Acquire Blood For Dignity: The Story Of The First Integrated Combat Unit In The U.S. Army Edited By David P. Colley Rendered As Manuscript

am a huge WWII History buff but one thing I haven't read much about is the role of AfricanAmerican soldiers, mainly because they were relegated to the service units rather than combat.
Thanks to that horrible idea segregation able bodied and patriotic men were forced to stand by despite a strong desire to fight.
This book tells the story of the first combat unit in the Army and how these brave, strong men proved all the naysayers wrong.
I found the story gripping, infuriating, heartbreaking and fascinating, There were times while reading this book and seeing how yet again racism reared its ugly head when I wondered why these soldiers would fight for a country that often treated German POWs better.
This book is not for the squeamish as it doesn't hide the hard part of war but I couldn't put it down.
I'm in awe of this story, I was always interested in World War Two, but I never stopped to think of the role of AfricanAmericans in it all.
I knew about the Red Ball Express and respected the men that were in it, The combat role these men played in the final days of the war is incredible, They deserve all the respect and recognition this nation can give, Very good book. It touched my heart. Blood for Dignity chronicles the story of black men in the US military, especially the army, since early Colonial days.
The author takes the remembered experiences of both black soldiers and some white officers who finally got to fight the Germans during the final three months of war against Germany.
as platoons in white infantry companies, Based on interviews with these veterans, the book helps to dissuade the belief that only whites fought in combat units and touches on some of the issues of segregation and discrimination.
"BLOOD FOR DIGNITY: The Story of the First Integrated Combat Unit in the U, S. Army" tells a story of the combat achievements of African American GIs during the Second World War in the European Theatre of Operations ETO that is largely unknown by most Americans today.


As a result of the Battle of the Bulge in December, which represented the last, great German offensive in the West and largely impacted upon American forces in Belgium, a significant number of white GIs were killed in that battle.
So much so that a call was made from the headquarters of General Eisenhower, seeking volunteers for combat service in the infantry among the segregated noncombatant units.
In response to that call, many African American soldiers volunteered to fight at the front, even though for some noncommissioned African American soldiers NCOs, their service in combat would mean their having to relinquish their NCO rank and being reduced to the rank of corporal.


"Blood for Dignity" focuses on the combat achievements of African American soldiers who fought in integrated platoons of theth Infantry Division from lateuntil victory was achieved in Europe on May,.
This book has special resonance for me because my late father who enlisted in the U, S. Army in Aprilserved in Europe with a segregated unit of General George S, Patton's Third Army, seeing action from Normandy, to the Battle of the Bulge, and through Germany into Czechoslovakia by May.
He was later honorably discharged as a staff sergeant in Paris, France in July, age,

I highly recommend "Blood for Dignity" for anyone who wants to learn about an aspect of American history that deserves to be more widely known.
Quickreading social history of a particular group of black infantry replacements in WW, It would serve as a good introduction to the topic, For those more familiar, it's an enjoyable personalization of the topic, The integration of black platoons inrepresents the first time since the American Revolution that African American soldiers were integrated into white combat units.
The experiences of these soldiers were truly radical and a harbinger of

things to come, Clearly, these black infantrymen planted the seeds of integration in the armyand the nation,

Blood for Dignity tells the story of these soldiers through the eyes ofth platoon, K Company,th Regiment,th Divisionthe first integrated combat unit since the Revolutionary War.
These men were involved in heavy combat at the Remagen Bridgehead and several other critical junctures as they drove back the German army.
The performance of these men laid to rest the accepted white attitude of a century and a half that blacks were cowardly and inferior fighters.
In fact, they proved to be just the opposite,

Author David Colley interviewed many of the members of theth, Their accounts along with years of reseach paint a gripping, combatheavy portrait of young men fighting together for their nation.
For as they will tell you, in combat situations, prejudice and the color line disappears, .