Harlem Hellfighters Quotes

They used to call it the 'Great War'. But I'll be damned if I could tell you what was so 'great' about it. They also called it 'the war to end all wars'...'cause they figured it was so big and awful that the world'd just have to come to its senses and make damn sure we never fought another one ever again. That woulda been a helluva nice story. But the truth's got an ugly way of killin' nice stories.

Black soldiers found themselves in a dilemma. On the one hand they were being trained to risk their lives in defense of the country, while on the other hand they were being told to accept their role as inferior citizens.

Many of the other white military units on the base defended the black soldiers, refusing to join in with the local racists. Northern white soldiers often refused to patronize white stores that refused to serve black soldiers.

On December 27 land was sighted. They had reached France. The men were confined to the ship until New Year’s Day but were happy to be the first black unit to reach Europe.