"The War" (by Ken Burns) Part 3 of 7; Airing on PBS @ 7PM Central 9-24-07

“Why the inordinate amount of time spent on these groups and their sacrifice?”

I must say I am somwhat amazed at how many think it is just wonderful. Like many my family had multiple family member in the war. Burns can kiss my ass!

"With regard to the black volunteers/draftees, they surely did have a hard shake. "

One of the things that I learned from researching black troops in the Civil War was that in each ensuing war, it seems they had to re-prove themselves to be accepted as soldiers. If you go back in history, initially they were all used for fatigue and bull work. It wasn't until later in each war that the black soldier was allowed to see action.

During the years I was doing research on black Civil War soldiers, I met the grandson of one of the first men recruited into the 54th Massachusetts (movie "Glory"). This gentleman had retired as a Colonel from the U.S. Army. He eventually ended up being the commanding officer of an integrated unit during Truman's Presidency. He had initially been a member of the all-black paratrooper unit, the Triple Nickel. He said they continually practiced jumping out of planes. They got so good at it that they could put a chalk mark on the outside of the plane as they jumped. They kept hoping they'd be called for deployment overseas. He told me that one morning they were told to get their gear together for a jump, and they all thought that this was it, they were going overseas. But as it turns out, they were sent out west to fight fires. The unit never did get overseas. He finally quit the unit and enlisted in the Army where he ended up in the 92nd Infantry in Italy. During the Korean War, he was at Heartbreak Ridge. I felt very lucky to have been able to meet this gentleman and to listen to the story of his career.

"Some Americans who wanted to do their all for this nations were treated like crap for some pretty stupid reasons even for the 1940s."

Very true. They were treated like crap, while diplomats from Vichy, France were housed at The Hotel Hershey (Pa.) in the early years of the war. As well, German POW's were treated like gold at most US POW camps. I can't remember the name of the camp, but the program told how the Germans were paid, even if they were idle, and received better food than the people in the outlying towns were able to get. It made my blood boil.

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