The Mind of A Black Woman!: BLACK PANTHERS, THE 761st TANK BATTALION

“At this moment, then, the Negroes must begin to do the very thing which they have been taught that they cannot do” – Carter G. Woodson

Hello Lovelies!

I love war movies, watching freedom fighters fight against tyranny. Cheering the Americans when they blow up the enemy. I enjoyed seeing good versus evil, of course good always wins in the movies. The reality, the good had lost several times before they could prevail. We were taught in school that America was the ‘Home of the brave, the land of the free’. During World War II that was not always the case, especially the land of the free when it pertained to Black Americans.

During World War II, officials in Washington, DC, debated whether Black soldiers should be used in armored units. As was the times, many military personnel and politicians believed that Blacks did not have the brains, quickness or moral stamina to fight in a war. They believed that Blacks would better serve in non-combat labor positions. The armed force embraced these beliefs even though Blacks have fought with courage and distinction in every war and conflict ever waged by the United States. ‘In the selection and training of men under this act, there shall be o discrimination against any person because of race and color’. In October, however, the White House issued a statement that, while ‘the services of Negroes would be utilized on fair and equitable basis,’ the policy of segregation in the armed forces (segregated training and housing) would continue.

Lieutenant General Leslie J. McNair, chief of the US Army ground forces, was the main proponent of allowing Blacks to serve in armored units. He believed this nation could exclude such a potentially important source of manpower. Black organizations, such as the Black Press and NAACP to name a few, increased pressure on the War Department and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration to allow Black soldiers to serve on an equal footing with white soldiers. In the summer of 1940, Congress passed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which state,

“The 761st Tank Battalion has trained for two years at a time when armor crewmen were getting as little as three months of training due to the pressures of the war. Because they were Black, the Army didn’t quite know what to do with them,” said former Sgt. Wayne D. Robinson, historian for the 761st Tank Battalion Association. The Battalion trained at Camp Hood, Texas, where they were rated superior by 2nd Lt. General Ben Lear. The 761st was the first of its kind, the first Black American tank unit to go into combat. The tankers were steely and battle-hardened, by the time they were activated on April 1, 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and deployed to Europe landing at Omaha Beach in France on October 10, 1944.

Later referred to as the Black Panther Tank Battalion, the 761st was attached to the XII Corps’26th Infantry Division assigned to General George S. Patton, Jr.’s Third Army, an army already racing eastward across France. Gen. Patton said “Men, you’re the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would never have asked for you if you weren’t good. I have nothing but the best in my Army. I don’t care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sons of bitches. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. Most of all your race is looking forward to you. Don’t let them down and damn you, don’t let me down!” As a result, their great fighting abilities spearheaded a number of Patton’s moves into enemy territory. They fought in France, Belgium, and Germany and were among the first American forces to link up with the Soviet Army (Ukrainians) at the River Steyr in Austria.

After decades of racial tension in the United States began to ease, the battalion was belatedly awarded the Presidential Unit Citation by President Jimmy Carter on 24 January 1978, for their World War II service. The 761st Tank Battalion’s award became official on 10 April 1978 by the Department of the Army under General Orders Number 5. I will always be a proud American, home of the brave and land of the free. These men gave all that they had to give and be all that they can be so they would finally be recognized as True Americans, True Patriots, worthy of respect, for that I am forever proud.