DeepDiscountCD.com

Soldier Boy (Various Artists) on CD

As Helen Black wrote in The Gerontologist, African Americans in the oldest generation believed that enlisting into World War II would generate a turning point in their lives. They expected that competencies learned in the service would upgrade their status as skilled workers when they returned home. For many, this hope did not transpire. Although the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 prohibited discrimination by race in recruitment, African American World War II soldiers did not train, camp, or serve with white soldiers. For African American men who were wounded and needed blood transfusions, they received carefully separated blood that was labelled either "White" or "Black." When the war ended, segregated planes and trains took African American soldier's home. Accounts of World War II written by white commanders excluded or misreported the contributions of African American servicemen, focused on the failures of African American units, and highlighted the supposed frailties of the African race. On Memorial Day please remember those Black soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for a nation that did not honor them!