24th Infantry in Korean War

I was a soldier in an all-colored outfit during World War II, and served two years in Europe, plus the year I was in camps here in the states. I was just an 18-year-old boy when I was drafted in 1943, fresh out of high school and not very worldly. But the Army woke me up in a hurry!

In California at the Presidio of Monterey we were all in the same barracks, but when they sent us to basic training camp in the South we were separated. Whites, Mexicans, and Indians together. And colored assigned to another part of the camp. In other words we were segregated by race and told we were not good enough to train and fight with the others! I never forgot that, but I did my service, stayed out of trouble and received an honorable discharge.

The strange part is five years later they came asking me if I would return to the service to help keep freedom for the people in South Korea! I told them to go to hell.

JAMES M. DAVIS

Los Angeles