne
groes are contributing their share
of blood and lives in this most cost
ly of all wars.
Great Increase in Casualties
AS the conflict draws near it's
final stages, there is bound to be a
great increase in the number of
men injured and killed as bullets
are no respecters of persons or
color.
There must be a sense of futility
in the hearts of many of our SOL
diers, sailors, and others in the
Armed Forces as the war pro-
crosses and the brave words, which
inspired them with enthusiasm for
the fight, fade into hard, cold, and
grim probabilities of take and hold
instead of give and let be.
The Atlantic Charter, we have
been told, has now turned out to be
only few empty phrases discussed
in the abstract by Roosevelt and
Churchill to while away the time
because Churchill announced later
his attitude toward the whole war
and the principles for which it is
being fought, saying that he did
not propose to preside at the
liquidation of the British Empire.
The Atlantic Charter was the
beacon of sincerity of this whole
war that attracted the downtrodden
millions of the world toward their
hope of a new day and new deal
on a worldwide scale. For such
principles, Wendell Willkie fought
and died. Vice-president Wallace
declared at the National Demo-
cratic Convention in Chicago that
the future belongs to those who go
unswervingly down the line for the
rights of people regardless of race,
color, or creed.
No Inspiration Seen Here
The pronouncement that the At
lantic Charter is not even a scrap
of paper; that it's principles are
only so much hot air, certainly do
not seem, to me, to be a cause
d'affaire of inspiration for Negroes
in particular. With the mounting
list of Negro casualties coming in
to dismay and dishearten and sad
den mothers, wives, sweethearts,
fathers, brothers, sisters, and sons,
there should somewhere be prom
Use of something concrete when the
survivors of this war finally are
sent home. These things should be
the very essence of the Roosevelt
Churchill-authored Atlantic Char