The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1951-07-13

singer, was wrong when he said
that Negroes would not fight for
the u. S. They are fighting as they
have seldom fought before. in all
branches of the service. side by
side with white troops. And white
troops are accepting Negroes as
comrades in arms.
Take the story of Ensign Jesse
l.. Brown Brown was pilot in
fighter squadron on the carrier
USS Leyte. He bunked with white
pilot. ate In the officers mess, at
tended briefings with his white
companions He went ont on a mis-
sion one day. and did not come
back. Ensign Brown was the first
Negro to die in combat in the uni
form of an officer of the u. S.
Navy. Why? Because until recently
only few Negroes ever made off
Ger rank In the Navy. When they
did. they didn't get into combat
units. Brown was one of the first
of his race to win commission in
Navy fighter squadron. The crew
of the Leytye showed what they
thought of Ensign Brown. They
took up collection to start fund
for the education of his baby
daughter.
Since the start of the fighting in
Korea, three Negroes have been
awarded the Distinguished Service
Cross. II the Silver Star for gal
lantry, and II the Bronze Medal
for bravery and heroism. One Ne
gro infantry platoon commander,
Lieut.. Harry e. Sutton, fought off
the most threatening approach to
break-through in the Hungnam
beachhead. He has been recon-
mended for tn Congressional
Medal of Honor the highest mill
tary award
Some of the Negro troops in
Korea are fighting in all-Negro
units. Others are in mixed units.
One regiment consisted of two
white battalions and one Negro bat
talon when it arrived in Korea.
Now 30 per cent of the formerly
all-white battalions are Negroes
and 30 per cent of the formerly all
Negro battalions are whites. The
regimental surgeon is a Negro One
company lost its white captain in
battle. and for the next "a hours
took its orders from its Negro ex-
ecutive officer, who assumed COM
mand of the company.
Never before has the color line |
been relaxed among American COM
bat troops as much as It has been
in Korea and in building up our
armed forces. This measures the
progress made in carrying out the
policy proclaimed by President
Truman in 1913, Of according
equality of treatment and oppor-
tunity for all persons in the armed
services without regard to race.
color, religion or national origin"
The policy of equality has not won
general acceptance in all the serv-
ices. Nevertheless, civilian and |
service officials in charge of put
ting the policy into effect think
that segregation is on the way out. |
main objective of the commu-
nists in this country is to keep the
Negro reminded of discrimination
especially in the armed forces. No |
Moscow-directed effort ever failed |
so utterly. Negroes not only have
not sought to evade military serv-
ice, they have volunteered for the
Army in numbers far higher than
their ratio to the total population.
Generally speaking, until recent
times. neither Army nor Navy re-
garded Negroes as suitable for
combat. Two views traditionally IN
fluenced the Army's use of Negro
troops: 1. Negroes must be used in
separate units; 2. they were most
effective in such jobs as truck
driver and heavy construction
worker. AS a result, most Negro