Sidelights on Negro Soldiers

by Charles H. Williams

H. E. Caldwell, with the 369th Regiment, was under shell fire longer than any other Negro secretary. Matthew W. Bullock and Dr. B. N. Murrell followed the 369th into the thickest of the fight and were with it when it led the allied armies to the banks of the Rhine, a position of honor accorded it because of its excellent service in the trenches. Of Mr. Bullock it was said that when the fight was hardest and the soldiers were wounded and dying, he was ever with his men encouraging them to press forward to victory. Of Dr. Murrell we shall speak again. T. C. Cook, of the 371st Regiment, was cited in orders for his bravery in rescuing two wounded soldiers exposed in pouring rain and shell fire. He succeeded in moving them to a narrow dug-out that was soon afterwards filled with poisonous gas. In attempting to escape, he left the dug-out only to fall unconscious in the open. On that morning of the battle officers and men had entrusted to his care $35,000 of their savings, which he carried on his back as he helped the wounded. When he regained consciousness in a hospital behind the lines, he found that the money had disappeared, but his anxiety was relieved when he was informed that the colored sergeant-major of the regiment, whom he had requested to guard the money in case of accident to himself, had forwarded it to the Paris office of the Y. M. C. A. and that every cent had been safely delivered. Of Secretary James G. Wiley of the 92nd Division Lt. Col. A. E. Deitsch wrote: “During the occupancy of the Marbache sector, he established an Association in the town of Atton which was bombarded daily. Even when the German bombardment tore the roof from the building and all civilians had left the vicinity, only the soldiers necessary for the relaying of supplies and ammunition to the front lines remaining, this man held on and served the soldiers faithfully.”

Sometimes the Negro secretary served not only the men in one camp but in several, even covering an area containing as many as 50,000 soldiers. Such a worker was J. E. Saddler, who was engaged in the Chaumont region. The labor battalions which he served worked on the roads, at bakeries, rail heads and ammunition dumps, often working both day and night, one man doing two men’s work. At first Mr. Saddler went on foot, walking 30 kilometers a day, carrying all the supplies he could, and distributing them to groups of men doing road work. Then he secured a motorcycle, and when that was completely used up he obtained a Ford, with the aid of which he could reach more men. Sometimes he organized schools, offering prizes to induce the men to learn to write. Occasionally he conducted spelling bees, taking the words from the Stars and Stripes. He was not a preacher, but some Sundays he held as many as seven services. Dr. Murrell served in the Verdun region where thousands of men were engaged in salvaging and in burying the American dead. He, like Mr. Saddler, traveled about in a truck with supplies. At Romagne, the site of the Argonne cemetery, he and his staff did excellent work. Two huts were constructed from sheet iron taken from German dug-outs. At night these were so crowded that one could hardly move about in them. The men wrote letters, played games, or gathered around the piano; they also had daily shows, athletic contests, and the canteen was excellent. All such service was of great value in building up the morale of the men and in relieving them from the depressing effects of the grewsome work they were called on to perform. At Liffol-le-Grand, M. R. Atwell had a hut which was attractively whitewashed and painted inside. Pictures of Negro officers and nurses were on the walls, and generally the work ranked with the most efficient in France.

After the Armistice a splendid piece of work was done for the soldiers at Issurtille by W. W. Waitneight, a white secretary, who in the beginning was opposed to working with colored men. In the early days of the camp these soldiers were not permitted to visit the “Y” buildings, and no other place of recreation was provided for them. Finally a captain, moved by the situation, asked for volunteers to help erect a building. The “Y” furnished the lumber, some of the engineer regiments supplied foremen, and the soldiers, including forty mechanics, undertook to do the work. The site selected was in a bottom where the entire camp drained, and at times the water was six inches deep on the floor. In such an environment there was little enthusiasm on the part of white secretaries to undertake the work; but the one who did found the greater joy in the hearty appreciation of the men. Two thousand were in nightly attendance, and from three thousand to thirty-five hundred were served daily in the “Y” and in the wet canteen. The work developed until it became the most popular in the camp, and the secretary who at first doubted, learned to love the men and to work untiringly for them. At Gierve, a white Baptist minister, Mr. Rankin, served Negro soldiers in a spacious and well equipped hut, and he also endeared himself to the men.

At the biggest base ports in France—Bordeaux, St. Nazaire, and Brest—the Y. M. C. A. did a wonderful work. For months there were 20,000 Negro soldiers at Bordeaux alone, doing stevedore work. Some of the first colored secretaries sent to France went to this city during the period of active fighting. They and the army officers did not work harmoniously together, and after some stormy days they were ordered to Paris with recommendations to Y. M. C. A. headquarters that they be sent to America. After investigation, however, they were sent to other fields of labor, but meanwhile Negro secretaries in New York, about to sail for France, were detained for months. The situation was finally adjusted and two other men, B. F. Seldon and A. W. Shockley, who went to Bordeaux, successfully co-operated with the officers and worked among the white as well as the colored soldiers. At St. Sulpice Mr. Seldon had charge of a hut that was well equipped, and Mr. Shockley conducted a canteen that was said to be one of the cleanest in France. Thomas Clayton, another secretary in the Bordeaux area, conducted schools for 600 illiterate men. Twenty-seven men were sent from the section to the universities in France, and thirty were sent to the agricultural department at Bonn. At Anconia, also in this area, a big hut was in charge of J. M. Price, a white secretary who served with colored troops from the beginning. This hut had an auditorium seating 2000, a spacious sitting-room, a good library, and a large room for games. Two shows daily were given the 10,000 men. They were encouraged to save, and in one month $22,000 was sent to the States. Mr. Price was a Southern man, but he was so much admired by the men and he made such a favorable impression on the commanding officers that, when the troops sailed for America, he was, against the rules of the Y. M. C. A., allowed to sail with the men he had served.

The “Y” at St. Nazaire did one of the biggest pieces of work seen anywhere in France. There were at times more than 50,000 Negro soldiers at this base. The first colored secretary sent to France, Franklin W. Nichols, worked here and had the honor of building the first hut erected for Negro stevedores. Other pioneers were Rev. Leroy Ferguson, J. O. Wright, William Stevenson, James H. Robinson, R. E. Williams, and the three canteen workers who reached France before the Armistice, Mrs. Helen Curtis, Mrs. Addie W. Hunton, and Miss Kathryn Johnson. These workers left splendid records of achievement. During the last months at St. Nazaire, Negro soldiers were served in four Y. M. C. A. buildings operated by Negro secretaries and also in some conducted by white secretaries. The huts of the former were located at Camps Dodge, Guthrie, Montoir, Lusitania, and Camp I. That at Lusitania was the largest; it had an auditorium seating 1800. The commanding officers co-operated gladly, and the divisional secretaries in the area, especially M. B. Wallace, showed fine spirit in helping to make the work a success.

During the days of fighting and immediately after the Armistice, Negro soldiers at Brest related stories of discrimination by the “Y” and of its refusal to serve them. In the spring of 1919, however, the camp commander and the divisional secretary declared that the men should have a “fifty-fifty” deal. The organization conducted altogether fifteen huts in Camp Pontenazen, one in Camp President Lincoln, and a small room at the sorting yard. “Soldiers’ Rest” at Camp Pontenazen was especially set aside for the Negro soldiers, though all soldiers were served there. In March, 1919, B. F. Lee was sent to work in this hut. He later became general secretary for the building, and four canteen workers helped in the last days. In all the other huts at Pontenazen Negro soldiers were also served. While some canteen women were not enthusiastic about assisting them, the divisional secretary, a Tennesseean, tried to give all men equal service, and one secretary who refused to serve the Negroes was sent back to America. At Camp President Lincoln Secretaries Fritz Cansler and Nelson were stationed and did some very effective educational work. After prayer meetings movies were advertised and these always meant a full house. At the sorting yard, located on the docks at Brest, a group of Negro soldiers ran a kitchen where embarking soldiers were fed and where stevedores working on the docks got one meal to prevent the necessity of returning to camp; they also had a secretary. In the city of Brest Negro soldiers were served at both the Y. M. C. A. restaurant and the big cafeteria, and generally the improvement in the conditions at this base accounted for a more favorable impression than that borne away from some other places.

There were many other instances of devoted service. “Y” work was by no means easy. Many army officers looked upon any secretary with disfavor. On the other hand, the secretaries themselves were not always infallible, nor were their words and actions unerringly discreet.

Hundreds of entertainers who went overseas visited the soldiers in all branches of the service. Among these there were no theatrical people of color, nor any of the leading singers of the race. However, during the last months there was a religious entertaining unit composed of Rev. H. H. Proctor, who spoke, J. E. Blanton, song leader, and Miss Helen Hagan, a noted pianist. These helpers carried cheer wherever they went.

The few Negro women who went to France as canteen workers exerted a great influence for good. While many officers and secretaries were opposed to having women serve the men, their presence was like the calming of a great storm. They built up the morale instantly, as was noted in every camp to which they were sent. Once or twice, as when Mrs. Hunton first appeared at St. Nazaire, some of the men cried for joy. The men loved, protected, and honored these workers for what they represented, and one of them said that she had to go to France to be truly proud of the fact that she was a Negro woman.

The work of the canteen women received probably the greatest praise in the leave areas. This work was conducted in the Department of Savoie, among beautiful mountains and lakes conducive to rest and relaxation; and Chambéry, Challes les Eaux, and Aix les Bains were the leading cities. Aix les Bains is noted for its baths, used by the Romans and visited by tourists from all over the world. Chambéry, used as headquarters, is an educational center with colleges and art museums. On the outskirts of the city overlooking the valley below is the home of Jean Jacques Rousseau; and from there one might view also the cross of Nivolet and a chain of snow-capped Alps. Seven miles away is the famous Pass where Hannibal with his army crossed the Alps. To this day the road said to have been built by him is in perfect condition. To such an environment the Negro soldiers came, and they were welcomed by the citizens as men who had helped to save their country. They stood in the Pass, viewed Lake Bourget below, and the Italian Alps in the distance. Here also it was that the secretaries, under the direction of William Stevenson and Mrs. Curtis, did some of the best work in France.