The stevedore units were commanded almost entirely by white commissioned officers, with white sergeants and colored corporals. In some engineer units all the non-commissioned officers were white, though in rare cases they were all colored. The work of the Negro stevedore in the American Expeditionary Force was considered of prime importance. He was among the first to sail for France, and among the very first was a group of one hundred men from New Orleans. They and those who followed them were to be found at the base ports of Brest, St. Nazaire, Bordeaux, Marseilles, and Le Havre, and at such railheads as Tours, Liffol-le-Grand, Gierve, St. Sulpice, Chaumont, and other such centers. The largest of these ports was Brest, and here the men did more work than anywhere else. They handled all kinds of supplies at the docks, coaled ships, and helped to build piers and docks. They labored night and day, sometimes continuously for sixteen hours. Although they worked in the rain and snow, it was only after months had passed that they were provided with oil-skin suits and gum boots. One high officer said, “The men who worked on these docks have had the hardest job of any men in France, but their spirit has been fine.” In the “Race to Berlin” the Brest port won the championship, a company of the 310th Service Battalion winning the honor of having done more work than any similar outfit in France. As a reward it was sent back to the States earlier than would otherwise have been the case. The St. Nazaire base was the second largest port. Numerous camps were located outside the city, extending as far as fifteen kilometers. Twenty-eight miles of warehouses were constructed at Montois and filled with supplies of every description, while outside there were railroad engines, cars, and vast quantities of construction material. St. Nazaire was also a huge embarkation port. At times more than 50,000 colored soldiers were stationed in this vicinity. The long pier extending a mile out into the water was built almost exclusively by the 317th Engineers. The task was very dangerous, as the men had to work standing on slippery boards, but it was finally completed and stood as a memorial to the Negro soldiers. Camp Guthrie was built entirely by Negro men. They composed the personnel and ran the big troop kitchens, the delousing plants, the officers’ mess halls, and the infirmaries. Here, as at Brest, the hardest work on the docks was done exclusively by Negro soldiers. This included coaling ships and unloading supplies of all kinds, including railroad engines and tractors. During the “Race to Berlin” new port records for unloading ships were made weekly. The men sometimes “worked like mad men,” having received the impression that they were going home as soon as the armistice was signed. Badges were given to those who got the most work done, and the base port winning the week’s competition flew a flag for the next week. In addition to the work on the docks, the soldiers