John Fox Was Not a Buffalo Soldier
Lt. John R. Fox and his fellow members of the 366th Infantry Regiment did not become Buffalo Soldiers when their regiment was “attached”for four months to the 92nd Infantry ‘Buffalo Division’ at the end of November 1944. The 366th men never wore the Buffalo badge. Courtesy of Sandra Fox. All rights reserved.
Lt. John Fox and his fellow members of the 366th Infantry Regiment did not become Buffalo Soldiers when their regiment was “attached” (see US Department of Defense definition) for four months to the 92nd Infantry ‘Buffalo Division’ at the end of November 1944. The 366th men never wore the Buffalo badge. They were glad of this because they took great pride in their special regiment which had all black soldiers including its highest ranking officers and its commander, Col. Donovan Queen. This superbly trained unit had great esprit de corps.
Maj. Gen. Edward Almond, commander of the 92nd Division, was by all accounts a racist (see links below) and he did not appreciate the high ranking black 366th officers. Normally when a regiment is attached to a division it keeps its own officers and own organization. But, as soon as the 366th regiment was attached to his division, General Almond split up its troops, assigning the 366th men in small units to already existing 92nd groups which his own white officers commanded. It was a terrible blow to the 366th, but did not squash the pride the men took in their remarkable regiment. Yes, for the moment they couldn’t operate as a separate regiment, but they didn’t know how long their unfortunate “attached” status would last. They looked forward to the day when they could again be an independent regiment with their own officers commanding, as indeed a regiment is intended to operate.
Braided in Fire mentions some members of the 92nd Division who were Buffalo Soldiers, but it focuses on men of the 366th Infantry Regiment who were in Sommocolonia at the time of the village battle on December 26, 1944.
Solace Wales
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Interviews | List of Americans and Italians interviewed while researching Braided in Fire.
Racist Second 92nd Performance Report | As mentioned in Long Note #174, a second 92nd Division performance report (put together on June 24–25, 1945) is discussed along with its racist implications, via excerpts from Daniel Gibran’s book The 92nd Infantry Division and the Italian Campaign in World War II. The report is examined, along with other aspects of the failures of the 92nd Infantry Division. See Wales’ article on this site.