When Austin was still a Jim Crow city, my father showed me the way.

This essay about a father's quest to get an education and the lessons he passed on to his daughter was very moving. The writer reminded me of how far we have come. She also reminded me of the generation that changed the world -- THE GREATEST BLACK GENERAITON -- When Austin was still a Jim Crow city, my father showed me the way.

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Black World War II veterans offer lessons for today’s black youths

In the late 80s noted journalist and author, the late Carl Rowan wrote in an editorial that he did not understand how the black youths of that time could complain about being oppressed. Rowan noted that black youths of the 80s had not had to endure what their black ancestors had endured and that each generation stood on the shoulders of people who had endured and persevered during unimaginable persecution.

When I read that column it reminded me of how fortunate I was and that I had incredibly strong ancestors to thank for my opportunities. Rowan complained the same message is still true. Today there are black or African American (whichever you prefer) youths who are not living up to the legacy their ancestors left for them. When I am asked why I believe it is important to write about a period in our nation’s history that happened so long ago I have defer to Rowan’s article. Rowan reminded that if my ancestors endured slavery, Jim Crow laws perhaps my difficulties are not so bad. Rowan was part of the greatest black generation and served in the navy during World War II. He was one of the first black men to receive commissions as naval officer.

WHAT DID WORLD WAR II INVISIBLE WARRIORS ENDURE?
For black men, such as my uncle who was drafted in 1944, military life was no better than civilian life – they were still laborers, domestics or servants. Some men such accepted their lot, others refused to be servants even in the military. Yet some invisible warriors beat the odds.
For example, Virginia native Samuel L. Gravely, Jr decided not to wait for a draft notice to arrive. Soon after the war began he dropped out of school and enlisted in the navy. His cousin was already a steward in the navy but he didn't want to be a cook. Gravely also said he knew he did not want to join the army. "My father had spent three years in the army and he did not like it. Most people told me that in the navy they slept in clean beds at sea. In the army, they slept in mud holes or tents. I just felt the navy would give me a better life," http://www.visionaryproject.org/gravelysamuel/#2

The opportunity to do something other than cook came in 1942 when the navy began enlisting black men in general job specialties. Gravely took advantage of the new policy and signed up as a fireman apprentice. He would train to work in the engineering, boiler room or fire room and assist with ship-to-ship transfer at sea of fuel and supplies. Navy tradition dictates that every new recruit spends six months cooking in the galley but, Gravely avoided this detail by volunteering to clean his unit's living quarters. Cleaning detail led to managing the bowling alley. Soon there would be more opportunities for the young sailor as well as challenges.

Subsequently Gravely would earn the right to a commission as a naval reserve officer and eventually become the first black admiral in the navy. I was fortunate to serve in his command and in May 2009 the navy commissioned the guided missile destroyer USS Gravely to honor the late admiral.
Gravely was not the only invisible warrior who refused to be a steward – Performing the work of domestics, serving as cooks and doing menial jobs such as cleaning up in the galley, the wardroom and living quarters of officers. Robert Sharpe, who was a teenager living in Jamaica with his mother and grandparents on December 7, 1941 never thought the events, "on the other ocean" would affect him. However, Sharpe's American father lived in Eastern North Carolina where Sharpe soon traveled in order to finish high school. Once in the United States the young Jamaican-American had to register for the draft. Sharpe received his letter with the familiar salutations two months before he was due to graduate from Pattilo High School in Tarboro, North Carolina. "I was drafted into the navy, but they agreed to let me graduate before I had to take the train to Bainbridge, Maryland for training," Sharpe said.

From the moment, Sharpe arrived in Maryland for basic training he began challenging what he describes as the "racist status quo." In boot camp, he gave his company commander a bloody nose, but fortunately, nothing happened to him.
Also in boot camp, he learned he was expected to become a steward. He did not want to be a steward as he saw no logical reason to wait on commissioned officers. However, Sharpe's superiors ignored his protest and Sharpe soon found himself onboard a navy ship waiting on officers. "I didn't come into the military to be a servant. They wanted me to make their beds and I said 'I won't do that.' So they put me on report and I spent thirty days in the brig on bread and water. Then they sent me back to the brig for thirty more days. Next they decided to let me work in the galley (the kitchen of ship). In the galley I watched a steward's mate from Alabama come running into the galley to get an officer some butter, I was so disgusted with him I stuck my foot out and he went flying across the deck (floor) and back to the brig I went. Finally they decided I would be better suited for the deck force (scraping paint and painting the side of the ship)."

Sharpe later became one of the first black men to receive formal training to become a hospital corpsman and today in his 80’s he is a college professor at my alma mater, North Carolina Central University. Thus, the lesson for today’s black youths is that invisible warriors made the odds much better for today’s generation to succeed.

Copyright © 2009 by Sharon Dense Powell ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

IS THIS THE RIGHT TIME TO TELL THE INVISIBLE WARRIOR'S STORY?

Someone who is helping me develop a magazine article reminded me that I needed to demonstrate to editors why now is the time to write an article about black World War II service members. Today I read an article about Montford Point Marines.Local event remembers the first modern black Marines | Charlottesville Daily Progress
In the article author, Melton A. McLaren is quoted as saying, “Gradually, that idea that African-Americans were not involved in the Second World War is starting to break down.” I believe this means now is the time to tell the invisible warrior's story.

INVISIBLE WARRIOR:

What did military service during World War II mean for "Invisible Warriors", black service members? To be invisible meant they were unseen, unnoticed, imperceptible and believed to be ineffective. The narrator in author Ralph Ellison's 1952 book, Invisible Man explains that he is invisible not because of some scientific experiment but rather because of unwillingness of other people to notice him, as he is black.

This was the plight of black service men and women during World War II. And like the narrator in Ellison's book, invisible warriors had an aching need to make others recognize them. And just as Ellison's narrator often found that such attempts rarely succeeded so too was the case with black service members.

Invisible warriors rarely appear in official images from that war, but they were there – 1.2 million strong. For example, almost 900 invisible warriors, known as Montford Point Marines, took part in the battle of Iwo Jima, including my fellow North Carolinian former marine and Navy Captain, Thomas McPhatter, who I interviewed for this book. McPhatter who landed on Iwo Jima with the Eighth Ammunition Company complained loudly in 2005 when director Clint Eastwood released Flags of Our Fathers, a movie chronicling the invasion. No black marines appeared in the movie, much to McPhatter's distress. You might think McPhatter overreacted considering that 900 black Marines equaled only about ten percent of the forces. But McPhatter believed there was a consorted effort to keep blacks out of the official military footage. McPhatter remembered news photographers rushing past black marines to photograph white marines. Even today, some white Marines who landed on Iwo Jima still insist there were no black Marines involved in the invasion. Case in point: I have a white acquaintance whose father, a Marine landed on Iwo Jima. When she spoke to her father about my book, her father insisted that the only blacks involved in the invasion were either the Army or Navy. Listening to my friend repeat what her father said helped me understand McPhatter's outrage. I admit that until I began my research for my book I did not have a real appreciation of the heroics of black World War II service men and women.

In a 2006 interview McPhatter told a reporter that he provided a piece of pipe used for the first flag up on Iwo Jima, but this detail did not make it into the film. "Of all the movies that have been made of Iwo Jima, you never see a black face," McPhatter said. "This is the last straw. I feel like I have been denied. I have been insulted. I have been mistreated. But what can you do? We still have a strong underlying force in my country of rabid racism." Absent from history: the black soldiers at Iwo Jima http://www.guardian.co.uk, October 20 2006 by Dan Glaister in Los Angeles.

Perhaps the reason to write magazine articles now profiling invisible warriors is that their stories have to be told before they are all gone. Another reason could be that their is a generation of black youths who are desperately in need of positive stories about the strength and endurance of their ancestors.
Copyright © Sharon D. Powell, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT AND THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE

On November 4, 2008 an elderly man stood in line and waited for his turn to walk forward, ninety-two-year-old Samuel Powell stood under an umbrella as a light rain fell; the temperature was barely in the fifties.

Once he was inside a voice asked, “Name please.”

“Samuel Powell,” he replied.

“Do you need help with your ballot?” the voice asked.

“No,” Samuel replied.

He picked up his ballot and walked (without a cane) toward a booth. Once inside the booth he began to scan the names on the ballot – school board member, county commissioner, senator, governor. He saw the choices for president – Barack Hussein Obama or John McCain. Samuel could take pride in knowing that he had made it possible for Barack Obama’s name to be on the ballot – not as a third party candidate – but as a candidate from one of the major parties.

Samuel still remembers the sounds of Japanese fighter planes descending on his cruiser USS Helena. He also remembers the sound of the frantic voice over his ship’s 1MCs (intercom systems) shouting, "General Quarters, general quarters. This is not a drill, this is not a drill, all hands man your battle stations!" It was December 7, 1941 and the 22-year-old African American farm boy from Eastern North Carolina, Steward First Class Samuel Powell was a crewmember on Helena and he and his shipmates had to respond to the “general quarters.” They were in Pearl Harbor Hawaii and they were under attack. On that day Samuel’s past shaped Obama’s destiny and became Barack Obama’s future.

In 1941 America was thrust into a war against Nazism, Imperialism and Fascism but for the 1.2 million black Americans such as Samuel there was a greater battle they had to fight – first for the right to fight as they were not welcomed or wanted – and as Americans against the Axis powers that threatened their country.

African American military members who were invisible (unseen, ignored and unnoticed) warriors worked in kitchens, cooked meals for fellow service members, became stevedores and loaded and unloaded ships, or became truck drivers or grave diggers – a few became fighter pilots, at least one Army unit helped liberate a concentration camp, and many other African Americans demonstrated extraordinary courage against the enemy.

Black service members, including my much older brother Samuel, proved they were Americans first even though they did not enjoy the freedoms they were defending. In 1941 African Americans would not have been able to vote in most southern states – yet the greatest black generation’s service to America paved the way for Barack Obama to become president.

I am a baby boomer and my generation which includes President Barack Obama, stands on the shoulders of Samuel, and the rest of the invisible warriors from World War II. My brother is very humble about his role in making it possible for a black man to become president. I constantly thank him and other World War II veterans I meet for their service. Who Samuel voted for is his business – What is important is that the men and women of his generation who were born before the 1965 voting rights act was passed helped make it possible for an African American to become the leader of the free nation – the archaic ideas and beliefs about race are being swept away thanks to them.
Copyright © Sharon D. Powell, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WORLD WAR II INVISIBLE WARRIORS, BLACK MEN AND WOMEN FOUGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO FIGHT

When I was a very young girl I watched black and white World War II movies. The heroes in the movies I watched all seemed larger than life and so romantic – I often imagined myself in a military uniform. I suppose I was destined to follow my brother’s example and enlist in the navy. Fortunately, thanks to the service of the black men and women including my brother, who served during the World War II, I had opportunities that were unavailable to my brother.


Through the years I have studied much about World War II, and the role black men and women played in defending our country, in spite of the segregation that generation endured. I also have come to understand and appreciate that generation's valuable gift to my generation. Indeed, I would not have had the opportunity to serve in the navy and travel to exotic places if not for the selfless service of the 1.2 million black service men and women of my brother's generation. They fought two wars. One was to protect our country's freedom. But, the second required them to fight for the right – the very opportunity – to fight for their country. Their struggle proved that they were relentlessly loyal Americans. Their story is moving.

The story of black World War II service members is not just a black story; this is an American story. This is the story of ordinary Americans who loved their country and in spite of their invisibility, were willing to risk their lives defending freedoms they did not enjoy. They had a unique insight into the dangers Nazism, Fascism and Imperialism represented. The late actor, Ossie Davis, a WW II veteran himself summed it up when he said, "This was our country and we were under attack – we had to fight," in his role as Lorenzo Dufau in the 2005 movie Proud.

They were on the outside looking in, noses pressed against the glass, stamping their feet in the chill, watching the festivities within. Invisible warriors had an aching need to make others recognize them but often found that such attempts rarely succeeded

Their stories are a compelling testament to the strength of the human spirit to endure against remarkable odds. Their commitment to their country is inspiring particularly in view of the discrimination they lived through. They set the example for future generations to follow. They also came home from the war invigorated and ready to revitalize the civil rights movement, thus making it possible for a starry eyed, little farm girl like myself to follow my dream and become a sailor in the greatest navy in the world.
Copyright © Sharon D. Powell, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THE HERO I NEVER MET: THE WORLD WAR II MONTFORD POINT MARINE WHO BECAME A NAVY CHAPLAIN

My heroes include my parents and grandparents, along with my siblings, and aunts and uncles. I never had the chance to meet retired Navy Chaplain and fellow North Carolinian, Capt. Thomas Hayswood McPhatter, USNR (Ret) but he is also my hero.

Last year I interviewed McPhatter by telephone from his nursing home in San Diego several times for my book. I found his name online at http://www.montfordpointmarines.com/About%20us.html. McPhatter was one of the first 1,000 black men to become a US Marine. The devoutly religious Presbyterian chaplain had a compelling life story but before he would agree to tell me his story he needed to know if I was raised in the church. ‘I was raised a Baptist,’ I said. ‘But I’m a Presbyterian now.’ This seemed to ease his concerns and he began to tell me his story. McPhatter was a freshman in college when World War II began. When he heard the Marine Corps was accepting black men he decided to enlist.

Blacks had been barred from joining the Marine Corps by Congress when the branch was first established in 1775. Pressured to change the policy, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Maj. Gen. Thomas Holcomb finally proposed the enlistment of 1,000 blacks in the volunteer Marine Corps Reserve for duty in the general service in a segregated composite defense battalion. They became known as Montford Point Marines in reference to the segregated boot camp at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina which was open from 1942 until 1949.

Sgt. McPhatter served in the Pacific and fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima. During our second telephone conversation he described the landing – blacks are conveniently left out of most accounts of the famous invasion of the Japanese island. McPhatter was very angry when he saw Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood's 2006 film of the battle. There were no blacks in the movie – much to McPhatter’s chagrin. “We were there, but you wouldn't know it from the movie,” McPhatter said. He remembered standing at debarkation waiting to go over the side of the Landing Ship, Tank (LST) with the first wave of Marines who landed on the beach.

I interviewed McPhatter in 2008 – 64 years after he and the other 900 Marines had risked their lives for black Americans like me – a generation not yet born. As he described climbing over the side of the ship I could hear the fear in his voice. Several books have been written about the Montford Point Marines who landed on Iwo Jima. McPhatter was part of the 8th Marine Ammunition Company. They had to keep the fighting Marines supplied with ammunition – which made the Montford Point Marines easy targets for the enemy, according to McPhatter. They finally got their recognition during a commemoration ceremony in 1995 – after which Chaplain McPhatter said he prayed, saying, “Thank you Lord, thank you Lord, they’ve finally acknowledged use.”

I am a Disaster Assistance Employee with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and travel. On Memorial Day, May 25, 2009 I was in my hotel room in Florida watching the evening news. The photograph of a black naval officer flashed on the screen followed by video of Marines carrying a flag draped coffin. I recognized the man – it was Capt. McPhatter. Instantly I knew I would never get to meet this invisible warrior.

I had called Capt. McPhatter in February. His voice was very weak, he sounded confused and he did not remember me. When I told him I was calling from North Carolina he wistfully said, “I wish I was in North Carolina right now.” Then his voice trailed off. I said goodbye and hung up.

In our final interview last year the chaplain quoted from a poem written by St. Isaac of Nineveh Bishop (c. 660-680), “Be at peace with your own soul, then heaven and earth will be at peace with you." The Marine (once a Marine always a Marine) who went into harm’s way to defend freedoms he did not yet enjoy is now at peace. He is back in the Tar Hill state and buried in his hometown of Lumberton, North Carolina.
Copyright © Sharon D. Powell, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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NAVY NAMES SHIP FOR CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST MEDGAR EVERS

My beloved navy is naming a supply ship after a slain civil rights leader. This civil rights leader, Medgar Evers (1925-1963) was also one of the 1.2 million African Americans who served during World War II. I stand on his shoulders. His stint in the army made a difference for my generation. And now a navy supply ship will bear his name.Navy Names Ship After Civil Rights Activist Medgar Evers
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During the course of my research for my book I learned that many historians attribute the success of the civil rights movement to the African American men and women such as Edgars who returned home after serving during World War II and invigorated the civil rights movement. These black veterans had risked their lives for their country and thus believed they had earned the right to equal treatment and full citizenship.

Army veteran Medgar Edgars, who fought in both France and Germany during World War II before receiving an honorable discharge in 1946, was among that group. When he came home he did what many newly discharged veterans did – he went to college, met the girl of his dreams, got married and tried to achieve the American dream. However, Evers faced unbelievable odds toward achieving that dream – racism and discrimination. Evers began working in 1952 for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Evers organized nonviolent protests, voter registration drives and boycotts in his home state.

Sadly, on June 12, 1963, the 37-year-old Mississippi native was assassinated in the driveway of his home. The war veteran was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. His death prompted President John F. Kennedy to ask the Congress for a comprehensive civil rights bill. Since his death there have been many honors to this invisible warrior including naming a college after him and now a ship.

My generation stands on the shoulders of men like Medgar Evers and we owe them a debt of gratitude that perhaps we can never repay. Naming a ship for one of those invisible warriors is the least that we can do. I am so pleased to see that Evers is receiving this honor. It will be two years before USNS Medgar Evers is ready to sail but when she does sets sail the men and women who sail on that ship will be sailing on a ship named for an American hero.
Copyright © Sharon D. Powell, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

OFF TO WAR: 1.2 MILLION STRONG: THE STORY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO SERVED IN WORLD WAR II

"The man in uniform must grit his teeth, square his shoulders,
and do his best as a soldier, confident that there are millions of Americans outside the armed forces and more persons than he knows in high places within the military establishment, who will never cease fighting to remove all social barriers and every humiliating practice, which now confronts him. But only by being at all times, a first rate soldier can the man in uniform help in this battle which shall be fought and won."
Judge William H. Hasties, Dean of (HBCU) Howard University Law School, 1943

1942 – As the fighting progressed thousands of young men and eventually young women too, traded their civilian clothes for military uniforms. Some joined, but most men were drafted. After considerable pressure, draft boards began including black men, most in their early twenties in the World War II draft. Anxiously they waited for the notice, some hoping it would not come. It was a coin toss every time the postman came. When a young man received a letter with the salutation "Greetings from the President", he knew he had lost the coin toss and off to the induction station he went. There he had a choice between the Navy, Army, Coast Guard and eventually even the Marine Corps as a Montford Point Marine. Once the new inductee arrived at his training camp, he got a haircut, shots against exotic diseases and uniforms. Now he had to learn how to be a GI.

The wait for a draft notice was often unbearable. In a small farming community in Eastern North Carolina, it took so long for the draft notice to arrive that my uncle, Foster Brown, Sr. assumed he would not be called thus on a rainy Sunday evening, Uncle Foster and his future bride stood on a bridge between Halifax County and Warren County and said their vows. The couple had bought their marriage license in one county but wanted to get married in another county. The minister did not believe the marriage would be legal unless they stood on the county line. With his mother, Eva Brown, and my grandmother, Nora Alston, as witnesses my grandfather, Colonel Tee Alston, Sr. shined his headlights so the preacher could see his Bible, Uncle Foster married my mother's older sister, Alice. Unbeknownst to Uncle Foster he was not off the hook, as he soon received his "Greetings from the President" letter and on May 27, 1942 off to army boot camp Uncle Foster went. From basic training my uncle headed to Italy where he drove supply trucks. Alice waited patiently at home for her husband to come back safely.
Copyright © Sharon D. Powell, 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

An Invisible Warrior Passed this Week

They are known as the greatest generation – the military men and women who served during World War II. According to Veterans Administration statistics they are dying at the rate of a thousand a day. Sadly, one of the veterans who died this week was a pleasant former Air Force B-29 gunner I met briefly on a humid summer afternoon last year. I learned of this former warrior's death today when I saw his four line death notice in the Raleigh News & Observer. I have the daily newspaper delivered to my door each morning and read the entire paper. This is a good thing otherwise I would not have known that Durell Russer, Sr, 89 had passed. Russer was a Georgia native, who served in the Pacific during World War II.

I interviewed him last summer for a book I am writing. Russer walked with a cane, was stooped with age, and appeared frail. Yet he was a gracious host who gladly welcomed me, a stranger into his home. He told me he was hard of hearing and his memory was failing, nevertheless he seemed eager to talk to me about the war. I had a list of questions I wanted to ask him but after several minutes of yelling back and and forth I realized this was not working. Instead, I just turned on my tape recorder and let him talk. Just inside the front door hanging on his wall was an 8 X 10 portrait of former First Lady, the late Eleanor Roosevelt.

“I met Mrs. Roosevelt,” he said. ‘Oh really’, I replied and waited for him to explain. “She came to Tinian when I was there," he said. Tinian is the Pacific island where the B-29 bomber named Enola Gay took off from to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I wanted to know how he felt about that but could not ask questions as he couldn't hear me. Instead, I waited for him to tell me more about meeting Eleanor Roosevelt.

During her visit Russer said the first lady ate lunch at his table – which Russer considered an honor as the men at his table were all African American. These men did not expect the first lady to single them out to share a meal with them because they were black, according to Russer. "She told us President Roosevelt wanted us to know he liked the job we were doing," Russer said.

I got the impression Russer and his comrades needed to hear these encouraging words. They had been conditioned to believe they were invisible, much like the narrator of Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel, The Invisible Man. Ellison's narrator, who is black explains that he is not invisible because of science but because others refuse to see him because he is "a negro" – that day Russer and his comrades became visible.

I believe Eleanor Roosevelt was willing to recognize men such as Russer along with the other 1.2 million African American men and women of the greatest black generation who served during World War II. Here's to you Durell Russer -- invisible no more.
Copyright ©Sharon D. Powell, 2009 all rights reserved