Sidelights on Negro SoldiersWilliams, Charles H. (Charles Halston)
History
Sidelights on Negro Soldiers
Williams, Charles H. (Charles Halston)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, African American
H. E. Caldwell, with the 369th Regiment, was under shell fire longer
than any other Negro secretary. Matthew W. Bullock and Dr. B. N.
Murrell followed the 369th into the thickest of the fight and were with
it when it led the allied armies to the banks of the Rhine, a position
of honor accorded it because of its excellent service in the trenches.
Of Mr. Bullock it was said that when the fight was hardest and the
soldiers were wounded and dying, he was ever with his men encouraging
them to press forward to victory. Of Dr. Murrell we shall speak again.
T. C. Cook, of the 371st Regiment, was cited in orders for his bravery
in rescuing two wounded soldiers exposed in pouring rain and shell
fire. He succeeded in moving them to a narrow dug-out that was soon
afterwards filled with poisonous gas. In attempting to escape, he left
the dug-out only to fall unconscious in the open. On that morning of
the battle officers and men had entrusted to his care $35,000 of their
savings, which he carried on his back as he helped the wounded. When
he regained consciousness in a hospital behind the lines, he found
that the money had disappeared, but his anxiety was relieved when he
was informed that the colored sergeant-major of the regiment, whom he
had requested to guard the money in case of accident to himself, had
forwarded it to the Paris office of the Y. M. C. A. and that every cent
had been safely delivered. Of Secretary James G. Wiley of the 92nd
Division Lt. Col. A. E. Deitsch wrote: “During the occupancy of the
Marbache sector, he established an Association in the town of Atton
which was bombarded daily. Even when the German bombardment tore the
roof from the building and all civilians had left the vicinity, only
the soldiers necessary for the relaying of supplies and ammunition to
the front lines remaining, this man held on and served the soldiers
faithfully.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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