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Profile in Courage: America's First World War Hero

Henry Johnson was a World War I soldier who singlehandedly beat back a German assault while critically wounded. He was a great American hero and received the highest military honor of two different countries. One of those countries, however, his very own, didn't bestow that medal until nearly 100 years after his service in WWI.

The honor this man deserved was not awarded by the U.S. government upon his return home, because he was black. But that racism was eventually overcome, if only by the undeniable memory of his heroism.

In 1917, a young Henry Johnson was working as a Red Cap porter at an Albany, New York train station joined the 15th New York National Guard Regiment. Due to U.S. segregation policies, it was an all-black regiment. Due to be shipped out to France as the U.S. declared war on Germany and its allies, the 15th New York was renamed the 369th Infantry Regiment and placed within the American Expeditionary Force under General John J. Pershing.

Johnson arrived in France on New Year's Day, 1918. The African-American troops of the U.S. Army were harassed, sometimes even killed, by their Caucasian counterparts who would sometimes refuse to fight alongside them. The officers also distrusted them, harassed them, and issued disparaging remarks and pamphlets to French military and civilians about their black Soldiers.

Thus, black regiments were very poorly trained and most often assigned to menial labor like carrying supplies and digging ditches and latrines.

The French, however, didn't nearly conform to the U.S. military's blind prejudice. When their Fourth Army, short on troops, was offered the 369th Infantry Regiment to reinforce their line, they gladly took on the Soldiers and put them to use as just that. They were given French rifles and helmets and stationed at Outpost 20 in the Argonne Forest, in France's Champagne region, just West of the infamous battlefields of Verdun.

In the early morning hours of May 14th, 1918, Johnson and Needham Roberts of Trenton New Jersey were on guard duty. Just before 2 AM, shots from German snipers whizzed by and they knew the enemy was on the prowl.

Right at 2 AM, Johnson and Roberts heard the snip and clip of cutters on the perimeter wire and readied themselves for an attack. Johnson, with a box of grenades at his side, told Roberts to run back and alert the French troops.

As Roberts ran, Johnson began to hurl grenades out of the trench, towards the Germans. From the darkness, the Germans responded in kind with grenades and gunfire. Roberts couldn't leave his comrade behind and ran back to help, but he was struck by a German grenade and severely wounded in his arm and his hip.

When he was out of grenades, Johnson fired his rifle. He was hit by answering rifle fire, taking hits in his hands and face. He fired round after round until grabbing an American ammo cartridge by mistake and jamming his French rifle.

Suddenly, the Germans were all around, jumping into the trench. At least a dozen Soldiers descended upon the two wounded men thought to be inferior by their white U.S. comrades. Johnson, already with numerous bullet holes in his body, proved that notion of inferiority to be completely false.

Using his rifle as a club, he swung at the enemy, landing crippling blows until his stock finally shattered. Johnson was hit over the head and collapsed. Perhaps if he had been alone, he would have called it quits, obviously outnumbered and badly injured. But he could see the German Soldiers grabbing Roberts, taking him away as a prisoner.

Johnson leaped up, pulled out his bolo knife and charged into the enemy once more.

The knife he gripped in his hand was adopted by the U.S. Army almost ten years earlier. The Army first encountered it in the Spanish-American war, wielded by native guerrilla fighters in the Philippines. Mostly used for agricultural purposes, this big knife, often between a foot and two feet long, was made by metal workers all across the country. Weighted along the back of its sharp, curved blade, the bolo made an exceptional slicing and hacking weapon that could cleave bones with one well-balanced swing.

The whole French force in the region gathered to see Johnson and Roberts awarded the Croix du Guerre, the county's highest military honor. They were the first U.S. Soldiers ever to earn this distinction. Johnson's medal was further adorned with the Gold Palm. He became known as "Black Death."

Upon his return home, Johnson, promoted to Sergeant, lead a parade of 3,000 men from the 369th through New York City to Harlem. More than 500 men of the 369th had earned the Croix du Guerre since Johnson and Roberts and furthermore became one of the most decorated U.S. regiments to serve in WWI. They garnered the nickname the "Harlem Hellfighters." But despite this, the parade Johnson led was for black servicemen only since they weren't allowed to participate in the main victory parade.

To add further insult to Johnson's injuries, no mention of his battle wounds was made in his discharge papers. This meant he not only that he did not receive a Purple Heart but also was denied medical benefits due to an injured veteran, even when the U.S. Army was using his story as propaganda for recruitment.

Because of his injuries, he couldn't keep a job. Descending into alcoholism, he was left by his wife and three children. In 1929, he died at the age of 32, a discarded American hero.

But his memory did live on. His son, Herman Johnson, who served in the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, along with New York Senator Chuck Schumer and others, fought to have his father's valor officially recognized. In the 1990s, a monument was erected in Albany in Johnson's honor and President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded him the Purple Heart. In 2002, the U.S. Army granted him the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest honor the military has. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the top honor, the Medal of Honour. The French had long since recognized him as a war hero.

The all-African-American 369th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army arrived in France in January 1918. In an era of racial prejudice and segregation within the armed forces, its Soldiers were initially assigned only menial labor such as unloading cargo and cleaning latrines. But when the strapped French Fourth Army needed more troops, the U.S. Army lent it the so-called "Harlem Hellfighters," hundreds of whom would go on to win France's Croix de Guerre for their brave service. One of them was Henry Johnson, whose fierce exploits in the Argonne on the night of May 4, 1918, earned him the nickname "Black Death." Nearly a century after his service, Johnson - who died in 1929 at the age of 32 - has received the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, in a ceremony at the White House.

 In 1917, Henry Johnson was working as a railroad porter in Albany, New York, when the United States declared war on Germany. At the time, before the Selective Service Act introduced conscription, African-American volunteers were only allowed in four all-black regiments in the Army and a few National Guard units. Johnson enlisted in the 15th New York National Guard Regiment, which was converted into the 369th Infantry Regiment for the purposes of the war. The regiment belonged to the largely black 93rd Division of the American Expeditionary Force, a hastily assembled division that would be among the first American forces to arrive in France. Most of the 369th's Soldiers came from Harlem, San Juan Hill (around 59th Street in Manhattan) and Williamsburg, Brooklyn; after their exploits in France, they would be dubbed the "Harlem Hellfighters."

In the early months of 1918, with France stretched to its limits in its struggle against Germany, U.S. General John Pershing lent the 369th to the Fourth Army, though he made it clear he considered black Soldiers inferior to whites. In fact, Pershing went even further in his directive to the French Military Mission, writing that the black man lacked a "civic and professional conscience" and was a "constant menace to the American." To their credit, the French paid little attention to Pershing's warnings. They sent the 369th to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, in the Champagne region of France.

Outfitted in French military garb, Johnson and another private, Needham Roberts of New Jersey, were serving sentry duty on the night of May 4, 1918, when German snipers began firing on them. 

The French, however, didn't nearly conform to the U.S. military's blind prejudice. When their Fourth Army, short on troops, was offered the 369th Infantry Regiment to reinforce their line, they gladly took on the Soldiers and put them to use as just that. They were given French rifles and helmets and stationed at Outpost 20 in the Argonne Forest, in France's Champagne region, just West of the infamous battlefields of Verdun.

In the early morning hours of May 14th, 1918, Johnson and Needham Roberts of Trenton New Jersey were on guard duty. Just before 2 AM, shots from German snipers whizzed by and they knew the enemy was on the prowl.

Right at 2 AM, Johnson and Roberts heard the snip and clip of cutters on the perimeter wire and readied themselves for an attack. Johnson, with a box of grenades at his side, told Roberts to run back and alert the French troops.

As Roberts ran, Johnson began to hurl grenades out of the trench, towards the Germans. From the darkness, the Germans responded in kind with grenades and gunfire. Roberts couldn't leave his comrade behind and ran back to help, but he was struck by a German grenade and severely wounded in his arm and his hip.

When he was out of grenades, Johnson fired his rifle. He was hit by answering rifle fire, taking hits in his hands and face. He fired round after round until grabbing an American ammo cartridge by mistake and jamming his French rifle.

Suddenly, the Germans were all around, jumping into the trench. At least a dozen Soldiers descended upon the two wounded men thought to be inferior by their white U.S. comrades. Johnson, already with numerous bullet holes in his body, proved that notion of inferiority was a false assertion.

Using his rifle as a club, he swung at the enemy, landing crippling blows until his stock finally shattered. Johnson was hit over the head and collapsed. Perhaps if he had been alone, he would have called it quits, obviously outnumbered and badly injured. But he could see the German Soldiers grabbing Roberts, taking him away as a prisoner.

Johnson leaped up, pulled out his bolo knife and charged into the enemy once more.

The knife he gripped in his hand was adopted by the U.S. Army almost ten years earlier. The Army first encountered it in the Spanish-American war, wielded by native guerrilla fighters in the Philippines. Mostly used for agricultural purposes, this big knife, often between a foot and two feet long, was made by metal workers across the country. Weighted along the back of its sharp, curved blade, the bolo made an exceptional slicing and hacking weapon that could cleave bones with one well-balanced swing.

The Germans in that trench received a quick lesson in just how terrifying this weapon was when wielded by a man committed to fighting to his last breath.

Johnson stabbed one soldier in the stomach. He killed an officer as he was shot in the arm. One German tried to tackle him by jumping on his back but instead was stopped by Johnson's blade between his ribs. Overwhelmed by his ferocity and with the sound of French and American troops running towards the skirmish, the Germans ran back into the night.

As the reinforcements arrived, Johnson collapsed. He had been shot, stabbed, beaten and hit with grenade shrapnel, taking a total of 21 severe injuries in his desperate fight.

The whole French force in the region gathered to see Johnson and Roberts awarded the Croix du Guerre, the county's highest military honor. They were the first U.S. Soldiers ever to earn this distinction. Johnson's medal was further adorned with the Gold Palm. He became known as "Black Death."

Upon his return home, Johnson, promoted to Sergeant, lead a parade of 3,000 men from the 369th through New York City to Harlem. More than 500 men of the 369th had earned the Croix du Guerre since Johnson and Roberts and furthermore became one of the most decorated U.S. regiments to serve in WWI. They garnered the nickname the "Harlem Hellfighters." But despite this, the parade Johnson led was for black servicemen only since they weren't allowed to participate in the main victory parade.

To add further insult to Johnson's injuries, no mention of his battle wounds was made in his discharge papers. This meant he not only that he did not receive a Purple Heart but also was denied medical benefits due to an injured veteran, even when the U.S. Army was using his story as propaganda for recruitment.

Johnson stabbed one soldier in the stomach and another in the ribs and was still fighting when more French and American troops arrived on the scene, causing the Germans to retreat. 

When the reinforcements got there, Johnson fainted from the 21 wounds he had sustained in the one-hour battle. All told, he had killed four Germans and wounded some 10 to 20 more and prevented them from breaking the French line. 

The French awarded both Johnson and Roberts the Croix de Guerre; Johnson's included the coveted Gold Palm for extraordinary valor. In all, some 500 members of the Harlem Hellfighters earned the Croix de Guerre during World War I, showing France's appreciation for their sacrifice.

When Johnson and his fellow Hellfighters arrived home in February 1919, they were honored with a parade up New York's Fifth Avenue. Thousands of spectators lined the route to watch Johnson lead nearly 3,000 troops in an open car towards Harlem, holding a bouquet of lilies. The celebration had a dark side, however: The 369th were given their own parade because they weren't allowed to join the official victory parade alongside other returning U.S. troops.

Though former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt called Johnson one of the "five bravest Americans" to serve in World War I, and the government used his image on Victory War stamps and army recruiting materials, Johnson's discharge papers made no mention of his many wounds, and he received no disability pay after the war. Johnson returned to Albany, and to his job as a railroad porter, but his injuries made it difficult for him to work, and he soon began to decline into alcoholism and poverty. His wife and children left him, and he died penniless in 1929 at the age of 32. As far as anyone in his family knew, he ended up in a pauper's grave in Albany.

Starting in the 1990s, however, Johnson's story began gaining more recognition. Albany erected a monument in his honor, and a campaign was launched to get the United States government to posthumously recognize Johnson for his service. Spearheaded by Johnson's son Herman - who was one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II - and New York politicians including Senator Chuck Schumer, the efforts gained ground over the years, and in 1996 President Bill Clinton awarded Johnson a Purple Heart. In 2001, historians from the New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs confirmed that Johnson had, in fact, received a burial with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in July of 1929, unbeknownst to his family. In 2002, the U.S. Army awarded Johnson the nation's second-highest military honor, the Distinguished Service Cross.

Still, Schumer and other Johnson supporters continued their dedicated campaign to win Johnson the recognition they felt he deserved and had been denied solely because of the color of his skin. After nearly two decades, their efforts were finally rewarded last month when the White House announced that Johnson would receive the Medal of Honor on June 2. 

Among the new information that convinced the U.S. Army to bestow its highest award was a communique from Pershing, written shortly after the Argonne battle, commending Johnson's performance. 

As reported by NBC News, one of Senator Schumer's staffers turned up the previously unknown document in her research, along with firsthand accounts of the battle from Roberts and other Soldiers. Command Sergeant Major Louis Wilson of the New York National Guard accepted the Medal of Honor on behalf of Henry Johnson.

Before Johnson's son Herman passed away in 2004, he got to stand at his father's grave. Herman Johnson had spent most of his life believing his father was laid to rest in some unknown pauper's grave. But military records found in 2001 revealed Johnson was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full honors.


 

Battlefield Chronicles: Sherman's March to the Sea

The March to the Sea, the most destructive campaign against a civilian population during the Civil War (1861-65), began in Atlanta on November 15, 1864, and ended in Savannah on December 21, 1864. Union General William T. Sherman abandoned his supply line and marched across Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean to prove to the Confederate population that its government could not protect the people from invaders. He practiced psychological warfare; he believed that by marching an Army across the state he would demonstrate to the world that the Union had a power the Confederacy could not resist. "This may not be war," he said, “but rather statesmanship.” 

After Sherman's forces captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864, Sherman spent several weeks concerned with preparations for a change of base to the coast. He rejected the Union plan to move through Alabama to Mobile, pointing out that after Rear Admiral David G. Farragut closed Mobile Bay in August 1864, the Alabama port no longer held any military significance. Rather, he decided to proceed southeast toward Savannah or Charleston. He carefully studied census records to determine which route could provide food for his men and forage for his animals. Although U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was skeptical and did not want Sherman to move into enemy territory before the presidential election in November, Sherman persuaded his friend Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant that the campaign was possible in winter. Through Grant's intervention, Sherman finally gained permission, although he had to delay until after election day.  

After General John Bell Hood abandoned Atlanta, he moved the Confederate Army of Tennessee outside the city to recuperate from the previous campaign. Early in October, he began a raid toward Chattanooga, Tennessee, in an effort to draw Sherman back over ground the two sides had fought for since May. But instead of tempting Sherman to battle, Hood turned his Army west and marched into Alabama, abandoning Georgia to Union forces. Apparently, Hood hoped that if he invaded Tennessee, Sherman would be forced to follow. Sherman, however, had anticipated this strategy and had sent Major General George H. Thomas to Nashville to deal with Hood. With Georgia cleared of the Confederate Army, Sherman, facing only scattered cavalry, was free to move south.  

Sherman divided his approximately 60,000 troops into two roughly equal wings. The right wing was under Oliver O. Howard. Peter J. Osterhaus commanded the Fifteenth Corps, and Francis P. Blair Jr. commanded the Seventeenth Corps. The left wing was commanded by Henry W. Slocum, with the Fourteenth Corps under Jefferson C. Davis and the Twentieth Corps under Alpheus S. Williams. Judson Kilpatrick led the cavalry. Sherman had about 2,500 supply wagons and 600 ambulances. Before the Army left Atlanta, the general issued an order outlining the rules of the march, but Soldiers often ignored the restrictions on foraging.  

The two wings advanced by separate routes, generally staying twenty miles to forty miles apart. The right-wing headed for Macon, the left-wing in the direction of Augusta before the two commands turned and bypassed both cities. They now headed for the state capital at Milledgeville. Opposing Sherman's advance was Confederate cavalry, about 8,000 strong, under Major General Joseph Wheeler and various units of Georgia militia under Gustavus W. Smith. Although William J. Hardee had overall command in Georgia, with his headquarters at Savannah, neither he nor Governor Joseph E. Brown could do anything to stop Sherman's advance. Sherman's foragers quickly became known as "bummers" as they raided farms and plantations. On November 23rd the state capitol peacefully surrendered, and Sherman occupied the vacant governor's mansion and the capitol building.  

There were a number of skirmishes between Wheeler's cavalry and Union troopers, but only two battles of any significance. The first came east of Macon at the factory town of Griswoldville on November 22nd, when Georgia militia faced Union infantry with disastrous results. The Confederates suffered 650 men killed or wounded in a one-sided battle that left about 62 casualties on the Union side. The second battle occurred on the Ogeechee River twelve miles below Savannah. Union Infantry under William B. Hazen assaulted and captured Fort McAllister on December 13th, thus opening the back door to the port city. The most controversial event involved contrabands (escaped slaves) who followed the liberating armies.  

At Ebenezer Creek on December 9th, Jefferson C. Davis removed the pontoon bridge before the slaves crossed. Frightened men, women, and children plunged into the deep water, and many drowned in an attempt to reach safety. After the march, Davis was soundly criticized by the Northern press, but Sherman backed his commander by pointing out that Davis had done what was militarily necessary.  

After Fort McAllister fell, Sherman made preparations for a siege of Savannah.  

Confederate Lieutenant General Hardee, realizing his small Army could not hold out long and not wanting the city leveled by artillery as had happened at Atlanta, ordered his men to abandon the trenches and retreat to South Carolina. Sherman, who was not with the Union Army when Mayor Richard Arnold surrendered Savannah (he had gone to Hilton Head, South Carolina, to make preparations for a siege and was on his way back to Georgia), telegraphed President Lincoln on December 22nd that the city had fallen. He offered Savannah and its 25,000 bales of cotton to the President as a Christmas present. 

Sherman's march frightened and appalled Southerners. It hurt morale, for civilians had believed the Confederacy could protect the home front. Sherman had terrorized the countryside; his men had destroyed all sources of food and forage and had left behind a hungry and demoralized people. 

Although he did not level any towns, he did destroy buildings in places where there was resistance. His men had shown little sympathy for Millen, the site of Camp Lawton, where Union prisoners of war were held. Physical attacks on white civilians were few, although it is not known how slave women fared at the hands of the invaders. Often male slaves posted guards outside the cabins of their female friends and relatives. 

Confederate President Jefferson Davis had urged Georgians to undertake a scorched-earth policy of poisoning wells and burning fields, but civilians in the Army's path had not done so. Sherman, however, burned or captured all the food stores that Georgians had saved for the winter months. As a result of the hardships on women and children, desertions increased in Robert E. Lee's Army in Virginia. Sherman believed his campaign against civilians would shorten the war by breaking the Confederate will to fight, and he eventually received permission to carry this psychological warfare into South Carolina in early 1865. By marching through Georgia and South Carolina he became an archvillain in the South and a hero in the North. 

 


Military Myths & Legends: Five Myths About the Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick say their multi-part PBS documentary about the Vietnam War, which concluded at the end of September, was intended to unpack a complex conflict and to embark upon the process of healing and reconciliation. The series has catapulted the Vietnam War back into the national consciousness. But despite thousands of books, articles and films about this moment in our history, there remain many deeply entrenched myths.

MYTH NO. 1 - The Viet Cong was a scrappy guerrilla force fighting a superpower.

"Vastly superior in tools and techniques, and militarily dominant over much of the world," historian Ronald Aronson wrote about the hegemonic United States and the impudent rebels, "the Goliath sought to impose on David a peace favorable to his vision of the world." Recode recently compared the Viet Cong to Uber: "young, scrappy and hungry troops break rules and create new norms, shocking the enemy." In reality, the Viet Cong, the pro-North force in South Vietnam, was armed by both North Vietnam - which planned, controlled and directed Viet Cong campaigns in the South - and the Soviet Union. According to the CIA, from 1954 to 1968, communist nations (primarily the Soviet Union and China) provided the North with $3.2 billion in military and economic aid, mostly coming after 1964 as the war accelerated. Other sources suggest the number was more than double that figure.

The Viet Cong had powerful and modern AK-47s, a Soviet-made automatic rifle that was the equivalent of the M-16 used by American troops. Its fighters were also equipped with submachine guns, grenades, rocket launchers and an array of other weapons. By contrast, the U.S. military gave the South Vietnamese armed forces old World War II-era castoffs, such as M-1 rifles, until the late 1970s.

MYTH NO. 2 - The Vietnamese refugees who came to the United States represented the elite.

As the Immigration Policy Center's Alicia Campi has put it, the 130,000 Vietnamese who came to the United States at the end of the conflict "were generally high-skilled and well-educated" people. Sociologist Carl Bankston described this group as "the elite of South Vietnam."

Although the group that fled in 1975, referred to as the first wave, was more educated and middle-class, many who arrived through the U.S.-sponsored evacuation efforts were also people with close ties to the Americans in Vietnam whom Washington had promised to rescue. 
They were not necessarily "elite." These included ordinary soldiers of South Vietnam as well as people who had worked as clerks or secretaries in the U.S. Embassy.

The second wave of refugees who left Vietnam after 1975 numbered approximately 2 million. They came from rural areas and were often less educated. Most escaped on rickety wooden boats and became known as "boat people"; they deluged neighboring countries of "first asylum" - Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Indonesia - at a rate of 2,000 to 50,000 per month. More than 400,000 were admitted into the United States.

The third wave of refugees, of which an estimated 159,000 came to the United States beginning in 1989, were offspring of American fathers and Vietnamese mothers, as well as political prisoners and those who had been put in "reeducation camps."

MYTH NO. 3 - The American fighting force in Vietnam relied on the draft.

Popular culture is rife with examples of poor and minority soldiers arriving in Vietnam via the draft and then dying. The idea runs through the heart of Robert Zemeckis's "Forrest Gump," Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" and Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter," among other movies and books. Vietnam was "the most blatant class war since the Civil War," as James Fallows put it in his 1989 book "More Like Us."

The facts show otherwise. Findings from the Report of the President's Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force in February 1970 show that 78 percent of active-duty troops in 1965 were volunteers. Nor did the military rely primarily on disadvantaged citizens or African Americans. According to the commission's report, African Americans "constituted only 12.7 percent of nearly 1.7 million enlisted men serving voluntarily in 1969." Seventy-nine percent of troops had at least a high school education (compared with 63 percent of Korean War veterans and 45 percent of World War II veterans). And according to VFW Magazine, 50 percent were from middle-income backgrounds, and 88 percent were white (representing 86 percent of the deaths).

MYTH NO. 4 - Communist forces breached the U.S. Embassy in Saigon during the Tet Offensive.

One of the most pivotal events of the Vietnam War was the attack by the Viet Cong on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon in 1968. Retired ambassador David F. Lambertson, who served as a political officer there, said in one account that "it was a shock to American and world opinion. The attack on the Embassy, the single most powerful symbol of U.S. presence signaled that something was badly wrong in Vietnam. The Tet Offensive broke the back of American public opinion." Early reports by the Associated Press said the Viet Cong had occupied the building. UPI claimed that the fighters had taken over five floors.

In fact, communist forces had blasted a hole through an outer wall of the compound and hunkered down in a six-hour battle against U.S. and South Vietnamese forces. The embassy was never occupied, and the Viet Cong attackers were killed. The Tet Offensive's other coordinated attacks by 60,000 enemy troops against South Vietnamese targets were repelled. Don Oberdorfer, writing for Smithsonian Magazine, observed that Tet was a military disaster for the North, yet it was "a battlefield defeat that ultimately yielded victory" for the enemy.

In part, that was because the erroneous reports about the embassy assault were searing and humiliating to Americans, and no subsequent military victories during Tet could dislodge the powerful notion that the war effort was doomed.

MYTH NO. 5 - South Vietnamese soldiers were unwilling and unable to fight.

Some contend that the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the South's army, was not up to the job. Andy Walpole, formerly of Liverpool John Moores University, wrote that "they were unwilling to engage in combat with their guerrilla counterparts and were more interested in surviving than winning." Harry F. Noyes, who served in Vietnam, complained about this widespread belief: "Everybody ‘knows' they were incompetent, treacherous and cowardly."

But those who fought alongside the ARVN tell a different story. Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, adviser to the South Vietnamese Airborne Division, bemoaned that "the sacrifice and valor and commitment of the South Vietnamese Army largely disappeared from the American political and media consciousness." He wrote of the tenacious fighting spirit of those troops, particularly at the Battle of Dong Ha, where they were charged with supporting American Marine units. "In combat, the South Vietnamese refused to leave their own dead or wounded troopers on the field or abandon a weapon," he recalled.

South Vietnamese forces also fought off the surprise communist assaults on Saigon and elsewhere during the Tet Offensive of 1968. In August and September of that year, according to Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of U.S. military operations from 1968 to 1972, "the ARVN killed more enemy than all other allied forces combined, and suffered more KIA, both actual and on the basis of the ratio of enemy to friendly killed in action," because it received less air and other tactical support than U.S. forces. In March 1972, during the Easter Offensive, South Vietnamese forces, with American air support, also prevailed against a conventional enemy invasion consisting of 20 divisions. And in April 1975, the 18th Division defending Xuan Loc "held off massive attacks by an entire North Vietnamese Army corps," according to one report. In the end, those soldiers had even more at stake than the Americans did.

Source: Lan Ca


 

Montagnards Resettle in North Carolina

Even though many Americans are worried about international terrorism and are taking extra precautions to protect themselves and their families, that nervousness apparently has not dampened the American spirit of generosity. Volunteers in the southeastern state of North Carolina are donating more of their time and money to help resettle hundreds of Southeast Asian refugees arriving on America's shores.

About 900 refugees from the highlands of Vietnam are being resettled in North Carolina. The people, known as Montagnards, have been living in refugee camps in Cambodia after fleeing from Vietnam last year.

The Montagnards are tribal people, culturally different from the Vietnamese, and speak a variety of dialects. They are mostly Christian and strong opponents of communism. During the Vietnam War, the Montagnards fought with U.S. troops against the North Vietnamese. When the communist government came to power in 1975, many Montagnards fled Vietnam. Those left behind say they have suffered discrimination and persecution.

Ama Kse, a member of the Montagnard Dega Association in North Carolina, explains: "The problem is the Vietnamese government took the ancestral land from the Montagnards. And they use Montagnard land to build up plantations - coffee plantations and rubber plantations. And after 1975, the Vietnamese government brought a lot of Vietnamese population from many, many different provinces in Vietnam to the highlands. This has created a big problem because the Montagnards do not have enough knowledge and skill to compete with the Vietnamese population."

In February 2001, the Montagnards staged peaceful demonstrations, calling for religious freedom and protesting the government's encroachment on their tribal lands. When the government used force to end the protests, several hundred Montagnards fled to Cambodia.

Vietnam denies that it discriminates against the Montagnards or persecutes them for their religion, and Hanoi demanded the refugees be returned. After pressure from human rights groups, Cambodia agreed to let the people resettle in the United States. But Cambodia closed its camps and said any more Montagnard asylum seekers would be sent back to Vietnam.

Because the Montagnards had been so helpful to the U.S. Special Forces during the Vietnam War, many Special Forces Soldiers who retired to North Carolina invited the first group of Montagnard refugees in 1986 to settle there. Later groups went to the state to join relatives or friends. Now, about 3,000 Montagnards live in North Carolina, which is the largest Montagnard community outside Vietnam. Ama Kse first went to France as a refugee in 1986. But in 1992 he went to North Carolina to help the Montagnards settling there. Ama Kse is a nickname. He asked that his real name not be used, to protect relatives still in Vietnam.

He and his colleagues in the Montagnard Dega Association will provide English lessons and transportation for the refugees arriving this month and help them find jobs. Ama Kse says nearly all the Montagnards in Vietnam are farmers, but in North Carolina most take jobs as laborers.

 "Some of them work for companies like furniture companies, some of them work for K-Mart company, some of them work in textile companies," he explained. "They are doing very good."

He says the new arrivals will have to adjust to life in the United States - ideas like being on time and workplace discipline, which he says, are not part of farm life in the highlands of Vietnam.

"Many North Carolina church groups are sponsoring refugee families or groups of individual refugees," he said. "The churches find housing and provide money for rent or electricity payments.

Jeremy Eggleton is with the Lutheran Family Services Refugee Office in Raleigh, North Carolina's capital. "What we are trying to do is create a situation of independence for the refugees as quickly as possible," he said. "We are trying to minimize the dependency factor, and if we can get them set up in their own apartment, it speeds them more quickly on the way towards normal life in the United States. And, of course, with that comes getting a job and we like to get them employed as quickly so they are not burdening neighbors or relatives or friends, or anything like that."

Mr. Eggleton says he has been impressed with the openness and willingness of church groups and other voluntary organizations to help the Montagnards, especially at a time when Americans may be nervous about international developments.

"I think people were anticipating that there would be kind of a backlash against foreigners," he emphasized. "And so the people that we work with and the really good people have stepped forward even more than they have before to show how open the United States can be, and that has been incredibly gratifying."

The North Carolina volunteers are working with state and federal agencies which are overseeing the refugee resettlement effort. The operation continued until mid-July three or four times each week, groups of 50 Montagnards traveled on commercial flights out of Cambodia to the United States. Six of them settled with relatives in Seattle, Washington, and the rest went to Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro and New Bern in North Carolina.


 

The Red Ball Express

The Germans were reeling, and the Allies were chomping at the bit to deliver them the final blow. Since D-Day on June 6, 1944, Allied forces were locked in a stagnant battle against the Germans. However, in late July the German lines ruptured and they began to retreat rapidly. The Allies were not simply marching from the beachheads of Normandy into occupied France - they were sprinting.

The American General George S. Patton's Third Army was particularly aggressive, astonishing the Germans who had invented blitzkrieg. Patton was given permission to wheel some of his forces toward Paris in order to trap pockets of retreating Germans. The chase was on, but by late August 1944, the Allies were facing a logistical nightmare.

According to the memoirs of General Omar Bradley, each army division required up to 750 tons of supplies a day, and there were 28 divisions marching across France and Belgium. In a single day, Patton's Third Army used up 800,000 gallons of gasoline alone.

Working railways were mostly non-existent - ironically bombed to pieces by the Allies prior to D-Day - and the Germans still held the major cargo ports of Le Havre and Antwerp. Getting fuel, food, and munitions to the front line were proving to be almost impossible. Patton stopped his advance not because he was stymied by the Germans, but for lack of gas.

Allied leaders conferred and developed the Red Ball Express, sometimes referred to as the Red Ball Line, which operated from August 25, 1944, until November 16, 1944. The name comes from an earlier logistical express used by the British.

Theoretically, trucks ran in convoys of no fewer than five, racing to the front to deliver materiel. Each truck was numbered for its position in the convoy and they were to stay sixty feet apart. It was a well thought out plan. However, at once the Red Ball Express bogged down in civilian and military traffic. 

In response, the Army commandeered two parallel highways that traveled from the Normandy beachhead to Chartres, France outside of Paris. The northern highway carried trucks filled with supplies and the southern route was filled with empty trucks returning to Normandy. The route was later extended as the Allies advanced on Paris.

Once the route was established, the Red Ball went into full swing. On August 29 it reached its highest tonnage day with nearly 6,000 vehicles carrying over 12,000 tons of supplies to the fight.

One of the notable features of the Red Ball Express was that it was a central contribution of African Americans to the war effort. Most of the personnel who manned the Red Ball (about 75%) were black.

This was due to the racial segregation of the U.S. Army at that time and the typical assignment of black troops to support and service assignments in the Quartermaster Corps rather than as frontline troops. And support the men of the Red Ball Express gave, in an admirable and often overzealous fashion.

There was a shortage of trucks and drivers. Therefore, the Army seized trucks anywhere it could. Drivers for the Red Ball were not selected for their driving acumen, but for their availability. Soldiers who knew about as much about driving a truck as to how to build an atomic bomb were chosen, perhaps given a cursory training, "qualified," and told to get driving and keep driving.

The established rules of the road were routinely ignored. Even though drivers were supposed to go at 35 miles per hour, many removed the governors from the trucks that limited their speed to 56 miles per hour. It was not uncommon for Red Ball Express trucks to be careening along the roads at up to 70 miles per hour.

Sleep deprivation was a major woe that usually didn't stop the drivers as much as stripped gears, constant breakdowns, compromised roadways from overuse, and mud. The road was littered with C-ration cans, shrapnel, barbed wire, and all other sorts of war debris. Over 40,000 truck tires were worn out. Trucks tipped over due to supplies being overloaded and stacked much too high.

There was also sabotage. German POWs, who were at times used to assist by checking tire pressure, cleaning windshields, and checking oil levels, were caught deliberately putting water in gas cans. When a truck broke down (not if), the driver would get the vehicle out of the way and he would hop aboard another truck until he was recycled back to the Normandy beachhead.

Food, cigarettes, and other rations were shipped on the Red Ball Express. But the most precious commodity that Red Ball trucks carried was gasoline, often carried in five-gallon "jerrycans," German-designed gasoline containers that were superior to Allied analogs.

A few drivers were able to make their assignment on the Red Ball profitable as there was a lucrative black market in France. One jerrycan could fetch $100 on the black market.

By the time the Red Ball Express was discontinued, the truckers had brought over 412,000 tons of supplies to the front thus ensuring Allied success as it pushed into Germany. Subsequent truck supply lines were also dubbed the Red Ball, but it is this original that has lived on in lore. 

Without the Red Ball Express, victory in Europe would have been impossible.


 

Hitler's Artwork Goes On Sale

It is well-known that Adolf Hitler was a painter and painted many watercolors before and during World War II.

Now some of those original pieces of Hitler's artwork have gone on sale at auction and have been brought by art collectors from around the world fetching around 300,000 Pounds.

To date, Adolf Hitler's paintings have only fetched small sums of money during auctions in Germany, but now the job-lot of Hitler's watercolors have commanded a lot more money.
 
Historians have widely documented that Hitler would have liked to have been an artist and full-time painter. He painted many scenic watercolors during his time as German leader.

The auction took place in Nuremberg with some of the paintings including images of nearby Neuschwanstein Castle. That painting alone fetched over 70,000 Pounds and was sold to a collector from China.

Meanwhile, a still life painting of a carnation flower was sold for more than 50,000 Pounds, and others sold off included landscapes in Austria and the Czech Republic.

According to German media, the entire auction made more than 270,000 Pounds.

There are many people who are against the sale of Hitler's artwork, however, their sale is not against the law since there is no Nazi symbolism on the paintings.

The paintings are all signed A. Hitler and it is thought that they were painted prior to World War II and to Hitler taking the Chancellery in Germany. There are many forgeries of Hitler's work in circulation, so a collection of original, authentic paintings is unusual.

Most of those purchasing the paintings were private investors from all over the world including Asia, South America, the Middle East, as well as Germany, the Mirror reports.

The auction house says that there aren't really collectors who specialize in owning Hitler's paintings, but that the buyers all generally have an interest in significant artworks.

 

Book Review: Donovan

One of the most celebrated and highly decorated heroes of World War I, a noted trial lawyer, presidential adviser and emissary, and Chief of America’s Office of Strategic Services during World War II, William J. Donovan was a legendary figure. Donovan, originally published in 1982, penetrates the cloak of secrecy surrounding this remarkable man.

During the dark days of World War II, "Wild Bill" Donovan, more than any other person, was responsible for what William Stevenson, author of "A Man Called Intrepid", described as "the astonishing success with which the United States entered secret warfare and accomplished in less than four years what it took England many centuries to develop."

Drawing upon Donovan’s diaries, letters, and other papers; interviews with hundreds of the men and women who worked with him and spied for him; and declassified and unpublished documents, author Richard Dunlop, himself a former member of Donovan’s OSS, traces the incredible career of the man who almost single-handedly created America’s central intelligence service. The result is the definitive biography that Donovan himself had always expected Dunlop would write.

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Book Reviews
General Donovan lived in an earlier period of history but still, or already, had to fight the political battles of the Washington swamp. He just possessed all the proper adjectives that you can think for a man to succeed in countless ways that probably are not possible now or ever again. I can't say enough about this man that I never knew or met. Great book! The research to assemble Donovan's life in such detail is unimaginable.
~Eric Schoenfeld

The story of General Donovan should be taught to all Americans as an example of what a true patriot is. The word Hero is too weak a word to describe his achievements to his country and the free world. He saw things as they were and did what others either lacked in courage or character.
~Kindle Customer

A rich history of the man, the events that shaped him, and the events that led to the development of the OSS and later the CIA as we know it today. The political and military events that played out are explained to provide an insight I’d never had of World War II and the influences that went into the decision making. The book tells a tale that is chillingly familiar in today’s world. Although in some areas, references are lacking and it is difficult to assess if the material presented represents the author’s selective quoting of material, it is still well worth the read.
~AvdRedr

The story of "Wild Bill" Donavan reads like a suspenseful novel. I knew little of this man - the father of our intelligence services - until I read this book. The author has done a remarkable job in bringing an important part of history to life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves historical novels tho this is a true and riveting story. I gave it five stars because it was written in a clear and concise manner. Found that I had trouble putting it down and read far into the night on many occasions.
~Nancy

An excellent book about a fascinating man. He truly was an extraordinary man! Received more decorations for gallantry in WWI than any other soldier, including Douglas McArthur, who always resented the fact. He was constantly plagued by jealous men with small minds and no imaginations such as Harry Truman, J. Edgar Hoover, and other high-ranking democrats. In fact, we learn just what an imperious jackass Hoover was. As the leader and founder of our country's first intelligence agency, he would be appalled to see what's happened to the bastard offspring of his work, the CIA. At least he was proud of the U.S. Army Special Forces, the Green Berets! A very well worthwhile read!
~Melvin Frisbey

About the Author
Richard B. Dunlop, author, traveler, camper and free-lance travel writer died on August 11, 1987 at the age of 66. His books included ''Doctors of the American Frontier,'' ''Great Trails of the West,'' ''Wheels West,'' ''Behind Japanese Lines; With the OSS in Burma,'' ''Backpacking & Outdoor Guide,'' ''On the Road in an RV'' and ''Donovan; America's Master Spy'' was the story of "Wild Bill" Donovan, which resulted in him winning the 1983 Society of Midland Authors award for the best biography.

During World War II, Mr. Dunlop served with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Burma.

In 1968 and 1969 he was awarded the Mark Twain Travel Writers Grand Award for the best travel articles in both years.