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00:00The Medal of Honor may just be a small five-pointed star hanging from a ribbon, but it symbolizes
00:17so much more.
00:18It's the highest military decoration a U.S. soldier can get, awarded for conspicuous gallantry
00:25and intrepidity at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty.
00:31Since the Civil War, more than 3,400 men and a few women, too, have received a medal, including
00:37African Americans, but rather mysteriously none were awarded to the black Americans who
00:42served in World War II.
00:45The answer as to why she had light on an important part of American history, a history that includes
00:51courage, heartache, and ultimately, vindication.
00:57Honor Deferred began right now, here, on the History Channel.
01:04They served to protect freedom and equality for a country that allowed them neither.
01:08You want to talk about the greatest generation, those men and women were the greatest generation
01:14because they had the two foes, Hitler and racism.
01:21They battled against an enemy abroad and segregation in their own ranks.
01:26Colin Powell never would have gotten anywhere if he had been in the service during our day,
01:31just based on the color of his skin.
01:33Now and forever, the truth will be known about these African Americans who gave so much that
01:39the rest of us might be free.
01:42They were denied their nation's highest honor, but their deeds could not be denied.
01:52African Americans have always fought in this country's wars, going back to the American
02:02Revolution, as a matter of fact, and coming up through the Civil War, World War I, World
02:07War II.
02:08But they had not been welcomed as participants, particularly as combatants in these wars.
02:14There was this fear that black men might somehow get out of control, that whites wouldn't be
02:18able to control them and therefore they couldn't be trusted.
02:20So there was also this kind of suspicion towards black men and black men with guns.
02:27So when World War II came around, there was a general hesitance to employ blacks to fight
02:35in combat.
02:37Now there was no hesitation in employing them to do menial work.
02:44Those rules were acceptable to the military establishment, but not African Americans to
02:51be engaged in combat.
02:54But with the Battle of the Bulge and the tremendous setback and threat that that represented to
02:59U.S. forces, and all of a sudden there's a huge demand now for reinforcements, Eisenhower
03:04was forced to turn to the black troops who were ready and eager to fight against the
03:09fascists.
03:10And thousands volunteered.
03:12Under a segregated military, more than one million African Americans served during World
03:17War II.
03:19In the Pacific and in Europe, on the ground, on the seas, and in the air, numerous medals
03:25were awarded to black troops for their courage and valor in the face of battle.
03:30But when the war books closed at the end of World War II, not one black soldier received
03:35the military's highest award, the greatest symbol of selflessness, sacrifice, and courage
03:40under fire, the Medal of Honor.
03:43Though 57 African American soldiers had been awarded the Medal of Honor in previous wars.
03:48Black soldiers had gotten all kinds of Medal of Honors in other wars.
03:51There were none in World War II.
03:54Didn't make sense.
03:58Somehow it was believed that perhaps there was a recommendation for a Medal of Honor.
04:05But because of the climate of racism at the time, these recommendations were not being
04:11processed.
04:12In other words, they were not channeled up the chain of command.
04:16In 1994, Daniel Gebron, then professor of international studies and history at Shaw
04:21University in North Carolina, was one of seven researchers hired to review Army records.
04:28Over the course of 15 months, the research team conducted over 30 interviews and searched
04:33through more than 1,000 documents.
04:37After a thorough search, we discovered that there was no unprocessed recommendation for
04:43a Medal of Honor.
04:44There was no magic bullet, so to speak.
04:47However, during the course of our interviews, a number of white commanders made this abundantly
04:53clear that they were not to recommend an African American for the Medal of Honor.
04:59It was a no-no.
05:01There was not an order.
05:02It was not issued.
05:03But something like this doesn't come from the bottom up.
05:05It comes from the top down.
05:07There were white officers who were willing to recommend a soldier for the highest medal,
05:13but they knew that it would not be granted.
05:16And therefore, rather than see him get nothing, they recommended him for the Distinguished
05:20Service Cross.
05:24Only five Distinguished Service Crosses, the second highest military honor, were officially
05:29awarded to black troops.
05:31But the Shaw investigation did unearth five additional DSC cases that were unprocessed
05:37and never entered into official Army records.
05:40An injustice had really occurred, that some of these black soldiers who were awarded the
05:46Distinguished Service Cross should have been granted the Medal of Honor.
05:50At the conclusion of the investigation, Gibran and his team recommended that the Army's award
05:55branch strip these 10 Distinguished Service Cross cases of name and race, mix them in
06:00with cases that were awarded Medals of Honor, and have a panel of military officers evaluate
06:05which actions in battle were deserving of the highest award for valor.
06:11And that was the exercise that they followed.
06:15And that was how they came up with the seven names.
06:18Each of them distinguished himself with extraordinary valor in the famous words, at the risk of
06:25his life, above and beyond the call of duty.
06:31These are their stories.
06:33D-Day, June 6, 1944.
06:37250,000 American troops were sent to Europe to help support the wide-scale war effort.
06:44Deployed to oppose Hitler's army in Italy was the 15,000-strong all-black 92nd Infantry Division.
06:52Though not the first black troops to be deployed to combat duty, the 92nd was the largest group of
06:57black combat soldiers to fight in World War II.
07:01One day, all the black officers were called to division headquarters, and the chief of staff came
07:09out and told us, well, all the white boys are going overseas and getting killed, and it's time for you
07:17black boys to go get killed.
07:20While these men were eager to fight against the enemy, there was a lack of training, because they had not
07:26been trained for combat duty.
07:28They were trained for these service jobs and basically labor.
07:32But there was training organized for them in Europe before they went into combat.
07:38But, you know, it was hastily organized.
07:41It was not as good as it could have been, and it was certainly not of the same quality that would have been
07:45given to white troops.
07:46There were exceptions to that, like the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black flying units.
07:51They were trained and performed as well as any white unit, but they were the exception and not the rule.
07:59But in spite of that, when they were deployed to Italy, the men were in very high spirits, and they
08:07performed very, very well.
08:09But they were poorly led, they were poorly motivated, and this stems from white leadership.
08:17First of all, segregation, we had to live with that all the time.
08:21We had to live under a general who was a rampant racist in the eyes of the troops, which is the most
08:30important thing.
08:33The commander of the 92nd Division, Major General Edward Allmond, was a 52-year-old Southerner from
08:39Virginia who had little experience leading black troops.
08:43Allmond was considered a very, very poor military leader, tactician as well as strategist.
08:50Allmond was one of the officers who was known to resent the fact that black units were part of his command.
08:58If you look back at the history, how they were trained, how they were commanded, you see compelling
09:06reasons that would lead one to conclude that the 92nd Division was set up for failure.
09:13December 26, 1944, a massive German assault is launched on the mountain village of Sommocolonia, Italy.
09:22Only two platoons from the poorly equipped and thinly supported 92nd Infantry Division holds out
09:28against an overwhelming German offensive.
09:31I'm out! Give me a shot!
09:34Last one!
09:40The German 14th Army is instructed not to take prisoners from the 92nd Division because its soldiers were black
09:46and by official standards of the Nazi party, not fully men.
09:51A mere six miles south, the 5th Army Division refuses the besieged soldiers of the 92nd either
09:58reinforcements or blood transfusions for the wounded.
10:01They were black and by official U.S. Army standards in 1944, not fully soldiers.
10:08Sir! We are running out of ammunition!
10:13They just keep coming!
10:15Request reinforcements, over!
10:17I believe no reinforcements are in your position.
10:20How are we supposed to fight without bullets?
10:34Some historians make the case, and I think rather convincingly, that black soldiers were there
10:39basically as fodder, basically as targets for the German Army.
10:44It was really to occupy the German forces to the south, to Italy,
10:48so that they weren't using those forces in France and in Germany.
10:53Very often the testimony of the black soldiers of the 92nd Division
10:57is that they really did not feel that they were getting the support from the military and their cause.
11:06By nightfall, the Germans have all but taken the Italian village.
11:10Only a few G.I.s remain.
11:12Army Lieutenant John R. Fox, a forward observer for the 598th Field Artillery Battalion, is one of them.
11:20Calling in artillery positions from his observation post,
11:23Lieutenant Fox is the last defense against the German assault.
11:28Lieutenant Fox was one of the finest officers I've ever seen.
11:32Otis Zachary, battery commander with the division's artillery unit,
11:36is one of Fox's closest friends and is on the receiving end of his radio transmission.
11:41Battery ready on your command. Over.
11:46Fire! Fire!
11:53Shot! Over.
11:54Over.
12:04John, do you read? Over.
12:07Bring it in 60 yards.
12:09That's going to be right on top of them.
12:11Let's give them hell, Otis.
12:13There's more of them than us.
12:16He called the artillery down on him because he was surrounded
12:20and that's the only way he could get out.
12:23I said, hell no.
12:24Get out of there, Fox!
12:26There's no place to go.
12:28But hold on.
12:30Lieutenant, what are your coordinates?
12:37I didn't want to.
12:40And when our forces recovered the position,
12:43they found his riddled body among that of 100 German soldiers.
12:49Accepting the award for Lieutenant Fox is his widow, Arlene Fox.
12:58Another combatant from the 92nd, Vernon Baker,
13:01also earned his Medal of Honor during the Italian campaign.
13:06If they got you pinpointed, there wasn't a heck of a lot you could do
13:10and they had us pinpointed.
13:14That was a noisy day.
13:19More than 50 years after the end of World War II,
13:22seven African-Americans were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor
13:26in 1997 for battlefield courage that went beyond the call of duty.
13:30At 77 years old, Vernon Baker was the only soldier alive
13:35to receive the award at the White House ceremony.
13:38One of the great stories of the war really is Vernon Baker.
13:42He was like the Wild West. He was truly heroic.
13:45Baker recalls his own experience as a 24-year-old combat soldier
13:49in the high mountain Italian campaign.
13:53Our mission was to take Castle Aganolfi.
13:56Castle Aganolfi, one of three high ground fortifications
14:00the Germans fall back and fight from,
14:02rules the mountainous passes to northern Italy.
14:05The Germans knew we were there and the Germans knew every route
14:09that they could send the people up.
14:12They had to put southern-born officers in charge
14:16because they knew how to handle the Negro.
14:19The way they treated us and the way the orders were given
14:23was the fact that we have to explain this to you
14:27and we've got to keep our foot in your butt to make you do something.
14:32Which one of you is Baker?
14:34Hey, Baker!
14:36Are you Lieutenant Baker?
14:38Yes, sir.
14:40Captain John Runyon.
14:42I'm taking command of your troop.
14:44Get your men geared up and ready to move.
14:47Today you're going to take that hill or you're going to die trying.
14:53I knew that that day was going to be a bitch
14:57because they kept sending us up the same old way.
15:01I knew that day was going to be a bitch
15:04because they kept sending us up the same old way.
15:07They didn't know what else to do.
15:09They were moving in open formation, open ground, no cover.
15:14I mean, this is disastrous tactics.
15:17When we got up the top, we spread out.
15:20Somebody behind us stepped on some mines back there
15:24which I thought was the artillery which was supposed to be ahead of us.
15:29When I heard the explosions behind me,
15:33I just told everybody, let's go, move.
15:36Move!
15:40We got separated.
15:42I lost sight of my mortar squad.
15:46And then as we got a little farther up,
15:49I lost sight of my light machine gun squad.
15:54We were behind the enemy lines.
15:58And then I can see movement over here.
16:02And so I saw movement and I looked
16:05and it was helmets moving.
16:08I didn't have to move in because when I shot them, they fell.
16:14I made sure I looked.
16:17I hesitated after I shot
16:19and made sure that nobody were raised up to shoot at me.
16:23Peek!
16:24That's when Runyon caught up with me.
16:27So we sat down and we were talking about
16:31how we were going to get the troops together and get up to the castle.
16:34And to our left, a German soldier came out
16:38on a path that we couldn't see.
16:41We didn't know it was there.
16:43And he came out and tossed a potato masher at us.
16:47And Runyon jumped up and flailed his arms out
16:52and almost knocked my rifle out of my hands.
16:57I caught it, and I caught it just in time
17:00to shoot the soldier in the back,
17:03which I did not want to do.
17:06And I want to explain to you why I didn't want to do it.
17:11I was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming
17:14where the cowboys were there with the cowboys
17:17that rode the white horses and wore the white hats
17:20and the bad cowboys rode the black horses
17:24and wore the black hats.
17:27And from reading those Western stories,
17:30the good guy in the white hat never shot anybody in the back.
17:39But the black guys did, the ones that wore the black.
17:43And that was sticking in my mind
17:46when I put my sights on the soldier's back.
17:50And I shot him.
17:54And first thing I did, I went down to look at the soldier
17:57and see what he looked like,
17:59because I had never seen a German soldier up close.
18:09And I went down the path.
18:13It was nice and quiet.
18:16And I found these other dugouts.
18:21So I stuck a grenade underneath it and blew it open.
18:26And then a German soldier stuck his head out
18:31and I shot him in the head.
18:35And then went to the dugout
18:37and there was a couple of more soldiers in there.
18:40They were groggy from the explosion on the door there
18:43and I shot them.
18:51I went back up looking for Runyon.
18:56He's the commanding officer.
18:58He's supposed to tell me what to do.
19:00Where's Runyon?
19:02I couldn't find him.
19:04Over there.
19:06And Runyon was sitting down.
19:08He was pale as hell.
19:11His face looked like parchment.
19:14And he had the nerve to ask me,
19:16And my answer was to him,
19:19Captain, I'm doing the goddamn best I can.
19:23He says,
19:26I'm going back for reinforcements.
19:30A commission officer, a captain in command of a company
19:34going back for reinforcements.
19:36I'm like, you know what?
19:38I'm not going back.
19:40I'm not going back.
19:42I'm not going back.
19:44I'm not going to tell you what I was thinking then.
19:47I told him, OK, Captain.
19:49We'll be here when you get back.
19:51Right.
19:53Good.
19:57And he took off.
19:59But what is ironic is that the general,
20:02for that same action that took place
20:05as they were going to capture Castle Aginolfi,
20:09recommended Runyon for the Medal of Honor.
20:13But it was finally rejected at the War Department.
20:16And the irony of it is, you know,
20:18that Runyon was not the one
20:20who engaged the enemy so consistently
20:24in that battle for Castle Aginolfi.
20:27You know, it was unquestionably Lieutenant Vernon Baker.
20:31I never saw Runyon again.
20:33We had three or four wounded men
20:36that he took along with him.
20:39And the radio had no communication.
20:42No communication at all.
20:45What troops I had up there,
20:48I gathered them together, and we moved on up.
20:53At one time, one of my soldiers looked up and said,
20:57hey, look, there's a flock of birds coming over there.
21:01And I looked up, and I said,
21:04oh, that's not a flock of birds.
21:06That's a bunch of mortars.
21:08Move.
21:09Take cover!
21:11If they've got you pinpointed,
21:13there isn't a heck of a lot you can do.
21:16And they had us pinpointed.
21:18The best word to describe it would be deadly.
21:21You can't hear the shells coming from a mortar.
21:24Just a whoosh, and then it.
21:28And then after every two barrages,
21:31they would send up a bunch of foot soldiers.
21:34Get ready. Here they come.
21:36And they kept coming.
21:40I had seen so much,
21:43so much blood spent,
21:47arms and legs blown off.
21:51And then our ammunition began to get low.
21:56And I would look at the soldiers,
21:59and they kept looking at me.
22:02And I would look at them,
22:05and they kept looking at me.
22:09And nobody said a word,
22:11but I knew what that look meant.
22:14Are we going to stay here and die,
22:17or what are we going to do?
22:20Because we didn't get any reinforcements.
22:24That was our mission,
22:27to go up there and take that ground.
22:30And we took it.
22:32But we didn't get any help in holding it.
22:36And we had to come back.
22:39Now I went up at 26.
22:42And when we got back,
22:45I had six men with me.
22:48Six out of 26.
23:01Though it wasn't always combat soldiers
23:04who were the casualties of battle,
23:07many service units in supportive roles
23:10found themselves in the direct line of fire.
23:13There was zero warning that they were attacked,
23:16pounced on by the Japanese bombers.
23:19And the ship sank within 16 minutes.
23:22Despite the official policy of segregation
23:25and the assignment of black soldiers
23:28overwhelmingly to service and support roles,
23:31many American soldiers did serve
23:34in combat units in World War II.
23:37But it was not always the case
23:40that combat soldiers were the only ones to engage the enemy.
23:43Very often, black units in supportive roles
23:46got a taste of combat.
23:49The job they did very often was to offload ammunition,
23:52which was a really tough and dangerous job.
23:55They had to run through all the gunfire
23:58in line to give the white troops the ammunition.
24:06The story of the S. Jacob is an untold story.
24:09This ship was used to transport cargo.
24:12It was not a military craft, slow, not designed for war.
24:15What happened on the S. Jacob
24:18was it came along this route,
24:21and right about at this point, she turned due west
24:24to go over to her final destination, which was Oro Bay.
24:27And on March 8, 1943,
24:30tragedy struck the S. Jacob.
24:36No warning whatsoever.
24:39There were 9 bombers and 12 escorting fighters.
24:42The situation on board went from idleness to terror
24:45when they spotted Japanese airplanes above them.
24:50One member of the crew, George Watson,
24:53performed a feat of heroism
24:56that still to this day is nothing short of remarkable.
24:59The Jacob was a target of opportunity.
25:02It just happened to present itself.
25:05They saw it. They went after it.
25:08Immediately, the formation zeroed in on the ship.
25:11Mulberry! Mulberry! This is Cadence 5! Cadence 5!
25:14We are under attack! Repeat, we are under attack!
25:20Move forward! Move forward! Let's go! Move it! Move it! Let's go!
25:26The ship started to go down very quickly,
25:29and the captain then ordered, abandon ship.
25:32Abandon ship! Abandon ship!
25:35And the problem was that the lifeboats on the port side
25:38had been rendered useless because the ship had rolled.
25:41So you now have basically 153 people in the water.
25:46Many members of the crew couldn't even swim.
25:49People were clamoring for anything they could get ahold of.
25:56Watson was able to swim.
25:59You know, he was a fairly good swimmer.
26:02So he decided to rescue a number of these guys
26:06who could not swim.
26:09Private Watson was able to bring several dozen men
26:12to their own safety while the ship was sinking.
26:15By this time now, the ship, you know,
26:18started to go down very, very rapidly.
26:21Water was swirling, and given his state of fatigue
26:24and complete exhaustion,
26:27he wasn't able to come out of this swirl.
26:30So he went down with the ship.
26:33His demonstrated bravery and unselfish act
26:36set in motion a train of compelling events
26:39that finally led to American victory in the Pacific.
26:42In March 1945,
26:45American forces pushed their way into Germany
26:48and into the Rhineland where Hitler's Nazi troops
26:51were making a last-ditch stand.
26:54The Rhine River was the barrier
26:57they hoped would stop the American advance.
27:00March 13, 29-year-old Infantry Staff Sergeant Edward A. Carter
27:03is among the black combat soldiers of an armored group
27:06making the advance under Patton and his 3rd Army.
27:09Soldiering to Eddie was everything,
27:12and fighting was everything.
27:15I mean, the core, the thread, the single thread
27:18was the only thing that kept me here.
27:21As they advance on route towards the town of Speyer,
27:24German artillery guns open up on their position.
27:31They were fired upon
27:34by German artillery and mortar fire,
27:37which stopped the armored column
27:40and forced them to disperse and reconnoiter what to do.
27:43And it was at this point that Sergeant Carter stepped forward
27:46to lead a squad to mark the German positions
27:49and to, if possible, initiate an attack against them.
27:57It wasn't clear exactly what they were going to do.
28:00They had to cross 150 acres of bare, flat land,
28:03so they were easy targets.
28:06As soon as Sergeant Carter and 3 men started out,
28:09one of the men was killed outright.
28:12There was heavy fire from the Germans.
28:15Move!
28:17Sergeant Carter, seeing what was happening,
28:20ordered the other 2 to return to the American lines.
28:23You 2 head out. Give me cover fire and stay low.
28:26And even before they could return, they could get back.
28:29One of them was shot, killed. The other was wounded.
28:36Carter himself was running fast, but he was wounded in the arm.
28:39Eddie was a warrior.
28:42He survived because he was a warrior.
28:45He actually advanced on and caught one of the German gun positions
28:48by surprise and was able to lob a hand grenade in
28:51and silence that gun position.
28:54Meantime, he gets hit again himself
28:57and really kind of knocked into the air
29:00and crawls behind a berm where he is able to hide himself
29:03and wait to figure out what he's going to do next.
29:06Meantime, he looks up and sees this German squad advancing
29:10and he sees what Carter has now hidden.
29:13Eddie laid there.
29:16And he had been shot like 5, 6, 7 times.
29:19And he waited for the Germans to start to approach him.
29:22Now, you got to remember, Thompson machine gun was his weapon of choice.
29:25He had mastered it.
29:28He never shot from the shoulder. He always shot from the hip.
29:31So he wouldn't have to really line you up in the sights.
29:34He could kill you and not take his eyes off you.
29:37He gets up with his trusty tummy gun.
29:40He fires on them, kills all but 2
29:43whom he actually then captures.
29:46Makes it back to the American lines.
29:49The American officers, everyone is astonished to see him still alive.
29:52He brought back 2 prisoners
29:55who knew where the German positions were in the town of Spire itself
29:58and therefore gave valuable information to the American forces
30:01to enable them to advance through Spire.
30:04There were some who said that the officers actually considered
30:07recommending him for the Medal of Honor
30:10but they decided not to since they knew
30:13that he would not be granted that medal,
30:16that no black soldier would be granted that medal during the war.
30:19Accepting the Medal of Honor for Staff Sergeant Carter
30:22is his son, Edward Carter III.
30:25I look at it as though it's a victory for our children,
30:28our grandchildren, history books will reflect it.
30:31They were prepared to sacrifice everything for freedom
30:34even though freedom's fullness
30:37was denied to them.
30:40Since its creation in 1862,
30:43the Medal of Honor has come to symbolize
30:46the very highest measure of individual acts of gallantry in battle.
30:49Though 57 Medals of Honor had been awarded
30:52to black soldiers in previous wars,
30:55during World War II, the American military
30:58denied African American soldiers
31:01to be recommended for the highest medal
31:04even when their acts of valor went far and beyond the call of duty.
31:07December 14, 1944.
31:10A platoon of Company C,
31:13614th Tank Destroyer Battalion
31:16is designated as the leading element
31:19in a task force formed to storm and capture
31:22the village of Klimbach, France.
31:25In the face of the enemy position
31:28and complete lack of reconnaissance,
31:31Lieutenant Charles Thomas, the commanding officer of Company C,
31:34volunteers to ride in the column's lead vehicle.
31:37As Thomas' scout car advances toward the village,
31:40the column is stopped in its tracks by German artillery.
31:43Incoming!
31:49The first burst of hostile fire
31:52severely wounds Thomas and his crew.
31:58In a hail of enemy bullets,
32:01Thomas pulls his wounded out of the line of fire
32:04and mans the vehicle's mounted gun,
32:07providing cover for medics to reach the wounded.
32:14A German bullet pierces Thomas' left shoulder,
32:17knocking him backwards, but he refuses to stay down.
32:22One has to say, you know,
32:25that he demonstrated a tremendous amount of courage
32:28in the face of enemy fire.
32:31After receiving numerous gunshot wounds to his chest, legs and arm,
32:34Thomas knew it would be impossible
32:37for him to remain in command of the platoon.
32:40And then he refused to be evacuated.
32:43He made sure that his second lieutenant
32:46was briefed thoroughly by him
32:49before he was evacuated.
32:52While helping others to find cover, he was wounded again and again,
32:55but he refused evacuation until he had made sure
32:58that his forces could return fire effectively.
33:01Accepting the award for Lieutenant Thomas
33:04is his niece, Sarah Johnson.
33:15April 7, 1945.
33:18The Vase River Valley, Germany.
33:21Company G, 413th Infantry,
33:24advance on the town of Lippolsburg.
33:27Among the troop, Private First Class Willie James of Kansas City
33:30volunteers to scout the area for German resistance.
33:38As he makes his way across an open field towards the town,
33:41German troops spot the lone soldier
33:44and unleash a furious crossfire of machine guns down onto him.
33:48Daringly drawing upon himself,
33:51James observes the enemy positions
33:54which are given away by the gunfire.
34:00James makes his way back across the open terrain
34:03safely to his platoon.
34:08Based on the intelligence James had provided,
34:11the platoon works out a new plan to maneuver into the town.
34:18But as the troop advances,
34:21the platoon commander is caught
34:24in a crossfire of German snipers.
34:27James rushes to the aid of his wounded platoon leader
34:30and is killed by a burst of enemy fire.
34:35His extraordinary heroism spurred the soldiers of the platoon
34:38to triumph and resulted in a mass display of heroism by them.
34:41Accepting the Medal of Honor for Private First Class James
34:44is Valencia James, his widow.
34:47In the fog of war, the truth is often lost.
34:50Memories fade.
34:53Actions are embellished and sometimes diminished.
34:56But in the case of the 761st Tank Battalion Unit of World War II,
35:01there was a conscious effort in the US Army
35:04to erase the extraordinary record
35:07of the all-black tanker unit from history.
35:11If you would ask anything about it,
35:14the 761st is classified.
35:17They just didn't want to give us credit.
35:20No tank battalion outperformed them.
35:23No one.
35:25Members of the 761st Tank Battalion,
35:28they were brilliant in their training.
35:31They did exceptionally well.
35:34After D-Day, they put us on alert
35:37that we may be going overseas.
35:40And General Patton, he said,
35:43the best damn tank battalion that you have in America.
35:47And they picked us.
35:50October 1944, the 761st,
35:53700 strong and equipped with N-4 Sherman tanks,
35:56was deployed to Europe
35:59and greeted by General George Patton himself.
36:02He said, I'm damn glad that you're here.
36:04We've been waiting for you.
36:06He heard how good we were,
36:08and he don't have nothing but the best in his army.
36:12I wouldn't have sent for you.
36:15And damn you, don't you let your people down.
36:18And damn you, don't you let me down.
36:21November 7, 1944, France.
36:24Operating with General Patton's 3rd Army,
36:27the men of the 761st get their first taste of battle
36:30and soon realize what kind of fight they're up against.
36:33They were good.
36:35Only thing we could do without running,
36:38you couldn't stand up and fight with them suckers.
36:41They were much more superior than ours, you know.
36:44I even had an 88 gun.
36:46That was a super gun.
36:48You could hear that sucker coming.
36:50Whee!
36:52Whew, I said, shh,
36:54how in the hell anybody gonna live through this?
36:57As the war continued,
36:59African-American soldiers were deployed
37:02out of supportive roles and into combat duty.
37:05Eleanor Roosevelt and the NAACP,
37:08let our own boys fight.
37:11They said they wanted some black tankers,
37:14you know, black guys in the tanker.
37:17And then that 761st was activated
37:20in Camp Claiborne, Louisiana.
37:22In command of the 761st Able Company,
37:25Captain David J. Williams.
37:28We'd been around blacks before,
37:30but he loved the 761st Tank Battalion.
37:33Oh, he was a real swell guy.
37:36You wouldn't know he was a white boy.
37:39He was really just like one of us.
37:42Engaging in some of the toughest fighting
37:45the battalion would experience throughout the war,
37:48the 761st tankers were unrelenting
37:50in their charge through Europe.
37:52And they really kicked ass when they got out there.
37:55They were tough, real bad.
37:57Soon, one tank commander emerged
38:00as a leader among the men of the 761st.
38:03Sergeant Reuben Rivers' unparalleled bravery
38:06in the face of battle gained him the respect
38:09of both his fellow tankers and his white commander.
38:12William loved that man.
38:14He was quiet.
38:16He didn't speak too much.
38:18But he was serious all the time.
38:20He was a leader.
38:22But on November 16, 1944,
38:24during an advance toward the town of Goobling, France,
38:27the vehicle Rivers was commanding
38:30hit an anti-tank mine.
38:32A metal shard from the damaged turret
38:35had slashed his right leg, severely wounding him.
38:38His bone, you could see his thigh bone.
38:40It was just that bad.
38:42They told him, you got a million-dollar wound, man.
38:44You can go home now.
38:46He said, I'm not going anywhere.
38:48Just fix me up, Doc.
38:50This looks pretty bad. I gotta get you out of here.
38:52I said I'm not going anywhere.
38:54At least let me give you something for the pain.
38:56Don't need it.
38:58What's the situation here?
39:00There's nothing.
39:02Captain, this soldier's hurt pretty bad.
39:04We gotta get him out of here.
39:06There's nothing.
39:08Rivers!
39:10You get your butt back on that jeep
39:12and over to the aid station.
39:14That's an order, soldier.
39:16Can't do that, Captain.
39:18You're gonna be needing me around.
39:20He refused to go.
39:22He knew who he was up against.
39:24Reuben was a tough man.
39:26He would not give up.
39:28That's the kind of guy he was.
39:30He was half Cherokee
39:32and black.
39:34He said, my black part,
39:36tell me to go.
39:38My Cherokee part, tell me to stay.
39:40You get those
39:42minority bloods together,
39:44you got some real stuff.
39:46You got some heat
39:48that you better back off
39:50because you're not gonna put that fire out.
39:52Rivers fought on
39:54even when his wound became
39:56infected and in danger of gangrene.
39:58He would not leave
40:00the men of Company A.
40:02The warriors are seen
40:04by the scars.
40:06If you get in there and get scarred up,
40:08that means you've been battling.
40:10That was his way of living.
40:12Three days later, on November 19th,
40:14Company A's tanks advanced
40:16toward their next objective,
40:18the town of Burgeltroth, France.
40:20Dug in, heavily armed,
40:22and waiting for them
40:24was the German 11th Panzer Division.
40:28Floyd Dade fought alongside Rivers
40:30on that day.
40:32The 4th Armored, they had been in there
40:34and they got ran out.
40:36The Germans were digging in.
40:38But before the tanks could even reach the town,
40:40they are confronted by an overwhelming
40:42enemy force.
40:46The Germans had
40:48anti-tank guns and tanks
40:50dug in.
40:52Now, we could outrun
40:54that German tank,
40:56but we couldn't stand to fight with them.
40:58Williams keys the radio
41:00frantically and orders his crews to fall back
41:02and take cover.
41:04Withdraw! Withdraw from your positions! Move back!
41:06Move back!
41:08Rivers ignores the command.
41:10He and his crew spot the German tank positions
41:12and in a daring maneuver,
41:14advance on them,
41:16covering the other tankers' safe withdrawal.
41:18I'm pulling back!
41:22Fire!
41:30Rivers!
41:32Fall out! Fall out!
41:42Rivers and his crew
41:44are killed instantly.
41:46He put himself out there.
41:48He put himself out there.
41:50He saved a lot of lives
41:52by putting himself out there.
41:54And he went down swinging.
41:58Two days after the battle,
42:00Captain Williams, though aware
42:02of the Army's unwritten policy
42:04of denying black soldiers the highest award
42:06for courage under fire,
42:08recommends that Sergeant Reuben Rivers
42:10receive the Medal of Honor.
42:12He recommended it.
42:14But he said after he recommended it,
42:16they just sort of put it aside.
42:18Rivers' courage and sacrifice
42:20on November 14, 1944
42:22unquestionably demonstrated actions
42:24that went above and beyond
42:26the call of duty.
42:28He was, after all, a black man
42:30in a segregated Army.
42:34By war's end,
42:36the all-black 761st
42:38had captured, destroyed, or liberated
42:40more than 30 major towns,
42:4234 tanks, and 4 airfields.
42:44But their contributions
42:47to decisive battles
42:49were not widely known until 1978.
42:51After years of downplaying
42:53the 761st's role
42:55in the Allied victory,
42:57the U.S. military officially acknowledged
42:59the unparalleled performance
43:01with a Presidential Unit Citation.
43:03And almost two decades later,
43:05Reuben Rivers
43:07was honored for the hero
43:09that he was.
43:11Along with Rivers,
43:13Fox, James, and Watson
43:15were killed in action.
43:17Sergeant Carter died in 1963
43:19and Lieutenant Thomas
43:21passed on in 1980.
43:23Only one of the seven Medal of Honor
43:25recipients was alive
43:27to accept the award at the
43:291997 White House Ceremony.
43:31Authorized by Act of Congress
43:33as awarded in the name of the Congress
43:35the Medal of Honor to First Lieutenant
43:37Vernon J. Baker, United States Army.
43:39I was thinking
43:41about the 19 men
43:43I left up on the hill.
43:47They should be getting that
43:49instead of me.
43:51Because they made
43:53the supreme sacrifice.
43:57And God bless you, Vernon Baker.
43:59And God bless
44:01America.
44:03The medal itself
44:05is not
44:07the five-pointed star
44:09and the ribbon
44:11that suspends it around
44:13a soldier's neck.
44:15The Medal of Honor is an idea.
44:17It's an ideal
44:19of not just
44:21what a soldier has done
44:23but what America
44:25is all about
44:27in terms of this ideal of
44:29freedom and democracy
44:31and what this country stands for.
44:33That is the
44:35essence of the Medal of Honor.
44:41As Vernon
44:43Baker himself put it on the day
44:45he received his Medal of Honor
44:47America has a conscience
44:49and is clearing this conscience. Thank God.
44:51At least when it comes to awarding
44:53medals. I'm Bernie Mack
44:55and thanks for helping us celebrate
44:57Black History Month
44:59here on the History Channel.
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