built and repaired roads, built railroads, warehouses, a round house, a water-filtering plant, and did general fatigue duty. In referring to what they accomplished a major said, “It has been no hero service, but has been hard, long, and faithful, and it is appreciated. These men have handled 30,000 tons of material in one day.” Another officer said, “Many colored soldiers are sleeping in the little graveyard on the hill because they broke their heartstrings in the ‘Race to Berlin.’” Bordeaux was the third of the large ports. In the camps outside the city as many as fifty thousand soldiers were stationed at times. At St. Sulpice in the Bordeaux area the American army built and filled with provisions and munitions about one hundred warehouses. At two camps on the outskirts of the city, Anconia and Bassens, twenty thousand Negro soldiers were stationed for months, handling cargoes day and night. Many of them worked sixteen hours a day and rarely ever saw the camp in the daytime, as they went to and from work in the dark. The work at the other base ports was similar, though on a smaller scale. Sometimes hundreds of miles of railroad track had to be laid or great steel warehouses erected. Gierve was outstanding as a center for such work, as it was the largest supply depot in France. Warehouses here covered an area seven miles long and three miles wide. There were always some Negro units stationed at this place, along with white units which did stevedore work. The two organizations which served at Gierve for the longest period were the 313th and 328th Negro labor battalions. At Liffol-le-Grand, near Chaumont, the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the American Army, there was another large supply depot. Here the Negro engineers drained and cleared a swamp, laid miles of railroad track, and helped to build a large round house and several warehouses.