Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts 20151116

American artifacts visits museums and historic places. Next, we visit the National World War Ii Museum in new orleans to learn about the exhibit of fighting for the right fight African American experiences in world war ii. Curator at the National World War Ii Museum. 2015 and in july of will run through may. At which point, we will want a National Tour of the show. We are particularly proud of this exhibit, and artifacts therein. There are some fantastic stories which i will tell you about shortly. We crafted this special exhibit with the help of the National Advisory board. So africanamerican scholars from around the country, including the smithsonian institution, who helped guide and steer the conversation, in regards to the exhibit and the africanAmerican Experience in world war ii. When thinking about the importance of this story, and the importance of africanamerican stories during world war ii, the founder of the National World War Ii Museum, stephen ambrose, wrote in citizen soldiers that the worlds greatest democracy fought the worlds biggest racists with the segregated army. That is really the great irony of world war ii, or one of them at least. Those are some of the stories were trying to tell of this exhibit. The mission of the world War Ii Museum, the National World War Ii Museum is to tell the story of the American Experience during world war ii. 16 million americans fought in world war ii. 1. 1 million americans were africanamericans. And so those stories are crucial , to the American Experience in world war ii. Those the stories we tell in this exhibit. The exhibit is fashioned partially in chronological ways. We begin before the war, and we tell stories during the war, and then we followup with the postwar stories. When the u. S. Is going into world war ii, Many Americans are living in a segregated country. So that is how we begin the story. The segregated situation that africanamericans are living under. The interwar period sees a rise in the ku klux klan activity. Right here, you see an application for membership in the kkk. The 1920s saw a resurgence in klan membership. And then you see tangible evidence, segregated facility signs. We serve colored carryout only. This is from georgia. Another sign from montgomery, alabama. This is the life faced by africanamericans, many of whom would shortly volunteer or enlist in the American Military. So although africanamericans served in every major american conflict prior to world war ii, they were seen as secondclass soldiers, secondclass citizens first of all and then secondclass soldiers. So the American Army produced evidence to back up this claim, to back up the racist practices at the time. The publication, the employment of negro manpower in war, which states in past wars, the negro has made fair labor, but an inferior technician. As a fighter, he is inferior to the white man, even when led by white officers. These are the practices and the spirit of the time, when the u. S. Was thrust into war in to war in december of 1941. The National World War Ii Museums collection includes nearly 7000 World History interviews with world war ii veterans. That is a program that we continue to this day. It is an urgent program, and no one can tell the story like those who lived it. The stories are very important in our collection. We feature several in this exhibit, including a story from harold lloyd. Many of his stories can be seen on our website and in the digital collection site as well in their entirety. In this exhibit we feature , snippets and relevant clips from the stories. One story we feature in this exhibit is harold ward, who served aboard the san francisco. He was badly wounded during the naval battle of wonka now waddle canal. And he tells the story of how he wanted to serve his country, but he was serving his country fighting for the country by shining shoes. And how angry that made him. He said that he had to suppress that anger, or he would have gone mad and ended up in the nut house. Thats a very important story. When telling the story of africanAmerican Experience during world war ii. Another story that harold ward tells is that he wears his metals in his body. When he was wounded aboard the san francisco, he was peppered with shrapnel all throughout his body. And throughout the decades, the later decades, the shrapnel, which had never been removed, would start poking out of his skin. That reminder of his service was there for the rest of his life. One important thing about this exhibit, and i think why is important here at the museum now is the exhibit opened in july, last july. We began to craft it earlier in the year. And since the exhibits open, two of the members featured in the exhibit have passed away. So harold ward died at the age of 94 in june. So here, we feature a letter from Edward Carter junior, who is a medal of honor recipients. He has such a unique story, an incredible one. He wrote this letter home to his wife in 1942, when he is training in fort benning, georgia. Many africanamericans, when it they went into service in the American Military, if they had not been from the south, many of them had to train in the south. And so their military Training Experience was often the first time they experienced jim crow laws and segregation. That was a harsh welcome to the American Military for many of those servicemen. Edward carter wrote to his wife about an incident in fort benning. He writes, coy was killed, shot for not getting off the white bus. Thats one reason i dont go to town, i would kill some of those whites or get killed myself. We are fighting for a great cause, long live the usa, home of the free and the brave. The campaign for equal rights at home, and the campaign for democracy, and for Freedom Abroad democracy at home and abroad is referred to as the double victory or double v campaign. One rallying cry for this campaign which was spurred by the black press mainly and activists, one rallying cry came from a 26yearold cafeteria worker, james thompson, when he writes, should i sacrifice my life to live half american . Would it be too much to demand full Citizenship Rights in exchange for the sacrificing of my life . Americans were fighting and being injured like harold ward wearing their metal, they are , still being denied equal rights. This piece that you see here is from a local newer lydian new orleanean. This is his aviator bag. He trained with the 332nd group, better known as the Tuskegee Airmen. We say he is the last surviving an from newrmen an orleans. However, he did pass away at age 90 just last month. We were sorry to lose him, he was a good friend of the museum. Ng here with his barbershop quartet on his 90th birthday. It was very special. He didnt know this was here, he had seen the exhibit and was very proud of his service and of the museum. And of this display. The 332nd fighter group, Tuskegee Airmen have come to symbolize africanamerican participation in world war ii. However, only 992 africanamerican men were trained with the 332nd as pilots. Were relegated to labor roles, to support, supply, transportation, and labor battalions. You see that in the navy, takes the form of stewards, mess cooks, in the army, its , transportation and quartermaster roles. So this is the dress blue jumper of connecticut native lawrence anderson. He was part of the crew of the uss lexington. He served as a stewards makte. You see the rating insignia. And the dress blue jumper here. Anderson served meals have a flash anderson served meals, polished silverware, and performed duties that were polishing shoes for the military. Similar to what harold ward said earlier. Fighting for our country by shining shoes. Anderson did receive, like ward, a purple heart for wounds sustained when the lexington was torpedoed. By a japanese plane in december of 1943. So africanamericans who served with the marine corps were trained separately from white marine corps recruits. The separate, segregated Training Facility was in north carolina. The African American marines during world war ii were known as Montford Point marines. This was a pioneering group. We are fortunate to have several uniforms in the National World War Ii Museums collection. From these pioneers to the u. S. Marine corps. This is a uniform worn by charles allen, his son spoke recently at the exhibits opening. He said that his father wanted his dress blues, this was a very significant achievement. Not only for africanamericans, but a significant achievement for anyone to receive these dress blues. The dress blue uniform. He was very proud of this. The donation of such a uniform to the museums collection is a significant one. We are very proud to have it as well. This item, this artifact is a bloodstained shirt. It has a piece of shrapnel there from the World War Ii Service of dr. Rother smith, who goes by the name of doc rock. He was a Conscientious Objector at the time. He objected to service on religious grounds. He was a member of the church of latter day saints. Many Conscientious Objectors served as medics because they did not carry weapons. They didnt carry firearms. But they did serve their country and many with great distinction. Th was attached to the 366 infantry regiment of the 92nd infantry division, which is the buffalo soldiers. One of the segregated African American outfits in world war ii. 1944, hisember 20 6, unit came under attack in italy. During a german mortar barrage, he was injured. This piece of shrapnel actually went into his shoulder. It wasnt removed until 1954. Thats a pretty sizable chunk of shrapnel to walk around with for 10 years. When it was removed, he kept it. You can see where it entered his shirt. Its a fabulous display. After he was wounded in this barrage, he and a couple of other servicemen who were also wounded were left in this house, the rest of the unit had to retreat or be captured. So smith became a guest of the third reich, a pow of the germans. And so not only do we have the piece of shrapnel that went into his shoulder causing his injuries, but he became a pow of the germans. He spent the rest of the war in 7a, one of stalag the largest. Its where the bulk of the american pows were liberated from. Here is his german prisoner of war i. D. Tack. It looks very similar to the german dog tag. And then we also have a spoon that he used during the camp. He tells the story that a fork lets all of the food slip through. And in the prison camp, every morsel, every scrap of food was important. The spoon became the essential tool that he used. He said that after the war, after he was liberated and returned home his mom had to , show him how to use a fork again because he didnt want to use a fork. But he had to return to civilized life and learn how to use a fork again. These items that you see on display, they are really the crown jewels of this exhibit. We have five medals of honor here, our nations highest military award, highest military decoration. And this is the largest grouping of medals of honor awarded to African Americans since the awarding in 1987. 1997 was not so long ago, it took until 1997 to recognize the achievements of these very unique individuals. So the stories that are associated with these awards read like something superhuman. They are really unbelievable, incredible stories of bravery. Not only stories of bravery, but stories of bravery under very parse conditions harsh conditions often. When you have the system working against you. We talked about serving under in segregated units, being considered a secondclass soldier, not receiving proper training, not receiving the support of your superiors. When these awards were given out by president clinton, when they were awarded by president clinton in 1997, only one of the seven recipients was still living. And that was vernon baker. At the time, he was awarded the distinguished service cross, it was said that he was not even recommended for the medal of honor because it was known that that would not even have been considered for him because he was African American. Bakerlieutenant vernon distinguished himself by extraordinary action. Lieutenant baker advanced as the head of his weapons platoon, along with three rifle platoons toward the objective a german , mountain stronghold. Moving more rapidly than the rest of the company, lieutenant baker and 25 men reached the south side some 250 yards from the castle within two hours. While searching for a position to set up a machine gun, lieutenant baker observed to cylindrical objects pointing out the slit at the edge of the hill. Crawling up and under the opening, he stuck his rifle into imitate in deed them tied the clip, killing the observation post who occupied it. Moving to another position in the same area, lieutenant baker came upon a well camouflaged machine gun nest. He shot and killed both enemy soldiers. After companies the commander joined the group, the german soldier appeared from the draw and hurtled a grenade which failed to explode. Lieutenant baker shot the enemy soldier. Lieutenant baker then went down into the draw alone. He blasted open the concealed entrance of another dugout with a hand grenade. One german soldier who emerged after the explosion, tossed another grenade into the dugout and entered, firing his submachine gun, killing two more enemy soldiers. As he climbed back out, enemy machine gun and more fire began to inflict heavy fire among the group of 25 soldiers, killing or wounding about two thirds. Lieutenant baker then volunteered to cover the withdrawal of the first group, which consisted of mostly walking wounded. He remained to assist in the evacuation of the more seriously wounded. During the second groups withdrawal, lieutenant baker destroyed machine gun positions two with hand grenades. In all, lieutenant baker accounted for nine dead in her enemy soldiers, the elimination of three observation posts, and the dugout. The following night, he voluntarily led in advance through enemy minefields and heavy fire to obtain the mission objectives. His fighting spirit exemplified the highest military service. [camera clicks] [applause] [applause] it was only 1993 that the u. S. Began to investigate stores of discrimination in the awarding of medals. Of 471re are a total americans who received the medal of honor for service during world war ii. Seven of those recipients now, since 1997, are africanamerican. Theres an Ongoing Investigation into discrimination in the awarding of medals, not just during world war ii, but during other conflicts as well. And those are still being awarded today. Its possible we will see more medals awarded to African Americans over time, as the records and claims are investigated. So we are very proud to have these five medals here on display, these are all on loan to the National World War Ii Museum. Most from family members, then also from michigans own military and space museum, and from the Oklahoma History center. The u. S. Army quartermaster museum. This was an effort really that was spearheaded by eileen carter, the daughterinlaw of Edward Carter junior. She really led the charge in the in elaborating on the story of Edward Carter and how miraculous it is really. He was raised in india, raised abroad by missionaries, in china. And really fought against a racist system. So she spearheaded the charge for his medal. He unfortunately passed away in 1963 at only 47 years old and he was long gone by the time that this was awarded. But his family did accept this on his honor. Staff sergeant ca rters exemplary heroism was an example of the highest traditions of military service. Accepting the medal of honor for Staff Sergeant carter is his son. [applause] kim guise the story of Edward Carter, jr. , and his service during world war ii is really incredible. He was born to missionary parents in los angeles, the n raised in india and china. He ran away at 15 years old and fought with the chinese against japan, and then fought against fascism in the spanish civil war. When he got back to the United States, he joined the army. He was assigned to the role of cook. So again, we see an africanamerican who, although he has combat experience in the spanish civil war, relegated to a service role. He volunteered for combat in 1944, and was assigned to the 12 th armored division. On march 23, 1945, his unit came under attack while advancing. He led a patrol towards the town, but all of his men were killed or wounded. All of them. Despite being hit five times, carter destroyed two enemy positions, killed several german soldiers, and captured two others. That also provided his unit with important intelligence information, so capturing those prisoners was important. It allowed u. S. Forces to advance. So this is the action for which he was decorated with the medal of honor, which was retroactively awarded in carter 1997. Remained in the army after the war, but was denied reenlistment in 1949, due to unfounded suspicions that he was a communist. This was related to his upbringing in china and to his service in the spanish civil war. Again we see a postwar story that is not the happiest. So returning home to america didnt always mean a happy homecoming, victory and liberation parades. For many African Americans homecoming was a bittersweet , experience. A very disappointing experience to come back to an unchanged america. The one important element to the story is the postwar story. 1. 1 million americans served, black americans served in , uniform during the war. Many hoped that upon returning home, their Service Record would mean something. It would mean something to fellow americans. And most were bitterly disappointed. We hear stories of people disembarking the ship, coming home in america and white servicemen had to go one way and black servicemen had to use another ramp and go the opposite way. We see stories of African Americans returning home after having served, had to ride in the segregated train car. Of course, next to the coal engine. That experience was very different from white americans, who were returning home to tickertape parades and jubilant victory celebrations. Black americans often return home to an unchanged situation. We had won the victory for democracy abroad, but that fight for democracy here and for civil rights here in the United States would take decades. And is ongoing, some would say. The work of the museum focuses heavily on the personal story. It is my job to help bring that personal story to the public. You can read numbers all day long. 16 million americans served in world war ii. But who were these americans . Who were these people . How can i identify with him today . How can i make my neighbor identify with this experience . And to make that experience, alive is really important to me and to the institution