Braided in Fire

PROMINENT VETERANS OF THE 366th INFANTRY REGIMENT

Four 366TH PROTAGONISTS IN BRAIDED IN FIRE:

Secondary 366TH PROTAGONISTS IN BRAIDED IN FIRE:

Lt. Edward Brooke was elected for twelve years US Senator from Massachusetts, a state with a three percent black population. He was the first African-American elected to such a high office since the reconstruction period. In 2004 Senator Brooke was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Lt. Arthur Fearing retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1966 and entered the civil service.

Lt. Carl Marshall, who was wounded in the Sommocolonia battle, earned his PhD in English after the war and became a professor of English at Ohio State University, Dean Emeritus.

Col. Howard Donovan Queen became the commander of the 366th Infantry Regiment in January 1943 making it all-black—highly unusual for the period. Queen, who had been one of the original Buffalo Soldiers, had impeccable credentials. He was a strong leader and his regiment received high ratings. But when the 366th was finally sent to the Italian front in late November 1944, it was broken up into units and attached to different outfits of the 92nd Division. Outranked by the 92nd’s white General Almond (who made it clear from the start that he did not want the 366th), Col. Queen became superfluous. Early in December 1944 Col. Queen requested to be relieved of his command and was sent home. See p. 187 about this discharge.

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I interviewed at length all of the Primary and Secondary Protagonists represented in Braided except for Lt. John Fox, Col. Howard Donovan Queen and Lt. Edward Brooke. The first two were dead at the time of my investigation. Col Queen left ample testimony in an interview (in The Invisible Soldier: The Experience of the Black Soldier, World War II compiled and edited by Mary Penick Motley. Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press, 1975). Senator Brooke wrote of his Italian war experience in his book, Bridging the Divide: My Life (Rutgers Univ. Press, 2007).

Among the 366th veterans involved in the Civil Rights movement:

Lt. Samuel Wilbert Tucker: became a civil rights lawyer with the NAACP carrying a heavy caseload (in 1967 about 150 civil rights cases before state and federal courts.)

“In 1968 the Supreme Court decided in his case [Green vs. New Kent County School Board] that school boards could not delay and use ‘freedom of choice’ plans to desegregate school. They needed to show immediate progress. This was the second most important civil rights case after Brown in 1954.” The quote is from Nancy Silcox, librarian at the elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia named for Tucker. Silcox has written a children’s book: Samuel Wilbert Tucker: The Story of a Civil Rights Trailblazer and the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In. Published by www.history4all.com 2013. For Tucker’s extraordinary accomplishments see also Notes Chapter 44 #4. (Tucker died in 1990 before I began my American interviews.)

Lt. Edward Peeks: After receiving an M.A. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Peeks wrote for The Atlanta Daily World, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. African-American newspapers and finally The Charleston (WV) Gazette, where he was business/labor editor. He was the author of The Long Struggle for Black Power, published by Scribner and Sons in 1970. (I did interview Peeks.)

Activities of other 366th veterans:

 Following are a few others who fought with the 366th, so grievously maligned, who were able to pull themselves together after the war and lead inspirational lives. I don’t have information regarding many more worthy of being included (especially privates, about whom little is known).

Tech. Sgt. William Artis: became a ceramicist, sculptor and art professor at Mankato State College, MN and at Nebraska State Teacher's College. His work has been exhibited widely, including at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and at the Whitney Museum: American Ceramic Society, New York. Over a twenty-year period, he received 9 Purchase Awards from Atlanta University.

Sgt. Ralph Boyd was awarded Schenectady, New York’s highest honor of “Patroon” in 2008. The local paper reported:

Schenectady’s chapter of the NAACP, Head Start, and even the Baptist Retirement Center in Scotia all have their roots in a cold mountaintop in Italy during World War II. There, Ralph Boyd Sr. crawled out of a foxhole, stunned by the impact of a dozen bombs, and found everyone else in his patrol dead. “I woke up and I was surrounded by dead bodies,” he recalled the night before Veteran’s Day. “I looked out over the mountains and I said, ‘God, I don’t know where I am, but if you’ll spare me and get me home, I will serve humanity.’ ”
By Kathleen Moore, reporter for The Daily Gazette

Lt. Col. Hyman Chase: received a PhD in Zoology from Stanford University in 1934. He went on to a long career of teaching at Howard University. From 1934 to 1941 he taught Zoology, then from 1956 to 1962 he was not only a professor of Military Science and Tactics, but the Head of the Department.

Capt. Frederick E Davison: Like James Hamlet, Davison later became a Major General. It is extraordinary that the only two African Americans from the World War II era to achieve such high rank both came out of the 366th Infantry Regiment.

Lt. Charles Flagg and 2nd Lt. Louis Flagg, III: The Flagg cousins were either already lawyers when they entered the military or else they became attorneys after the war. Samuel Tucker’s law profession has already been mentioned. Below there are three 366th lawyers who became judges. This makes six 366th officers who became lawyers. There were others not named in this list. 

Col. West A. Hamilton: In WWI he commanded the 372nd Infantry and was awarded the Croix-de-Guerre “for his leadership and courage in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.”  In WWII, he commanded 366th troops. Hamilton was honored at the White House in 1983 receiving an honorary promotion to Brigadier General by the District of Columbia National Guard.

Capt. Hondon Hargrove was with the 366th at Ft. Devens for over a year when, in June, 1942, he was sent to another outfit. He was eventually assigned to the 597th Field Artillery with the 92nd Division. In 1985 his military history Buffalo Soldiers in Italy: Black Americans in World War II was published by McFarland & Company (Jefferson, NC). This well researched book became an essential primer for anyone studying this history. Hargrove also worked tirelessly to see that John Fox received the recognition he deserved.

Lt. John T. Letts: In 1967, Letts was elected Circuit Judge, Kent County MI (Gerald Ford’s home county).

Lt. John Thomas Martin, Jr.: served in Korea as well as Italy, receiving Bronze Stars in both conflicts. He achieved the rank of Colonel and had peacetime tours in Germany and Japan and at the Pentagon. He became the first black Director of Selective Service for Washington, D.C.

Tech. 4 Wade H. McCree, Jr.: For eight months, McCree trained with the 366th at Ft Devens, MA. After going to OCS school to become an officer, he was assigned to the 365th which was sent to Italy with the 92nd Division. A graduate of Harvard Law School, McCree became a judge and a law professor. He was the first African American appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the second African-American Solicitor General in US history.

Maj. Lorenzo Nelson: Already an MD when he entered the service, Nelson was Regimental Surgeon for the 366th. After the war, he was the first black to become president (in 1952) of a constituent society of the AMA (American Medical Association) for Mecosta-Osceola Lake Tri-County in Michigan. In his large practice, he treated patients throughout the tri-county. An elementary school in Baldwin, MI is named for him.

Lt. William Phelps: Retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1966 and then was the Director of Financial Aid at Morgan State University in Maryland for fourteen years, then two years in the same position at Johns Hopkins University. 

Capt. Charles Pratt: retired as Lieutenant Colonel, Judge Advocates Army Reserve. Pratt received a law degree from Howard University in 1935 and was in private practice both before and following WWII. In 1968 he was elected as District Judge, Kalamazoo County, MI (with a 2% African-American electorate).

2nd Lt. Albert Price: was wounded in Italy and received a Purple Heart. A graduate of Howard University, he earned a master of business administration and a master in public administration at New York University. In 1968, he became vice president at Ronson, making him one of the first black executives at a publicly held Fortune 500 company.

1st Sgt. Harold Russell: Enlisted as a seventeen-year-old private. Later he worked thirty-two years as a postal administrator and Director of Disaster Services for Nassau Co. N.Y. Red Cross. In 2008 he published a short book: Company I 366th Infantry (Pittsburgh: Rose Dog Books).

Staff Sgt. Elliotte J Williams was with the 366th medical detachment at Ft Devens for a year when he was sent in March 1942 to OSC Medical Field Service School Carlisle Barracks. He was one of two African Americans to graduate from the program that year. In 1959, Major Williams became a staff officer for a new position: “special assistant to the surgeon general for combat developments.”

Lt. Robert J Williams: became an architect in Washington, D.C. Among other projects, he helped the firm he was with, Allard and Joutz Architects, design buildings for Trinity College (now called Trinity Washington University).

Solace Wales