My late father was a lieutenant in Germany during WWII and he recounted the hourly levels of racism he and his troops faced from white US soldiers in Germany and the gratitude the newly liberated German citizens gave to the Black troops (who were among the first troops to liberate the concentration camps). Our family became one of the first Black military families to spend some three years in newly liberated Germany. A well to do German family gladly gave up their home for me. my mother and father while they stayed in their not so shabby servant's home. I was just a small boy and attended kindergarten with German children (because there was no American school set up yet). I became bilingual with ease as kids would do (this became a "problem" when we returned to Bed Stuy Brooklyn when my Jewish teachers heard me speak with a German accent!).
But, the main thing here is that, once again, Black soldiers help save democracy for whites. I say that because when my father and us returned to the US, one of his first assignments was to transport German Prisoners of War to Iowa from New York City (where they arrived on ships from Europe). The army was still segregated. So his Black troops would guard the German POWs on the long train ride to des Moines, Iowa. My father said they had planned the trip in such a way that they would have a dinner stop in Bowling Green, Ohio. Well, when they arrived at the train station, they had the German POWs eat first at the station's restaurant guarded by the armed Black soldiers. No problem. The problem came when the Black soldiers sat down to eat. The white restaurant owner said to my father that they don't serve niggers. My father, in turn said: "You see these weapons my troops have? If you don't serve us, you don't have a restaurant." Needless to say, the whiteboy said to my father not to mention that he served niggers....
There are so many stories like this that never get into the public light that help expose the myth of America ever being "great" for Blackfolk... But they are now being lost forever because the men and women warriors of those WWII/Korean War times are ancestors. But, I'm certain that there are enough of these Black Historical Moments that have been passed on thru their families that with some decent research, we can bring them into the light of the 21st Century.
Chuck, Thank you for keeping the torch lit for our people's participation in this thing called The United States of America!
❤
🥰
My late father was a lieutenant in Germany during WWII and he recounted the hourly levels of racism he and his troops faced from white US soldiers in Germany and the gratitude the newly liberated German citizens gave to the Black troops (who were among the first troops to liberate the concentration camps). Our family became one of the first Black military families to spend some three years in newly liberated Germany. A well to do German family gladly gave up their home for me. my mother and father while they stayed in their not so shabby servant's home. I was just a small boy and attended kindergarten with German children (because there was no American school set up yet). I became bilingual with ease as kids would do (this became a "problem" when we returned to Bed Stuy Brooklyn when my Jewish teachers heard me speak with a German accent!).
But, the main thing here is that, once again, Black soldiers help save democracy for whites. I say that because when my father and us returned to the US, one of his first assignments was to transport German Prisoners of War to Iowa from New York City (where they arrived on ships from Europe). The army was still segregated. So his Black troops would guard the German POWs on the long train ride to des Moines, Iowa. My father said they had planned the trip in such a way that they would have a dinner stop in Bowling Green, Ohio. Well, when they arrived at the train station, they had the German POWs eat first at the station's restaurant guarded by the armed Black soldiers. No problem. The problem came when the Black soldiers sat down to eat. The white restaurant owner said to my father that they don't serve niggers. My father, in turn said: "You see these weapons my troops have? If you don't serve us, you don't have a restaurant." Needless to say, the whiteboy said to my father not to mention that he served niggers....
There are so many stories like this that never get into the public light that help expose the myth of America ever being "great" for Blackfolk... But they are now being lost forever because the men and women warriors of those WWII/Korean War times are ancestors. But, I'm certain that there are enough of these Black Historical Moments that have been passed on thru their families that with some decent research, we can bring them into the light of the 21st Century.