HOW SAD

[browningautorifle]

The "Red Tails".

And they underwent as much as anyone, right to their C.O., who carried enough rank and clout but wasn't taken seriously by many.

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

During my Vietnam tours the blacks segregated themselves in the barracks and during R&R's.
My coxswain was black and a great guy. Talked and joked with the other three on our boat. As soon as another black was around his attitude changed. I'm not saying they weren't wronged in many ways. But sometimes it seemed like they didn't try to make things go as smooth as they could either.
Times change and today my friends of color have no outward issues with others. Most want the entitlements some feel they deserve from past atrocities would vanish.
In the US the blacks weren't treated the worst. We just killed the American Indians for their land. That was horrific.
As been said, treat others as you would like to be treated.

[Gil Boyd]

Jim,
Yes that is what my Dad told me at a very early age. A man who joined the RAF during WW2 from Ireland, married a German girl (my mother) so they both saw it first had and they were white. There was a lot of racism towards him coming from Ireland and certainly bringing a blond haired ble eyed frau didn't help matters for many years.
I saw it first hand at many German RAF bases my Dad was posted too, my mum got a lot of ****, and so unecessary and hurtful.
How my old man kept it together I'll never know, but it did help being the RAF Boxing champion for a number of years!!!

The American Indian, the Amazonian Indians have both been treated appallingly.
Both beaten down by the White man wanting his land in both cases for many diverse reasons, some mineral wealth, some for railroads and others purely for the logging, where jungles laid to waste to serve the white mans greed.

Massive subject, but as long as you treat everybody the way you would expect to be treated yourself, things can never go wrong IMHO!!

[Peter Laidler]

It was said that the 'Pacific islanders' that the British Army recruited in the early 80's were similar to your experience too Jim. Great, tough blokes. But when a few of them got together there were problems with truculence and the like. Difficult problem for the Warrant Officers and senior NCO's to sort out without the usual 'pronouncements'. I could say more but best let sleeping dogs and all that...........

[GeeRam]

There I was looking at the history of the Harley Davidson in Military service especially in use with the Royal Military Police and came across this photo of the U.S Military Police. How sad to see so much racism even in WW2 that they needed to segregate their units like that.

And it applied to any visitors to US bases as well during WW2, as happened in North Africa when some of 1st Airborne Recconaissance Sqn were on exercise and billeted at a US base. One of the legendary members of 1st AB Recce was Trooper C.C. 'Darkie' Bolton, who was a Liverpudlian of West Indian origin, and when they went into the mess for a meal for the first time, as they queued up, the US cook pointed at Darkie, telling him 'Over the other side for you boy', pointed at the seperate facilities for blacks. Things kicked off with a couple of the troop all for sorting out the cook on the spot, and Captain Grubb said to the Americans, "That man eats with us or we all go", but the Americans wouldn't wear it, so all officers and men of the troop walked out telling the Americans what they could do with their food (which didn't go down too well with the Americans either)
Darkie Bolton was a legend with the Bren gun and was awarded the Bronze Cross by the Dutch for his actions at Arnhem.