In God We Trust
Where to begin? Although the President of the United States ordered integration of black and white troops, the injustices against black veterans were extensive. For instance…
"A newspaper reporter from Baltimore's Afro-American first informed Thurgood Marshall that more than 50 black soldiers had been arrested in Korea, a number out of proportion to the average arrests of white soldiers. In 1951, the NAACP sent Marshall into the war-zone to investigate; he eventually cleared most of the soldiers' charges. Marshall: 'There were records of trials, so-called trials, in the middle of the night where the men were sentenced to life imprisonment in hearings that lasted less than ten minutes. They were the old well-known drumhead court-martials, done in the heat of passion and in the heat of war.'
There were fifty or sixty involved. One death penalty case. I remember in particular: the record showed that this man was charged with being absent in the presence of the enemy. Instead of being charged with AWOL, (Absent Without Leave) he was charged with cowardice in the presence of the enemy. And fortunately for him, he produced two witnesses: a major in the Medical Corps and a lieutenant in the Nurse Corps, both of whom testified that he was in a base hospital the very day that he was supposed to be AWOL. And despite their testimony, he was convicted and given life imprisonment." [Source: Korean War Courts Martial, American Radio Works Public Radio]
In 1950, Lieutenant Leon Gilbert of the still-segregated 24th Infantry Regiment was court-martialed and sentenced to death for refusing to obey the orders of a white officer while serving in the Korean War. Gilbert maintained that the orders would have meant certain death for himself and the men in his command. The case led to worldwide protests and increased attention to segregation and racism in the U.S. military. Gilbert's sentence was commuted to twenty and later seventeen years of imprisonment; he served five years and was released. [Source: Military History of African-Americans, Wikipedia]
on August 1, 1952, Pvt. Sarah Keys was en route from Fort Dix, New Jersey to her family's home in Washington, North Carolina, on a Carolina Coach Company Bus. During a bus change stop, the bus driver ordered Private Keys to give up her seat to a white Marine. Sarah refused, was put in jail for 13 hours, and forced to pay a $25 fine for disorderly conduct. Her parents encouraged her to file a lawsuit against the bus company, which she did. Her attorney was former WAAC and African-American lawyer Dovey Mae Johnson Roundtree (1914-2018). Attorney Roundtree graduated from Howard University Law School in 1950. Miss Keys won her case, resulting in an Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) ruling prohibiting segregation on interstate buses. The ruling was made public on November 25, 1955, six days before Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a bus. The ICC did not enforce its own ruling until 1961. Sarah Keys married George Evans in 1958 and became a hairdresser in Harlem. On August 1, 2020, a plaza with eight chronological murals and two bronze plaques was dedicated to Sarah Keys Evans in the MLK Park, Roanoke Rapids.
T/Sgt. Peter J. Paulfrey Jr., a World War II and Korean War veteran, was sentenced to 20 years in an army prison for disobeying an order to be sent to the front. He disobeyed because he suffered from recurring headaches and depression as the result of a motorcycle accident. Born January 24, 1924, he died February 19, 2007. On his tombstone in the Port Hudson National Cemetery, Zachary, Louisiana, is written: "I fought the good fight, kept the faith, and won."
Capt. Forest Walker led a successful bayonet and hand-grenade charge against well-dug-in North Koreans during the battle at Wonju in mid-January 1951. As a result of his bravery he was awarded the Silver Star. However, when Gen. Ned Almond heard about the award he stopped it and relieved Walker of his command.