MSM 610 LaMont Martin - A Black Soldier's Memories of WWII - a podcast by USM Center for Oral History

Throughout WWII, U.S. armed forces remained segregated along racial lines. Even though over 900,000 African-Americans served in the armed forces during the war—proving their worth time and again—they were still viewed with suspicion by many of their white commanding officers and others.

LaMont Martin of Gulfport was drafted into the Army after graduating high school in 1942.  In this episode, he shares some of his memories from that time, like how he and his buddy got left behind when the bus carrying them to Fort Benning, Georgia stopped for a meal in Alabama.  After basic training, Martin was stationed in Massachusetts before being deployed to the European Theater. He remembers the day that he and a fellow soldier accidently wandered into a “white” USO club while visiting Boston.

Waiting to cross the English Channel into France, black soldiers were restricted from fraternizing with English women.  LaMont Martin discusses the prevailing attitudes of that time and remembers how the reported rape of a German woman almost led to a race riot and the court-martial of their entire company.

This episode of Mississippi Moments was researched by Sean Buckelew, and produced by Ross Walton, with narration by Bill Ellison.

 

PHOTO: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/ww2_16/w12_01010428.jpg

 

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