History of the American Negro in the Great World War: His Splendid Record in the Battle Zones of Europe; Including a Resume of His Past Services to his Country in the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, the War of Rebellion, the Indian Wars on the Frontier, the Spanish-American War, and the Late Imbroglio With MexicoSweeney, William Allison
History
History of the American Negro in the Great World War: His Splendid Record in the Battle Zones of Europe; Including a Resume of His Past Services to his Country in the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, the War of Rebellion, the Indian Wars on the Frontier, the Spanish-American War, and the Late Imbroglio With Mexico
Sweeney, William Allison
African American soldiers; African Americans -- History -- 1877-1964; World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, African American
"There was nothing to do but use my rifle as a club and jump into
them. I banged them on the dome and the side and everywhere I could
land until the butt of my rifle busted. One of the Germans
hollered, 'Rush him! Rush him!' I decided to do some rushing
myself. I grabbed my French bolo knife and slashed in a million
directions. Each slash meant something, believe me. I wasn't doing
exercises, let me tell you.
"I picked out an officer, a lieutenant I guess he was. I got him
and I got some more of them. They knocked me around considerable
and whanged me on the head, but I always managed to get back on my
feet. There was one guy that bothered me. He climbed on my back and
I had some job shaking him off and pitching him over my head. Then
I stuck him in the ribs with the bolo. I stuck one guy in the
stomach and he yelled in good New York talk: 'That black --------
got me.'
"I was still banging them when my crowd came up and saved me and
beat the Germans off. That fight lasted about an hour. That's about
all. There wasn't so much to it."
No, there was not much to it, excepting that next morning the Americans
found four German bodies with plentiful indications that at least
thirty-two others had been put on the casualty list and several of the
German dead probably had been dragged back by their comrades.
Thirty-eight bombs were found, besides rifles, bayonets and revolvers.
It was Irvin Cobb, the southern story writer, who first gave to the
world a brief account of the exploit of Johnson and Roberts in the
Saturday Evening Post during the summer of 1918. He commented as
follows:
"If ever proof were needed, which it is not, that the color of a
man's skin has nothing to do with the color of his soul, this twain
then and there offered it in abundance."
Mr. Cobb in the same article paid many tributes to the men of the 369th
and 371st serving at that time in that sector. Among other things he
said:
"They were soldiers who wore their uniforms with a smartened pride;
who were jaunty and alert and prompt in their movements; and who
expressed as some did vocally in my hearing, and all did by their
attitude, a sincere heartfelt inclination to get a whack at the foe
with the shortest possible delay."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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