Alex Oviatt
Practically Family
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I just attended a talk by the author of this book--great stories, really interesting and important part of WWII lore:
Buffalo Soldier pens survivor's memoir
Ivan J. Houston served in the U.S. Army's all-Negro 92nd Division, which helped bring an end to World War II in Europe.
________________________________________
By R. W. DELLINGER
________________________________________
"On the night of August 23-24, 1944, as we prepared to enter combat, we suddenly realized that this was no training exercise: an enemy patrol might be lurking behind the next culvert or house, or the deafening roar of a firearm might be the next and last sound that we heard. The accidental clanking of our rifle against our steel helmet might be heard by every German in the area and would surely bring down a rain of fire."
So begins Ivan J. Houston's graphic description of entering combat with the 3rd Battalion in Combat Team 370 of the 92nd Division - the first all-Black U.S. Army infantry unit to fight in World War II - in his new book with Gordon Cohn, "Black Warriors: The Buffalo Soldiers of World War II." Using minute-by-minute official Army journal entries kept by the then-19-year-old native Angeleno and others, the 83-year-old retired insurance executive goes on to describe the nine months the so-called "Buffalo Soldiers" served in Italy during the waning days of the war.
The mission for the untested green African-American troops was daunting: to cross the Arno River and break through the German's heavily fortified Gothic Line stretching 170 miles across the spine of Italy, which was manned by veteran battle-tested Axis troops.
"The very first night, there was quite a bit of patrolling and firing, and that's when one of my good friends was killed," Houston recalled during an interview at his suburban home in the westside Los Angeles neighborhood of Ladera Heights, where he has lived with his wife Philippa for more than 30 years. "A guy named James Reid, who I think encountered a German patrol. He and I and some other guys played cards when we were coming over on the ship. He was the first man in our unit to die."
"It might seem strange," he added, "but it wasn't as scary as you might expect. I mean, it was scary, but because I was 19 it was also sort of an adventure, too."
The adventure continued for the better part of a year, with hand-to-hand, house-to-house fighting up the boot of Italy to the city of Pontremoli. During the never-ending skirmishes, Houston was blown through the door of a villa and also hit in the shoulder by flying red-hot shrapnel, for which he later was awarded a Purple Heart. He also received the Bronze Star for meritorious/heroic achievement in battle, three Battle Stars and the Combat Infantryman's Badge.
But the use of a segregated Black combat unit in Europe to fight the Nazis and Italian Fascists became even more controversial when the inexperienced Buffalo Soldiers were unable to break through and hold certain positions - including strategic Mount Cauala and later the city of Massa - against the seasoned German troops. Their ultimate commanding officer, in fact, traced these battlefield failures not to bad attack strategies but to the unwillingness of Negro troops to stand and fight.
A U.S. general reportedly said the men "lacked the guts to fight with tenacity and determination." In his book, Houston offers another opinion:
"My response to those comments is that officers and platoon leaders were being killed and wounded trying to lead men who all their lives had been treated as second-class citizens. Those same men and their children displayed plenty of determination and guts during the later civil-rights marches, sit-ins, and in subsequent wars when military segregation was history."
The first-time author pointed out to The Tidings that most of the enlisted men in Combat Team 370 were from the South and either illiterate or semi-literate. Some, he said, did abandon their positions in the heat of battle.
"Yet if you read a lot of military history like I have, you find out that this happens a lot going all the way back to the Greeks," he said. "And then sometimes there are very poorly planned operations by senior officers. In addition to that, remember there was the thought that ran through the unit that we were being sent on almost like a suicide mission, especially when there were a lot of junior Black officers getting killed. We were always in front.
"But, absolutely, I think we did very, very well under the circumstances," he stressed. "No question about it. The Division suffered about 3,000 casualties."
After the war ended, Houston returned home to the states on a troop transport named the Frostburg Victory and then a train to Fort MacAuthur in San Pedro, the same base where he had entered the Army, willing to die for his country. But that country was still very much segregated.
And when he went back to the University of California at Berkeley after getting married in July 1946, the three-year letterman in track and field and his new wife could only find an apartment with black shipyard workers in the projects miles from campus.
"The armed forces in which I served relegated most Negroes to service units in support of the combat forces but never really wanted to place them in direct combat," he writes in the last chapter of "Black Warriors."
"We of the 92nd Infantry Division were one of the few exceptions. We fought the Nazis and Fascists with honor, face-to-face in the rugged mountains of Italy. We suffered hundreds of casualties and in the end defeated the Nazi proponents of a master race and their allies.
"Yet the heart of America did not change toward its Negro soldiers or its Negro citizens. When we returned, we encountered the same segregation and discrimination that had existed since the end of the Civil War. Nothing had changed."
After graduating from Berkeley with a degree in business administration in 1948, Ivan J. Houston went to work as an accountant for Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company. Quickly rising up the corporate ladder, he served as the company's chief executive officer from 1970 to 1990, when he retired.
Ebony magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans. He served on a number of corporate boards and was a member of the board of regents of Loyola Marymount University, a trustee of the Claremont Colleges and Catholic University of America. In addition, he served as president of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission and as chairman of the Los Angeles Urban League.
In 1995 Houston received the Cardinal's Award from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Pope John Paul II named him a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.
"Black Warriors: The Buffalo Soldiers of World War II" can be ordered from iUniverse press at www.iuniverse.com or on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble online.
Buffalo Soldier pens survivor's memoir
Ivan J. Houston served in the U.S. Army's all-Negro 92nd Division, which helped bring an end to World War II in Europe.
________________________________________
By R. W. DELLINGER
________________________________________
"On the night of August 23-24, 1944, as we prepared to enter combat, we suddenly realized that this was no training exercise: an enemy patrol might be lurking behind the next culvert or house, or the deafening roar of a firearm might be the next and last sound that we heard. The accidental clanking of our rifle against our steel helmet might be heard by every German in the area and would surely bring down a rain of fire."
So begins Ivan J. Houston's graphic description of entering combat with the 3rd Battalion in Combat Team 370 of the 92nd Division - the first all-Black U.S. Army infantry unit to fight in World War II - in his new book with Gordon Cohn, "Black Warriors: The Buffalo Soldiers of World War II." Using minute-by-minute official Army journal entries kept by the then-19-year-old native Angeleno and others, the 83-year-old retired insurance executive goes on to describe the nine months the so-called "Buffalo Soldiers" served in Italy during the waning days of the war.
The mission for the untested green African-American troops was daunting: to cross the Arno River and break through the German's heavily fortified Gothic Line stretching 170 miles across the spine of Italy, which was manned by veteran battle-tested Axis troops.
"The very first night, there was quite a bit of patrolling and firing, and that's when one of my good friends was killed," Houston recalled during an interview at his suburban home in the westside Los Angeles neighborhood of Ladera Heights, where he has lived with his wife Philippa for more than 30 years. "A guy named James Reid, who I think encountered a German patrol. He and I and some other guys played cards when we were coming over on the ship. He was the first man in our unit to die."
"It might seem strange," he added, "but it wasn't as scary as you might expect. I mean, it was scary, but because I was 19 it was also sort of an adventure, too."
The adventure continued for the better part of a year, with hand-to-hand, house-to-house fighting up the boot of Italy to the city of Pontremoli. During the never-ending skirmishes, Houston was blown through the door of a villa and also hit in the shoulder by flying red-hot shrapnel, for which he later was awarded a Purple Heart. He also received the Bronze Star for meritorious/heroic achievement in battle, three Battle Stars and the Combat Infantryman's Badge.
But the use of a segregated Black combat unit in Europe to fight the Nazis and Italian Fascists became even more controversial when the inexperienced Buffalo Soldiers were unable to break through and hold certain positions - including strategic Mount Cauala and later the city of Massa - against the seasoned German troops. Their ultimate commanding officer, in fact, traced these battlefield failures not to bad attack strategies but to the unwillingness of Negro troops to stand and fight.
A U.S. general reportedly said the men "lacked the guts to fight with tenacity and determination." In his book, Houston offers another opinion:
"My response to those comments is that officers and platoon leaders were being killed and wounded trying to lead men who all their lives had been treated as second-class citizens. Those same men and their children displayed plenty of determination and guts during the later civil-rights marches, sit-ins, and in subsequent wars when military segregation was history."
The first-time author pointed out to The Tidings that most of the enlisted men in Combat Team 370 were from the South and either illiterate or semi-literate. Some, he said, did abandon their positions in the heat of battle.
"Yet if you read a lot of military history like I have, you find out that this happens a lot going all the way back to the Greeks," he said. "And then sometimes there are very poorly planned operations by senior officers. In addition to that, remember there was the thought that ran through the unit that we were being sent on almost like a suicide mission, especially when there were a lot of junior Black officers getting killed. We were always in front.
"But, absolutely, I think we did very, very well under the circumstances," he stressed. "No question about it. The Division suffered about 3,000 casualties."
After the war ended, Houston returned home to the states on a troop transport named the Frostburg Victory and then a train to Fort MacAuthur in San Pedro, the same base where he had entered the Army, willing to die for his country. But that country was still very much segregated.
And when he went back to the University of California at Berkeley after getting married in July 1946, the three-year letterman in track and field and his new wife could only find an apartment with black shipyard workers in the projects miles from campus.
"The armed forces in which I served relegated most Negroes to service units in support of the combat forces but never really wanted to place them in direct combat," he writes in the last chapter of "Black Warriors."
"We of the 92nd Infantry Division were one of the few exceptions. We fought the Nazis and Fascists with honor, face-to-face in the rugged mountains of Italy. We suffered hundreds of casualties and in the end defeated the Nazi proponents of a master race and their allies.
"Yet the heart of America did not change toward its Negro soldiers or its Negro citizens. When we returned, we encountered the same segregation and discrimination that had existed since the end of the Civil War. Nothing had changed."
After graduating from Berkeley with a degree in business administration in 1948, Ivan J. Houston went to work as an accountant for Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company. Quickly rising up the corporate ladder, he served as the company's chief executive officer from 1970 to 1990, when he retired.
Ebony magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans. He served on a number of corporate boards and was a member of the board of regents of Loyola Marymount University, a trustee of the Claremont Colleges and Catholic University of America. In addition, he served as president of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission and as chairman of the Los Angeles Urban League.
In 1995 Houston received the Cardinal's Award from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Pope John Paul II named him a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.
"Black Warriors: The Buffalo Soldiers of World War II" can be ordered from iUniverse press at www.iuniverse.com or on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble online.
