I believe it
is time for America to meet the men of the 761st, common men who grew
to become heroes, black men who fought for a country that often hated
them, stalwart men who overcame social injustice to become men of
colorblind valor. This first-of-its-kind book will…help them take their
place as member of the greatest generation. —Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
With
these brief, moving words, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sets forth the feelings
and the goals that inspired him to recount the courageous story of the
761st in Brothers in Arms. Jabbar first learned the story from
his high school mentor and friend, Leonard “Smitty” Smith, a veteran of
the Battalion. Working with acclaimed writer Anthony Walton, they
interviewed the seventy surviving members of the battalion as well as
battalion members' descendants to weave together a page-turning
narrative based on their memories and stories, from basic training
through the horrors of the battlefield, to their post-war experiences
in a racially divided America. By the end of the war, the 761st—which
Patton initially spurned, claiming Blacks weren't quick enough to
maneuver tanks in battlefield situations—liberated some thirty towns
and villages, as well as a concentration camp.
Known as “The
Black Panthers,” the 761st Battalion was the first all-black tank
battalion to see combat in the war. While most American units fought on
the front for one to two weeks before being rotated back, the
courageous men of the 761st served for more than 183 consecutive days,
fighting under Patton's Third Army at the Battle of the Bulge, helping
to turn back the German offensive and cut off German supply lines. They
were in the vanguard of the American troops that liberated the
concentration camp at Mauthausen—an effort that eventually won them
recognition from the State of Israel. All this was accomplished despite
a casualty rate that approached 50 percent and an extreme shortage of
replacement personnel and equipment.
The unconscionable racism
that shadowed these intrepid fighters during the war (black combat
units were sometimes referred to as “Mrs. Roosevelt's Niggers” because
of her efforts to persuade the military to allow them to serve in
combat) and the prejudices they faced when they returned home is never
far from the surface of Brothers in Arms. What shines through
most of all, however, are the bonds that united them as soldiers and
brothers, the bravery they exhibited on the battlefield, and the quiet
dignity and patriotism that defined their lives.
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