Garand Picture of the Day #178 93rd Div

First All-Black Comabt Division
Army's first all-black combat division, the 93rd, on parade after a 25-mile hike in the sweltering heat at Fort Huachuca.

The 93rd Infantry Division was a "colored" segregated unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. During tough combat in France it soon acquired from the French the nickname Blue Helmets. This referred to the service of several of its units with the French Army during the Second Battle of the Marne. Consequently, its shoulder patch became a blue French Adrian helmet, to commemorate its service with the French Army during the Spring Offensive.[1]

The division was reactivated as infantry on 15 May 1942 at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and shipped overseas in 1944. Most of the division did see service in the Pacific Theater during World War II, but the division's regiments were mainly utilized as construction units and in defensive operations. In 1945, the 93rd Infantry Division was inactivated, though the lineage of several of its units are carried on by the Illinois and Maryland Army National Guard.


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93rd Infantry Division (United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Odd, just helmet liner, mixture of 1903, 03A1 and M1s. They really didn't do tose fellas any favors did they?

A few years ago at Ft. H. I picked up a "Basic Field Manual, VOL III, Basic Weapons, Part One, Rifle Company, Chap 1A, Rifle Markmanship, U.S. Rifle, caliber .30, M1" dated 1938. Illustrations inside show the men wearing puttees, Smoky hats and using gas traps. Inside were photo booth photos of a black soldier, and a name written on the front.