By 1945, 432 American service members had received the Medal of Honor for their gallantry in the face of the enemy during World War II. Not a single Black man was among them. It took almost 50 years for the Army to recognize some of the incredible heroics of Black American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines during the war.
More than a million Black men wore the uniform of the United States in World War II, and many of them saw combat. Among them, only a few received the highest awards, and none received the Medal of Honor. In 1993, the Army initiated a review of its World War II records to find out why.
It discovered a culture of discrimination that prevented the Army from awarding the medal to a handful of deserving heroes. When the Medals of Honor were officially presented in 1997, only one of these vets was still alive.
Robert Child, an Emmy-nominated writer and military historian, discusses this history in a new book, "Immortal Valor: The Black Medal of Honor Winners of World War II." He also gives a detailed account of the lives of the seven men, then tells their Medal of Honor story.
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Jim (US Army, ret'd)
