American Special Fighting Forces in World War IIBy: E.A. Marcos

Tuskegee Airmen

Historical BackgroundEven though the African Americans were no longer enslaved and they had been granted their freedom they were still being discriminated against.

During World War II, African Americans in the United Stated were subjected to Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws mandated the segregation of schools, public places (parks, pools), public transportation (busses), even the segregation of restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains.

African Americans were also not allowed to serve in the military. During World War I, many African Americans tried to become aerial observers but were rejected, during World War II there was a lot of debate as to whether African Americans should be allowed to served in the any branch of the U.S. military

When he was running for the presidency in 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to allow African Americans to become military pilots. The War Department agreed to do that, but only if they were training in segregated basis and served in segregated units (they were not allowed to train or fly with whites)

Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen?

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces. They were called the Tuskegee Airmen because they were trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF) in Tuskegee, Alabama.

The Tuskegee Airmen came from every section of the country, with large numbers coming from New York City, Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. Those who possessed the physical and mental qualifications were accepted as aviation cadets to be trained initially as single-engine pilots and later to be either twin-engine pilots, navigators or bombardiers.

Tuskegee Airmen Training https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCvsEkGjCPs

Food for Thought: At a time when African Americans in the United States did not have the same rights as white Americans, why do you think that these men (Tuskegee Airmen) wanted to serve (an potentially die) for the United States during WWII?

Tuskegee Airmen During WWII

Between 1941 and 1945, Tuskegee trained over 1,000 black aviators for the war effort. The Tuskegee Airmen were divided into several different squadrons and crews.

The 99th Fighter Squadron was sent to North Africa in April 1943 for combat duty. They were joined by the 100th, 301st, and 302nd African-American fighter squadron (together they formed the 332nd fighter group) The transition from training to actual combat wasn't always smooth given the racial tensions of the time. However, the Airmen overcame the obstacles posed by segregation, the 332nd flew successful missions over Sicily, the Mediterranean, and North Africa.

The Tuskegee Bomber crews (Red Tails) completed 15,000 sorties in approximately 1,500 missions, destroyed over 260 enemy aircraft, sank one enemy destroyer, and demolished numerous enemy installations.

The Tuskegee Airmen of the 477th Bombardment Group never saw action in WWII. However, they staged a peaceful, non-violent protest for equal rights at Freeman Field, Indiana, in April 1945.

The Tuskegee Airmen were awarded numerous high honors, including Distinguished Flying Crosses, Legions of Merit, Silver Stars, Purple Hearts, the Croix de Guerre, and the Red Star of Yugoslavia. A Distinguished Unit Citation was awarded to the 332nd Fighter Group for "outstanding performance and extraordinary heroism" in 1945.

After the WarAfter the World War II ended in 1945, the Tuskegee Airmen returned to the United States and continued to face racism and prejudice despite their outstanding war record.

After the war Tuskegee Airmen were denied the right to become commercial airline pilots (they were finally granted the right to become commercial pilots 20 years after the end of the war)

Tuskegee Army Air Field continued to train new airmen until 1946, but because of the segregation that continued to exist in the United States opportunities for advancement and promotions were very limited for African American airmen.

In 1948, President Harry Truman enacted Executive Order Number 9981 which directed equality of treatment and opportunity in all of the United States Armed Forces. This order eventually led to the end of racial segregation in the military forces. This was also the first step toward racial integration in the United States of America.

African American airmen continued to perform superbly. In 1949, pilots from the 332nd Fighter Group took first place in the Air Force National Fighter Gunnery Meet at Las Vegas Air Force Base!!

442nd Regimental Combat Team

Historical BackgroundAfter Japans attack on Pearl Harbor, many white American became wary of Japanese and Japanese- Americans living in the United States. Many American believed that people of Japanese ancestry could be working as spies for Japan.

On February of 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized Executive Order 9066. This order declared that all people of Japanese ancestry who were living on the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona) had to leave their homes and move to government run interment camps.

Approximately 5,000 Japanese Americans voluntarily relocated outside the exclusion zone, but the majority of mainland Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their West Coast homes during the spring of 1942. As a result of this forced relocation many Japanese Americans lost their homes and all their belongings that they were unable to take with them.

Food for Thought: What do you think about F.D.R’s decision to approve Japanese internment camps? Do you feel it was a necessary prevention? Or unnecessary and unjust? Explain.

Who made up the 442nd Combat Team?

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was a fighting unit composed almost entirely of American soldiers of Japanese ancestry who fought in World War II, even though many of their families were forced to relocate to interment camps.

When the Army calling for 2,900 men from Hawaii, and 1,500 from the mainland to volunteer (around 3,000 men from Hawaii and 800 men from the mainland were inducted). It was then that President Roosevelt announced the formation of the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team, saying, "Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry.”

Many of the men who fought in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team decided to join because they wanted to prove to the American people that they were loyal to the United States and that they were not loyal to Japan.

Before they could attend any sort of training they were asked questions like "Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?" and "Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization?”

The 442nd Combat Team During WWII

Although they were permitted to fight, Americans of Japanese ancestry were generally forbidden to fight in combat in the Pacific Theater. No such limitations were placed on Americans of German or Italian ancestry who fought against the Axis Powers in Europe. Nonetheless, they played a major part in the war…

Hill 140- was the main line of enemy resistance. A single German battalion held the hill and, along with the help of artillery, had completely wiped out a machine-gun squad of L Company of the 3rd Battalion and G Company of 2nd Battalion except for its commander. After fierce fighting the 442nd was able to take Hill 140 from the Germans.

Vosges Mountains- After leaving Italy, the 442nd arrives in Marseille, France. Their task was to take Hills A, B, C and D in the Vosges Mountains. This task proved to be terribly difficult because ach hill was heavily guarded and German soldiers had been instructed to fight to the death. Eventually the 442nd and the 100th were able to take the hills.

Lost Battalion- the 442nd was ordered to rescue the “Lost Battalion”. As the 442nd got deeper and deeper into enemy territory, many of the soldiers hesitated, but no matter what they kept going and fighting off German attacks. Although they managed to rescue about 200 soldiers, it came at a great cause because in the three weeks that the mission took, 140 combat team members were killed, 1800 were wounded and 43 had gone missing.

After the WarThe 442nd Regimental Combat Team was the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of American warfare.

In total, about 14,000 men served, earning 9,486 Purple Hearts. The unit was awarded eight Presidential Unit Citations (5 earned in one month). Twenty-one of its members were awarded Medals of Honor.

The record of the Japanese Americans serving in the 442nd and helped change the minds of anti-Japanese American critics in the U.S. and resulted in easing of restrictions and the eventual release of the 120,000 strong community well before the end of World War II.

However, while some American’s changed their way of thought, the general attitude of Americans towards people of Japanese ancestry was still negative. Japanese Veterans were welcomed home by signs that read "No Japs Allowed" and "No Japs Wanted”. Many of them were denied service in shops and restaurants, and had their homes and property vandalized. Anti-Japanese sentiment remained strong into the 1960s

Navajo Code Talkers

Historical BackgroundThe Navajo are the largest tribe in the United States, its located in southwestern United States. The Navajo Nation has its own independent government body, which is managed by the Navajo people. The Navajo language is spoken throughout the region with most Navajo speaking English as well.

The Navajo nation, like many other Native American were the victims of American’s desire to acquire land. In the 1860’s the people of the Navajo nation were stripped of their lands and were forced to relocate. In the spring of 1864, around 9,000 Navajo men, women and children were forced to embark on a trek of over 300 miles to New Mexico. During this time the Navajo people experienced hardship because the land that they were given didn’t have enough water, wood, fertile lands or livestock to support their entire population.

Eventually, the Navajo people settled into their reservations and began to manage their tribe as its own independent nation. However, they were still treated unjustly by the U.S. government. In the 1940s, during World War II, the United States denied the Navajo welfare relief because of the Navajo communal society.

Food for Thought: Imagine you are a member of the Navajo nation. Considering the history of the Navajo people and the U.S. government and the current status of the war (WWII). If you were asked to volunteer as a code talker would you agree to join or would you refuse? Why or why not?

Who were the Navajo Code Talkers?

The Navajo Code Talkers, were a small group of Navajo men who volunteered to serve as radio communicators during the war.

It all began in the autumn of 1940, when a small group of Chippewas and Oneidas Indians joined the 32nd Infantry Division for the express purpose of radio communications. Soon afterward, an Iowa National Guard unit, the Nineteenth Infantry Division, brought several members of the Sac and Fox tribes into its ranks for the same purpose.

Despite the army's early efforts and the proficiency demonstrated by Indian code talkers, the War Department never fully grasped the program's potential until Philip Johnston convinced Major James E. Jones of the great help that the Navajo’s could be.

Navajo Code Talkers During WWII

The complexity of Navajo linguistics allowed it to become an ideal choice to be used in code due to the lack of documentation made available for learning to speak the language and ability for the same words to mean multiple things based on sound. The language seemed safe from enemy understanding if incorporated into the Marine Corps' communication structure. (The Japanese were never able to decipher the Navajo Talkers Code)

Navajo Code Talker (audio sample) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rSvm3m8ZUA

The Marine Corps authorized the recruitment of twenty-nine Navajos for communications work and formed the 382nd Platoon for the Indian specialists. Immediately, the boarding schools at Fort Defiance, Shiprock, and Fort Wingate received visits from marine personnel, and the original complement of code talkers was formed.

Navajo code talkers worked diligently and perfectly through out the war, and are largely credited with the United States success in Iwo Jima. At the Battle of Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, had six Navajo code talkers working around the clock during the first two days of the battle. These six sent and received over 800 messages, all without error.

After the WarThe use of the Navajo code talkers continued through the Korean War and after, until it was ended early in the Vietnam War. The Navajo code is the only spoken military code never to have been deciphered (the code was declassified in 1968 by the United States government)

For the Navajo people, the Navajo Code talkers became an integral and important part of their history. Even though the Navajo nation operates as an independent nation, away from the United States government, they continue to take pride in the fact that many of its men served in the war and contributed greatly to the Allied victory.

The majority of the Navajo Code Talkers returned home after the war and continued to live their lives, they often help reunions for its members.

The last surviving code talker, Edmond Harjo of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, died on March 31, 2014, at the age of 96. Harjo had served as far afield as Normandy and the Battle of Iwo Jima during the war.

Sources442nd Regimental Combat Team http://www.the442.org/home.html

After Interment http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/after_internment.htm

American Visionaries (Tuskegee Airmen) http://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/aircombat.htm

Navajo Code Talkers http://navajocodetalkers.org

Navajo People http://navajopeople.org/navajo-code-talker.htm

Red Tails http://www.redtail.org/the-airmen-a-brief-history

Tuskegee Airmen: National Historical Museum http://tuskegeeairmennationalmuseum.org