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This program is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It contains mature adult themes. Listener discretion is advised. Five soldiers breathe silently in the cramped interior of their tank. It's quiet, but for the rumble of the tank's engine and its caterpillar track on the rocky path outside, some stare unblinkingly into their periscopes.
Some listen for external sounds with meditative focus. They've been traveling at a steady pace for hours, deeper and deeper into enemy ground. A sliver of moonlight bathes the tank interior from an above-open hatch, where Staff Sergeant Irvin Lattimore stands. Despite the exposure of his head and torso to possible attack,
He needs the visibility as he maneuvers the tank through the treacherous Hart Mountains, along paths with sheer thousand-foot drops. His squadron is single-handedly spearheading the U.S. Army's front offensive across the formidable Siegfried Line and into the heart of Nazi Germany. Back home, however, these men would be declined entry to certain restaurants,
arrested for sitting in the wrong seat on a bus, or killed for glancing at a white woman. The soldiers of the 761st Tank Battalion are one of the fiercest to have ever entered the European theater of the Second World War. Yet this doesn't register with most back home, all because of the color of their skin. Emerging from the mountains, Lattimore's tank comes into view of a derelict German town from Intel.
He knows it's crawling with Nazi soldiers. So, in the pitch black of night, Lattimore gives the order to light it up. From 1944 to 1945, the 761st Tank Battalion valiantly fought its way through Nazi-occupied Europe. Better known as the Black Panthers, this battalion was a product of an America divided along racial lines.
As an all-Black tank battalion, they were desperate to prove their abilities through combat for the benefit of all like them across the United States. For the Black Panthers, it was a fight not only against a powerful enemy abroad, but a racist system at home.
The 761st Tank Battalion were the first all-Black tank unit to see combat during World War II. Compared to what African Americans were dealing at home, deployment to Germany seemed like an easier task. They were the long-distance runners in the Black struggle for equality, pure and simple. This isn't just a story of a war, it's the story of an ongoing war. It's the war for acceptance.
In this episode, expert historians help wade through America's difficult past to bring to life a little-known legend from the world's greatest war. A story of bravery and self-determination in the face of prejudice and persecution on both fronts.
You're listening to Forbidden History, the podcast series that explores the past's darkest corners, sheds light on the lives of intriguing individuals, and uncovers the truth buried deep in history's most controversial legacies. This is The Black Panthers of World War II. The story of The Black Panthers is an incredible tale of determination and resilience.
Not to be confused with the Black Panther Party of the 1960s. The Panthers were the 761st Tank Battalion of the U.S. Army and were one of the fiercest fighting forces within World War II. But once, they were just boys coming of age in a divided America.
Even as the U.S. joined the fight against Nazism in 1941, back home, they were still a segregated nation. This was an era of Jim Crow. To expand is cultural and ancestral historian, Selina Carty.
Racial laws were implemented across America and were nicknamed Jim Crow.
They placed severe restrictions on the lives of Black Americans. The Jim Crow laws allowed white Americans to separate themselves and their assets from African Americans. They then were then marginalized in regards to where they could sit on trains, where they could sit on buses, where they could buy their houses, where their children could go to school if they could go to school at all. With more examples of these heinous laws is historian Shalina Patel.
As a Black barber, you're not able to actually work on anyone who is of white origin. If you are an African-American person, you may not be tended to by a white nurse, for example. Even in death, Jim Crow has an effect there. You're not actually allowed to be buried in certain cemeteries because of the fact that you are African-American. Despite the oppression they faced from their own country, there were many Black Americans who still wanted to fight in the war. But even enlisting in the first place had its barriers.
In fact, they were almost not given the opportunity to train at all. The long-standing US policy of non-interventionism meant that at first, it viewed World War II as a purely European affair. But as Hitler's victories mounted up, it became more and more apparent that America would have to become involved.
The U.S. therefore began to expand its military. But as it prepared to introduce the country's first-ever peacetime draft, a debate erupted: Should Black Americans be permitted to serve? An African American unit, the 92nd Division, had fought for their country in the First World War, but the U.S. military had judged it to be a failure.
For a special insight is the chief historian of the U.S. National Medal of Honor Museum, Ed Lengel. The 92nd Division does not do well because of racist officers. But this is used by white officers as a justification for saying that they can't fight, that they're incompetent in combat, and that they'll only be a danger to their American comrades. This view gained more and more traction.
The Army War College in 1925 concluded that Black men could serve in the military except in combat. It perpetuates the notions that they are not physically and intellectually capable for this kind of warfare. And yet, history suggested the opposite was true.
African Americans had served in the United States military honorably for many, many decades. They served in the Civil War. They served in the Indian Wars. They served in the Spanish-American War, other 19th century wars. And in fact, many of them were not just recognized, but decorated.
Introducing specialist historian of the 761st Tank Battalion, Wayne Robinson. So after every struggle, Black soldiers are commended for their heroism and valor. But then when the next war breaks out, the question arises, are Blacks capable of mastering the modern implements of warfare? So it repeats itself, repeats itself, repeats itself.
Lt. Gen. Leslie McNair was one of the few senior officers in the U.S. Army who dissented from the prejudice and racism of his colleagues.
He had understood that the problems for Black soldiers was not their own ability or their own patriotism, because Black soldiers were very patriotic, but it was the racist system that prevented them from serving effectively. For a further understanding is Associate Professor of History at the University of New Mexico, Robert Jefferson. He fully believed that if African Americans were given a chance to
perform under fire to be placed in frontline duty, then they would live up to the expectations of the American military traditions and practices. After much debate, McNair's view prevailed, and Black battalions, including the 761st, were created.
But in July 1944, McNair lost his life in a friendly fire incident in France. He did not live to see the outcome of his vocal faith in Black servicemen.
Now able to serve their country, the young men that were soon to be the Black Panthers enlisted and were sent on their way to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. They traveled from all over America, and most were in their mid to early 20s, or even younger. Despite their bravery and patriotism, their ability to now join the army would turn out to be a small victory in the grand scheme of things.
The cadets were not immune to their country's deeply embedded racism, which they faced even on the journey to training. Speaking now is Staff Sergeant Floyd Dade of the 761st Tank Battalion. We had to pull the shades down so that they couldn't see if there was black troops on the train because what they would do, they would fire on the trains, you know, just take pop shots at it.
A couple of soldiers that got hit that way, you know, got killed. Also of the 761st Tank Battalion, Private E.G. McConnell. And as we got off of the train and lined up, we were told, "All you colored down this way and all you white fellows down this way." When they arrived at camp, their worst fears were confirmed.
They were placed in barracks that were so squalid and so devastating that they were never allowed to forget that they were being subjected to racial discrimination. As training began, however, there was a glimmer of hope. They realized they had a leader and mentor that saw through the racist status quo of the time.
Colonel Paul Bates. It was considered to be death of any white serviceman career to lead Black troops because Black troops were deemed to be inferior. Other white officers, when they're appointed to command Black troops, consider it as a form of punishment. Bates doesn't. Bates sees this as an opportunity, as an opportunity to do some good. It was even reported that he turned down a promotion to stay with the Panthers.
He didn't have time for lectures about civil rights or anything like that, but he insisted on treating his soldiers as soldiers, as human beings, and requiring the high standard of efficiency that any commander would want from any soldier. Colonel Bates was determined to give the Panthers their best chance to prove themselves. In doing so, he would push them to excellence.
Now, he's not here to coddle these men. He's not here to just be nice to them. He trains them very hard. They trained harder in their physical training, more so than any other unit in the American military during this period. They also had to know the duties of not only of the tank commanders as well as the gunners.
But they also had to know the reconnaissance. They also had to know the ins and outs of every position that was in the American military during that time. They feel that he's setting the bar high.
And that's exactly what they want. They want the bar to be set high. The Panthers rose to meet Bates' grueling training regime and became a formidable fighting unit. But more than that, their achievements and Bates' belief in them gave them a sense of self-worth.
Now stationed at Camp Hood, they were now a fully realized battalion. On their uniforms was sewn their emblem, a Black Panther, where the nickname derives, and their motto, "Come Out Fighting." The motto "Come Out Fighting" is very assertive. It is one that is born of grim determination, as well as the expectation that they could show exactly what African Americans could do if given the opportunity.
But it soon dawned on the troops that this might be it for them. Many began to theorize that they were never to be put into battle, and their fears were justified.
The Panthers had been training hard for two years, but the U.S. Army High Command had no intention of sending them into war. That occurred because of racism. They didn't quite know what to do with this Black Tank Battalion. There is a resistance to send African-American combat troops over to Europe. It means that they're in this perpetual cycle of training. They toyed with the idea of making them a demonstration battalion, a kind of novelty, like a circus act.
But just as morale amongst the troops was set to fall, events of the war forced those at the very top into a radical rethink. On June 6th, 1944, thousands of miles away in the north of France, a momentous day of military history changed both the course of the war and the lives of the Black Panthers: D-Day.
The D-Day landings saw 23,000 Allied troops parachute into northern France before 150,000 soldiers stormed the Normandy beaches. They land on these five beaches. By the end of the first day, the Allies now have a foothold in France. From here, the plan was to fight their way towards Nazi Germany itself. But the landings came with a heavy cost. The landings are successful, but casualties are heavy.
Nearly 10,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded on D-Day alone. The foothold on the continent was fragile. With the shortage of manpower, an advisory committee to the war reviewed the situation and deemed it imperative that Black soldiers be allowed into combat. This forced the hand of U.S. military commanders who so far had refused any Black regiments.
Commander General George Patton was in charge of the new offensive into Europe. With depleted numbers, he had to get fresh units to the front. George Patton asked his chief of staff about remaining armor in the United States. He said, "Where can we get combat-ready tank battalions?" So the reporting officer said to Patton, "There is a battalion that has a very high combat efficiency rating. It's the 761st Tank Battalion."
And Patton said, "Send them." And so in August 1944, the Black Panthers, made up of 42 officers and 601 enlisted men, boarded a ship in New York Harbor bound for England. The first all-Black tank battalion to be sent overseas.
I definitely think that the 765th was shocked that they were actually going to see combat. Many of them had never traveled before, so it was an opportunity for them to go and see the world and in turn serve their country. Private E.G. McConnell of the Black Panthers again. As the ship left New York Harbor and joined a convoy someplace out there, all we saw was ships as far as you could see, any direction, nothing but ships.
We were 21 days on Atlantic Ocean. In September, they arrived in England and were sent to the county of Dorset for final preparations. Compared to the United States, it was like another world.
They arrive in England and they're met really positively. And of course that makes sense because from a British perspective, we've got these foreign troops arriving. Everyone in Britain knows what's been happening with the war. It's been going on for far longer than anyone imagined. So these troops are welcomed as heroes. One of the things that they noticed to their pleasant surprise is that English countrymen who were there, they were more apt to accept them as equals than not. For most of the black soldiers, it was their first taste of real freedom.
because England did not enforce racial segregation. But it wasn't a total escape from prejudice they had experienced back home. Even in England, the sight of Black servicemen socializing with white English people as equals could provoke tensions with white GIs. A year before the Panthers crossed the Atlantic, an African-American quartermaster truck regiment had made the same journey as support for the U.S. 8th Air Force.
Stationed in the town of Bamber Bridge in Lancashire, like the Black Panthers, they too were welcomed by the locals. It wasn't uncommon to see an English girl and a Black soldier having a coke or walking along a lane somewhere. It wasn't unusual to see that type of thing. That inflamed the Southern racists. They made their feelings known at a local pub called Ye Olde Hob Inn.
They're relaxing with the locals like they usually do, having a good time. But on this occasion, some white MPs, military policemen, happen upon the gathering, walk in, they see one of the black soldiers is not dressed properly. I think he's wearing a field jacket when he's not supposed to be wearing a field jacket.
and they call him out. They try to arrest him. The black soldiers refused. They had seen soldiers in pubs and there had been no, you know, two-tier system of dress uniform versus combat fatigue. So they refused to comply with the order. A fist fight broke out, which quickly escalated into a race riot.
White American military police fired upon the black soldiers, killing one of them. And eventually, unfortunately, Private William Crossland is unfortunately killed. There are seven people that are injured as well. The black soldiers gathered up arms and defended themselves, and bullets were exchanged until the early morning. It became known as the Battle of Bamber Bridge, and it was no isolated incident.
In fact, there were many similar episodes. There are 44 incidents reported between African American troops and white American troops between November 1943 and February 1944. And it's really, really important to note that these issues are happening within the U.S. Army. The Panthers were fortunate not to have experienced this kind of racism in Britain. But the freedom was short-lived. After just a few weeks, it was time to go to war in France.
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On a boat across the English Channel, the Black Panthers soon approached Normandy Beach. I was up on deck watching. I was so amazed to see the amount of destroyed American equipment, ships, tanks, trucks and all that got still littering the beach. And as we rolled up on shore,
I've never seen such a devastated place in my life. From the battle-scarred beaches of Normandy, the Black Panthers were ordered to the small town of Nancy, where they were met by General George Patton himself. He allowed them to understand that they were the first Black Tank Battalion to join World War II. He said, "I don't give a damn what color you are." He said, "You wonder why you're here? 'Cause I sent for you."
He says, "And your people are watching you. And bye, darling. Don't you let them down. And damn you, don't you let me down." Patton's words may have been inspiring to the Black Panthers, but they did not reflect his true beliefs. General George Patton is hypocritical about Blacks serving in combat. He'll tell them to their face that they can fight. And in fact, Patton wrote to his wife
and spoke to other senior officers saying that he doubted that African Americans were racially capable of serving effectively. But the Panthers had greater things on their minds than the opinion of one general. They were on their way to their first battle, and they wanted to prove themselves to their fellow troops and hopefully change the minds of those back home.
The Black Panthers were now part of the Allied drive to break through the Siegfried Line, the Nazis' giant defensive line built on Germany's west border. But they would first need to fight their way through occupied France.
As the 761st rolled into the town of Vixursee and their first contact with German forces, they had everything to prove. They're green. They don't know what combat is like. They've never heard gunfire directed at them in anger.
As the line of dozens of tanks from the Black Panthers' battalion and hundreds of white infantry soldiers from other divisions grew closer to Vixen-C, they were forced to an abrupt stop. A fallen tree lay across the road, blocking the path of the tanks. Now sitting ducks, hidden German forces opened fire. The situation was very quickly descending into a bloodbath.
The commander, by the name of Captain David Williams, tells the staff sergeant, who is Reuben Rivers, "Look, I want you to take precaution, but if you can remove that, well, Rivers is going to do that anyway." Rivers left the safety of his tank and was entirely exposed to the hail of machine gun fire. Undeterred, he managed to tie a cord around the trunk of the tree and fasten it to his vehicle.
Moving the tree out of the way, the entourage was now safe from the ambush and on the move again toward the German-occupied town. River's courage prevented a serious delay in the offensive and countless lives. After furious fighting, Vixor C was captured for the Allies.
But there was no time to rest or celebrate their first combat victory. Their next objective was the town of Morville-les-Viques, and German forces were waiting for them. Morville-les-Viques was a small town which was occupied by the Germans.
And this would be a great stronghold for the U.S. troops to be able to take over, to be able to continue their quest into Europe, to be able to get to the German borders. And they're going to have to prove themselves as they encounter severe German resistance from anti-tank guns as well as experienced infantry who are going to engage them in this town at close quarters. The waiting German forces opened fire. The lead tank, commanded by Sergeant Roy King, was disabled
by a Panzerfaust. You know, the Panzerfaust, which was a portable, shape-charged rocket launcher, they were very, very effective. They could go right through the hull of a Sherman tank. King, like his comrades, when they're put in a situation like this, climbs out of the tank and instead of running away, engages the enemy. King was killed in the gunfight, but his two crew members battled on from underneath the tank.
Behind them, Sergeant Warren Cressy's tank was also hit and immobilized. But Cressy managed to clamber on top of his disabled tank and, despite being stationary and entirely exposed, held back the German troops with machine gun fire. As the battle raged, the Panthers were beginning to make an impression on the white soldiers fighting around them.
And this was something that was noted by their white counterparts, by French soldiers, by white American soldiers, of the bravery and of the tenacity of this 761st Battalion. After Morville-les-Viques, Captain John D. Long said that there was no white outfit that wasn't damn glad to have us. After bitter fighting, Morville-les-Viques was captured.
But bad news soon filtered its way through the Black Panther ranks. Their commander, Colonel Paul Bates, had been wounded in the fight and would be evacuated. Emotionally and physically exhausted from their first grueling battles, and now without their Colonel and beloved mentor, the Panthers had to dig deep and grow a new determination to push on. They were sent to attack German positions around Gebling in northeastern France.
Göbling was a major communications hub for the Nazis, and a formidable defensive there had already defeated a large US task force. Positioned in the lead tank was Sergeant Reuben Rivers.
Staff Sergeant Reuben Rivers is a special guy. He's unique even in a unit of outstanding warriors. Rivers is the type of man who acts first without asking for permission and will apologize afterward. His platoon located two German Panther tanks and there followed an exchange of gunfire between the tanks. His tank had a land mine.
and it split his thigh from kneecap all the way up to his hip.
and they came up and they said, "If you have a billion dollar wound, you go back home." Despite being gravely wounded, Rivers insisted on continuing the fight. But just a few days later, he would pay the ultimate price. And the last anybody hears from Rivers, he tells his driver, "Driver, pull back. Driver, pull back. Oh my God." Rivers was killed by a direct hit from a German shell. So Captain William
He felt guilty. So he came to Colonel Hunt and he said, "I want the rivers. I want to put them in for a medal of honor." He said, "What do you mean, a medal of honor?" He said, "He got the Silver Star. We're not supposed to give them no more than a Bronze Star anyway." So he got more than he deserved. Gibling was taken. Over the next few weeks, the battalion had its first and only period of rest and recuperation near the border of Germany.
So we have to remember that the 761st had been traveling nonstop, so from America to England, England to France. And whereas they first came into enemy contact from the 8th of November, we're now just over a month in and they're fighting continuously. The 761st has taken such serious casualties. There's something like 34 tanks that they've had knocked out in the course of their initial engagements. They need time to rest. They need time to refit.
But as they recuperated, the German propaganda machine was gearing up for action. Leading the psychological war would be Mildred Gillers, better known as Axis Sally.
She is somebody who ends up in Germany in the 1930s and works for the radio. Now, the Ministry of Propaganda, they believe that an American voice is needed to spread disinformation. And so they employ Axis Sally to actually lead on these propaganda broadcasts. Germany was attempting to demoralize the African-American troops by jamming their radio signals with their own broadcasts.
She'll go onto the radio and, for example, she'll say things like, this is a white man's war. Why are you here? This is not for you. That they shouldn't be fighting for a country that treats them unjustly. While you...
are far away. Advocates of Jim Crow are perpetrating crimes against your people. And unfortunately, the Nazis had landed on a distressing truth. You know, it's ironic that the Germans attempted to stir up something that was already happening. That division was already there. They didn't have to propagandize it. It was already happening. But what the Nazis didn't realize was that for the Black Panthers,
These were part of their motivations to fight. All they can do is hope that at some point somebody's going to recognize their ability, their determination, their patriotism, their desire to fight and to serve. This isn't just a story of a war, it's the story of an ongoing war. It's the war for acceptance.
Now fully-fledged fighters, the Black Panthers were about to face their toughest test yet: the Battle of the Bulge. The Battle of the Bulge, it was one of the most bloodiest battles that the US troops had seen during World War II. This is really Hitler's last stand. So what he's trying to do is, in the wake of the Normandy landings, etc., he's really trying to push the Allies out of mainland Europe.
To achieve this, the Nazis aimed to capture the Allied supply port of Antwerp in Belgium. The German forces smashed their way through the Ardennes forest. They destroy the American 106th Infantry Division. They badly maul the 28th Infantry Division, several other units. In the first days of the fighting, it looks like they're going to succeed. But one key strategic location continued to hold out: the town of Bastogne.
Think of the spokes of a wheel. Here's Bastogne at the hub, and Bastogne has all of these crisscrossing road nets, excellent for the passage of armor. And that's what the Germans needed if they were going to cross the Meuse River and capture the port of Antwerp, which was their objective.
Doing their utmost to keep this crucial supply line out of Nazi hands, the US forces at Bastogne refused to surrender. German forces surrounded the town, beginning a siege.
the Panthers were ordered to move north and close a nearby vital German supply line by taking the occupied town of Thillay. This town that they are going to advance against, the Germans are well-placed. The 761st basically overruns them dramatically in this point, destroying
many pillboxes, also capturing many of the enemy forces and killing many of the enemy at the same time. It was one of the most dramatic battles that they fought during that period. The German forces put up their toughest fight, but eventually the way was cleared for the 87th Infantry Division to follow in their wake. A brutal house-to-house battle ensued,
But together, both units took the town of Tillet, and the German forces were sent into retreat. The Panthers would go on to fight alongside the distinguished 17th Airborne Division to choke further supply lines to Bastogne. The camaraderie between the two divisions was outstanding and defied American racial norms.
The commander of the White Paratrooper Unit remarked that he would prefer to have five tanks from the 761st to 50 from any other armored unit. With the German forces heavily weakened and the weather clearing, the Allies were able to finish off the enemy forces with air attacks. That is when the air campaign against the Germans resumed. That was really the end of the Battle of the Bulge.
The Battle of the Bulge was over. The Panthers had just fought their fiercest fight, but there was no rest or recuperation.
It was March 1945, and they were now being ordered to truly go into the unknown, to pierce the formidable Siegfried Line, Hitler's last line of defense. And so the men of the 761st, though they're tired, though they're exhausted, though they've been through so much, and many of them now are feeling the effects of post-traumatic stress.
through the terrible things they've been through. Now they know that it's a fight to the finish. And just as they needed it, Paul Bates, their beloved battalion commander, was fit enough to rejoin them as they fought their way towards the heart of the Third Reich. They were also joined by other infantry divisions, but the panther's role amongst the troops was in no way minor.
The 761st Battalion was to spearhead the offensive and crack the Siegfried Line itself. The enemy they encountered leading up to the line was stronger, more unified, and had a steely resolve. I think Colonel Bates said we used around 26,000 pounds of tons, rather, of ammunition.
That was one of the biggest spells that we had. The battalion was fighting so hard and covering territory so quick that their supply trains trailed two days behind them. They had to rely on eating fish they caught from rivers to get by. True to their reputation, it wasn't long before the Panthers broke through the Siegfried Line. However, victory was short-lived.
As they made their way through Germany and into Austria, they saw the realities of Nazi rule. The voice of Staff Sergeant Floyd Dade again. And we were on our way to Steyr, Austria. We ran up on this camp at the beginning by seeing these buildings and thought it was housing German soldiers, but they're barracks. But as we buttoned down and got battle ready, as close as we got, we saw...
People's heads clean in striped suits and some hanging out of the windows, so we didn't know what the hell it was. So we opened the hatches to get a closer look. They had discovered Gunskirchenlager, a subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Then you saw people look like ghost skeletons with skin wrapped around it, just walking and wandering around. A couple of them were on the outside and then all around the barracks.
There were bodies of like skins and bones. That's all it was. They saw the ravages of the Holocaust firsthand and what the concentration camps meant. Many of them were deeply saddened by what they were witnessing.
And I also think that they realized that racial hatred, ethnic animosity was not one that was just germane to American society or to the United States, but it was one that marked
humankind altogether. So coming and seeing these people in these internment camps, these concentration camps, caused their hearts to bleed because they were in such despair that other human beings could be treated, I guess, in worse capacities than they had seen themselves, that it led for them to understand that they were doing more of a significant role in this war than they could have ever conceptualized. Nazi Germany surrendered on the 7th of May, 1945.
For the Black Panthers, it had been the culmination of six months of combat, during which they proved themselves a formidable battalion. But more than that, the 761st came out fighting against the racism they had encountered from the moment they signed up. From the people who believed that their skin color made them incapable of serving, to the indignity of their never-ending training.
And by fighting alongside white soldiers, they also heavily undermined Jim Crow segregation itself. It truly was a shining moment in American arms because regardless of their race, there were these American soldiers who were determined to get the war over with. They wanted to go home. And it becomes kind of a
a voluntary, spontaneous integration that happens at the front. For members of the 761st Tank Battalion and their white counterparts who were fighting in Europe at the time, death was the greatest leveler.
and race as well as other strictures that they had encountered in civilian life had fallen by the wayside at that moment. Many of these white infantrymen would come home and they would never forget the Black Panthers. They would write about it, they would remember it in decades after the war and say those were real men. I didn't know that. I didn't realize that before. I had been taught not to trust them. I'd been taught that they were cowards.
but I recognized these were real men and in many occasions they saved their lives. Over the next year, the Black Panthers were gradually sent back home to America.
Once they learned that the war was over, many of the men were relieved to hear that it had ended. But at the same time, they were wondering as to what their prospects would be in American society once they returned home. The war had changed not only them, but the world. And they sincerely hoped that it had also changed American society. But upon their return, they discovered it hadn't.
They were still ill-treated. They were still told that they must sit at the back of the bus, even though they were wearing their medals in their uniforms. A lot of African-American troops were also lynched on return back to America, as they had done previously in World War I. And in many cases, they found themselves as well being excluded or denied basically hospitalization after the war was over for the wounds that they occurred during the war. So they came back
They were hopeful that the country would change, but they were embittered by their immediate experiences once they got home. Some stories have happy endings and some stories have something else. And I think that the story of the black servicemen, especially the combat servicemen, coming home is one of those stories.
Segregation in the U.S. Army ended in 1948, and segregation in the United States as a whole ended 20 years after that in 1968. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter awarded the Black Panthers a Presidential Unit Citation for their bravery and gallantry in battle, after the six presidents before him refused to do so.
And in 1997, a serious review was conducted into the overlooked Black servicemen of World War II. And Staff Sergeant Reuben Rivers posthumously received a Medal of Honor, among seven others from the Black Panthers, the highest military decoration in the U.S. Army. We've heard the incredible story of the Black Panthers.
But what about their most famous member, legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson? For a deep dive into his fascinating military legacy, listen to our extra episode, Forbidden Fruit, available soon on all your favorite podcast platforms.
This is an audio production by Like a Shot Entertainment. Presented by Bridget Lappin. Executive Producers Danny O'Brien and Henry Scott. Story Producer Maddie Bowers. Assistant Producer Alice Tudor. Thank you for listening.
