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Oral History Testimonies of African American Korean War Veterans Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2017 Forgotten Soldiers from a Forgotten War: Oral History Testimonies of African American Korean War Veterans O. Eliot Pope, Jr. Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the African American Studies Commons Recommended Citation Pope, Jr., O. Eliot, "Forgotten Soldiers from a Forgotten War: Oral History Testimonies of African American Korean War Veterans" (2017). Dissertations. 2600. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2600 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2016 O. Eliot Pope, Jr. LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO FORGOTTEN SOLDIERS FROM A FORGOTTEN WAR: ORAL HISTORY TESTIMONIES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN KOREAN WAR VETERANS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN HISTORY BY OTIS ELIOT POPE, JR. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MAY 2017 Copyright by Otis Eliot Pope, Jr., 2017 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all of my supporters who have played a role in helping me with this dissertation. Dr. Manning, my committee chairman, has played a critical role in not only helping me to flush out my ideas for the dissertation, but he has been a wonderful role model for me as I have matriculated through the Ph.D. program. Dr. Karamanski, thank you for giving me insight into this topic. You have been an amazing mentor and friend. Dr. Mooney-Melvin, thank you for your insight and support over the years. You have been a great mentor and supporter. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Samuel Attoh for the merit scholarship that he provided to me a few years ago. Without it, I would not be standing here today. I would also like to thank Lillian Hardison and her continued assistance over the years. Further, I would like to thank Suzanne Kaufman for admitting me into the PhD program and for the unfiltered advice that she has given to me over the years. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their unwavering support that they have provided to me over the years. In particular, I would like to thank my mom for supporting me throughout the long, arduous journey of getting a PhD. Lastly, I would like to thank Yaneth Bello, my wife, for her patience and determination to see that I complete my dissertation. I would not have finished this PhD without all of these people. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 Overview of African American Soldiers and the Korean War .....................................................3 Historiographies of Desegregation ...............................................................................................8 The Twenty-Fourth Infantry as Representative of the African American Experience of the Korean War ..............................................................................................................................13 Enhancing the Historical Record with Oral History ...................................................................19 The Power and Potential of Private Memories of the Forgotten War .........................................28 CHAPTER 1: MOTIVATION TO ENLIST..................................................................................31 Contextualizing African American Military Service in the Korean War ...................................36 Military Service as an Economic Opportunity ............................................................................41 Military Service as an Opportunity for Personal Growth ...........................................................45 Influenced to Join by Family and Friends...................................................................................49 Patriotism and the Decision to Enlist ..........................................................................................53 Service Without a Choice: The Draft..........................................................................................56 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................58 CHAPTER 2: BASIC TRAINING EXPERIENCES ....................................................................62 Civil Rights, Executive Order 9981, and Continued Racism in a Newly Desegregated Army ........................................................................................................................................63 Training and Evaluating African American Troops ...................................................................72 Private Memories Serve to Expand the Narrative of African American Service .......................77 Racism as an Undercurrent .........................................................................................................84 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................89 CHAPTER 3: COMBAT EXPERIENCES ...................................................................................92 Putting African American Combatants in Context: A Segregated Army Still Rife with Racism......................................................................................................................................93 The Twenty-Fourth Infantry in Contemporary Historiography ..................................................99 A Closer Examination of the Enemy: North Korean and Chinese Soldiers .............................102 A Closer Examination of the Enemy: Weather .........................................................................105 The Aftermath of Desegregation: Physical Violence and Institutionalized Racism.................107 A New Vision of African American Soldiers in Korea ............................................................115 Consequences of the Cold: African American Perspectives .....................................................123 Consequences of Combat: African American Perspectives ......................................................128 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................136 CHAPTER 4: IMPACT OF THE KOREAN WAR ....................................................................139 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................159 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................167 iv VITA ........................................................................................................................................... 177 v INTRODUCTION The Korean War of 1950 to 1953 was a watershed moment in US military history because it was the first war that put President Harry Truman’s Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the US military, into action. And yet, the Korean War, also known as the “Forgotten War,” has been inadequately covered within US military historiography. Similarly, although historiography addressing the role of African Americans in the US military is generally robust, the military service of African Americans during the Korean War is largely overlooked. Forgotten Soldiers from a Forgotten War: Oral History Testimonies of African American Soldiers from the Korean War seeks to fill this gap. This dissertation will enhance the scholarship on African Americans’ participation in the Korean War by revealing the people, places, and events that encouraged African Americans to enlist. Additionally, this study will use oral history testimonies to reveal how African American soldiers prepared for war during basic training service. Finally, this dissertation will explore the impact of the Korean War on soldiers professionally and psychologically. By attending to the stories African American veterans of the Korean War tell about their enlistment, training, and service, I aim to illuminate the previously unrepresented history of the African American experience during the Korean War. I argue African American Korean War veterans’ oral history testimonies reveal the following: social and economic factors encouraged many African American Korean War veterans to sign up for the US military; the training they received prepared them for war; the institutional racism they faced affected their performance on the battlefield; and the Korean War’s impact on African American 1 2 soldiers was nuanced as it helped some achieve financial success, while leaving others with psychological damage that they still cope with today. When the United States entered the Korean War in 1950, many believed the nation would prepare as it had for World War II. 1 For example, many Americans were concerned they would be forced to ration food. 2 However, the United States did not prepare for the Korean War in the same manner as for World War
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