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
Private Tillman Webster, Machine Gun Company, home address, Alexandria,
La.; for extraordinary heroism in action near Ardeuil, September 29,
1918.
Private Ellison Moses, Company C, home address, Mayesville, S.C.; for
extraordinary heroism in action near Ardeuil, September 30, 1918.
Private Hunius Diggs, Company G, home address, Lilesville, N.C.; for
extraordinary heroism in action near Ardeuil, September 30, 1918.
The two regiments, besides the regimental Croix de Guerre, awarded for
gallantry in the Champagne, won individual decorations amounting in the
aggregate to 168 Croix de Guerre, 38 Distinguished Service Crosses, four
Medal Militaire and two crosses of the Legion of Honor.
An incident of the service of the 371st and particularly emphasizing the
honesty and faithfulness of the Negro Y.M.C.A. and the regiment's
medical detachment, was the case of Prof. H.O. Cook, a teacher in the
Lincoln High School at Kansas City, Mo. Professor Cook, a Y.M.C.A. man
attached to the sector which the 371st was holding during the great
offensive in September, went with the men to the front line trenches and
rendered valuable aid among the wounded until he was gassed. Owing to
the fact that there were no facilities at that particular time, for the
safe keeping of money and valuables, he carried on his person more than
150,000 francs (in normal times $30,000) which boys in the regiment had
given him to keep when they went over the top.
After being gassed he was walked over for an hour before being
discovered. The money was found and sent by Sergeant Major White also
colored, to general headquarters at Chaumont. When Prof. Cook was
discharged from the hospital and made inquiry about the money, it was
returned to him. Not a cent was missing. Colonel Miles recommended that
General Pershing award Prof. Cook a Distinguished Service Cross.
The men of the 93rd Division and other Negro divisions and organizations
will never forget their French comrades and friends. It was a lad of the
371st regiment who wrote the following to his mother. The censor allowed
the original to proceed but copied the extract as a document of human
interest; in that it was a boyish and unconscious arraignment of his own
country--for which he with many thousands of others, were risking their
lives.
"Mammy,
these French people don't bother with no color line business. They
treat us so good that the only time I ever know I'm colored is when
I look in the glass."
The 371st regiment had 123 men killed in action and about 600 wounded or
gassed. The casualties of the 372nd consisted of 91 killed in action and
between 600 and 700 wounded or gassed. Like the other Negro regiments of
the 93rd Division, there was comparatively little sickness among the
men, outside of that induced by hard service conditions.
HEROES OF THE 371ST AND 372ND.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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