Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1946-03-01

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General Smith was Chief Of staff
in SHEAF (Supreme Headquarter-
ters. Allied Expeditionary Forces)
and Chief Of Staff in the European
theater Of operations. He served
with General Dwight d. Essen
hover, now Army Chief of Staff in
North Africa and the European
theateT.
General John c. II. Lee, com
handing general of the communica-
tons zone in the European theater,
was credited with conceiving the
plan TO integrate colored soldiers
in white combat units in that the
alter when requirements were run
ming low in November, l944. His
original plan, it was said, called
for Indignation on an individual
basis. The first step General Lee
took was to query field command
ers on the use Of colored combat
soldiers. The late picturesque Gen
eral George S. Patton was reported
to have told him in rather salty
language:
You'd better hurry up. I've
been thinking about it and II you
don't do II, l shall"
Patton had had colored troops
attached to the Third Army. In
the battle Of the Bulge, the 76lst
Tank Battalion had furnished tank
support for his infantry divisions.
He knew the capabilities Of colored
soldiers when properly trained and
properly led.
After getting approval of the
field commanders, General Lee for
wRrded his proposal to General
Eisenhower's headquarters. 1t was
there that the hocus-pocus began.
General Smith disapproved the idea.
In the buck passing the plan was
sent TO General George c. Mar
shall, the Army Chief Of Staff. In
Washington 1t was revised and in
stead Of colored soldiers being in
tegrated into white combat units
on an individual basis, a subter-
fuge was resorted to (thanks to
General SMITH.
The 1900 colored soldiers, who
volunteered from service units for
duty with combat troops, were at
tached as rife platoons to white
infantry companies. But in com
bat the colored and white soldiers
fought shoulder To shoulder.
General Smith is not a West
Pointer. He attended the Officers
Training Camp at Fort Benjamin
Harrison. Indiana, in 1917. He re-
manned in the Army after World
War ! and in October, 1899, he
was appointed to the War Depart
ment General Staff, becoming Sec
rotary on September /, I94l.
Another officer who reputedly
opposed General Lees original
plan Of Indignation Of colored SOL
diers into white combat units was
Major General Paul X. Hawley,
acting surgeon general Of the Vet.
erans' Administration.
And incidentally. the ban against
employment Of coIored civilians in
Japan and Korea, which has been
lifted now. was fast becoming an
other Croatan case THAT was the
incident in which the Navy refused
10 allow some cOlored soldiers TO
sail from lie Havre aboard an air
craft carrier because facilities did
not permit race segregation.)
The War Department said Gen
eral Douglas Macarthur was re.
spOnsible for the ban on colored ap-
plicants for civilian jobs. General
Macarthur came back charging the
War Department with responsible.
ity.
It's elementary, my dear Wat
son, that an overseas commander
Is supreme in his theater. The
War Department sends nobody into
any theater II the commanding gen
eral tells II he doesn't want him TO
come into his command
Maybe that Presidential bee is
buzzing in Macarthur cap, and
II il is, it's a safe bet he gave hell
10 the officer who actually was re-
sponsible for the ban.
In Marching Blacks" the tome
by Representative Adam Clayton
Powell. Jr., Democrat, Of New
York, IL the slave caste system
under which the house slaves spied
upon and betrayed the field slaves.
He believes that today the field
eolored folks are In the asesndancy
and mean 10 stay there. while the
house eolored folks, except for .
few "Unele Toms" are trying 70
inRTatiAte themselves with the
masses Of eolored people.
White folks have gone 70 the bat
10 get All-eolored veterans hospi-
tails located at Nashville (TenDes-
ses). the eolored cultural center Of
the South; Mound Bayou (Nissis-
sippi) and Boley (0klAhOma). the
latter two places being eolored
towns.