African- American Soldiers

Good day everyone!! Welcome to this JBerrios Career post. As many of you know, I’m from Puerto Rico and a lot of time we had been part of the segregation that existed in the U.S. Army for many reasons. In this blog I talked about others groups that were part of this action of divide people for skin color, gender and culture. Last week I shared with you the information of the females inside the U.S. Army and the achievements that they have today. Also we talked about The Borinqueneers that was the great battalion of puertorrican soldiers in some wars and are the last segregate unit in the U.S. Army. Today I want to talk about the other team most commonly segregate in the Army, the African- American soldiers.

Everybody in this country knows that the African- American have suffered too much in the U.S. history without exception in the Army.  Black soldiers didn't have the same rights of the white soldiers. The white people created many rules very stupid and simple like: black people eat in the back of the dining room, or they should sit in the back of the bus, really?  Thanks God and the act of African-Americans soldiers this history change. We have documents that show us the high commitment, valor and honor of these troops on the field. I would talk about every one of these heroes, but is impossible because the African-American troops are very good soldier and have too many achievements, so I select one of the most recognized unit. The 99^th Fighter Squadron or their common name the Tuskegee Pilots are a good example of the commitment and excellent work that black soldiers did and do it in the U.S. Army.  In the beginning the Army didn't have black pilots in their program. In 1941 the U.S. Congress forces the Army to create a combat unit of pilots that everybody was blacks.  In March, 1941 over 250 enlisted men were trained in aircraft ground support trades and this group was the core of the other black squadrons formed at Tuskegee and Maxwell fields in Alabama.  During their training some groups in the U.S. want eliminated this program that they call “experiment”.  The University of Texas prepared a report where they said that Negroes were low intelligence and incapable of handling complex situations.  Finally the 99^th was ready for combat in the North Africa and their first combat mission was attack a small island in the Mediterranean Sea before the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. During one year fought with old planes and equipment, until July 1944 when finally they received the airplanes that everybody recognizes P-51 Mustang.  After many glorious missions the 99^th had the opportunity of escort heavy bombers, racked up an impressive combat record.  They never lost a bomber in a mission, for this great job and theirs red paint in the vertical stabilizers the Allies called the Airmen “Red Tails” or “Red Angels”. Few bomber crew members knew at the time that the Red Tails were Black.  Some of the awards of this unit were:  two Distinguished Unit Citation, some Silver Stars, 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 14 Bronze Stars and 744 Air Medals. In Tuskegee were trained 992 pilots from 1940 to 1946, 445 deployed overseas, and 150 Red Tails lost their lives in training or combat.  

The Red Tails was a good example that shows us no matter what is the skin color of the soldier, if they receive a good training they can do an excellent job.  Few bombers knew that information and the requested their support. Today this racist belief was removed and thanks to the Red Tails and other units of the past, we have great soldiers standing out in different areas inside the Armed Forces.  Not only like enlisted or simple soldiers, we have generals that command a lot of soldiers and they do good job.  We are a family in the Army, we work together for a mission and one purpose, and we can’t accept that something of color skin affect our mission. Thanks to all American- African soldier that do their job everyday sometimes under racist moments. Thanks for your service!!!

The Tuskegee Airmen Heritage(n.d). Red Tail Reborn. April 21, 2015, complied from: http://www.redtailreborn.com/Red_Tail_Reborn/History.html