Instead of putting
individuals from both races together in the same unit, the Army
took segregated black and white platoons and merged them into an
integrated fighting force although the platoons themselves
remained segregated.
This integrated unit did fight well in the field and made a
significant contribution to the defeat of Germany in 1945. Negro
units, as well as individual Negro soldiers, made outstanding
contributions to the war effort both in Europe and in the
Pacific, and they received numerous commendations and citations.
Skeptics noted, however, that not a single Negro soldier had
received the Congressional Medal of Honor in either the First or
Second World Wars, and they suggested that the nation's highest
award was being reserved for whites.
Although most of the hostilities were focused on the enemy,
racial tensions still ran very high within America. Southern
whites were displeased with the self-confidence and manliness
brought out in Negroes by military experience, and they were
unhappy with the dignity which a military uniform conferred upon
them.
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