Dan Snow's History Hit - The Black Medal of Honour

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during WWII, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honour to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African-Americans served, not a single black soldier received the Medal of Honour.Rob Child is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter, director and published author. Allene Carter is the daughter-in-law of Edward Allen Carter Jr., an Army sergeant who exhibited heroism on the battlefield. Rob and Allene join Dan on the podcast to share why the seven African American soldiers had been denied recognition for 50 years and the remarkable story of how they were ultimately awarded the prestigious military decoration.Produced by Hannah WardMixed and Mastered by Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Hi everyone, welcome to Dan Snow's History. In this episode of the podcast, we are talking about the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration of a gallantry that can be awarded to US soldiers. We're talking particularly though about black Medal of Honor winners who've traditionally been overlooked. This is the extraordinary story of seven African-American soldiers who were awarded the Medal of Honor, but only after a 50-year campaign. Up to that point, they've been denied that recognition. The background here is that during World War II, around 500 Medals of Honour were awarded, and despite one million African-Americans serving in the military during the war, not a single one was given a Medal of

Honour. But 50 years later, seven names were added to that illustrious list. It was only in 1993 that this kind of unspoken rule of not nominating and recommending black soldiers for the honour came to light and a commission combed through extraordinarily, like half a century of old records. So in this podcast, I'm lucky enough to talk to Rob Child. He's an Emmy-nominated screenwriter, director and author. He's written about this process and the medals of of Honour winners. Also very lucky to talk to Arlene Carter. She's daughter-in-law of Edward Alan Carter Jr., an army sergeant. He exhibited really very extraordinary heroism on the battlefield. She's a force of nature and she attended the ceremony with President Clinton in Washington in 1997, when Sergeant Carter was awarded the Medal of Honor. Such a great story. So that's all coming up, folks. Remember, you can subscribe to

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Have a look. Doesn't hurt. And then if you wish to, you can subscribe. You can support everything we're doing here at History It and make sure we can go on making the world's best history shows. It's exciting, folks. Thanks for all the support. But in the meantime, here's Rob Child and Arlene Carter talking about the Medal of Honor.

Rob, just the title of the Medal of Honor comes with such historical importance and resonance. Tell us, what is it? What does it mean in the U.S.? The Medal of Honor in the U.S. would be equivalent to the Victoria Cross in the UK. It's the highest medal for valor, essentially in combat, for soldiers that go above and beyond the call of duty. And it was created in 1861, just prior to the Civil War. And many were given out during the Civil War. So it's got 150 years worth of history. There's some extraordinary tales in there. Yeah, yeah, it does. There were over 1500 Medals of Honor awarded in the Civil War. And the award began as an award for enlisted

men in the Navy. And officers were added later and other branches of the service. The Army was added in 1863. So the largest number of medals were awarded during the Civil War. And to date, at last count, there's 3,530 that have been awarded to American service personnel in all branches of the service, including one in the Coast Guard, which I looked up. And the numbers for World War II are relatively low compared to the number of soldiers in uniform for the United States during World War II. And in the Korean War, there were 126 and 262 in the Vietnam conflict. And there were subsequent medals awarded for the war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's very striking. You mentioned World War II there. One million African Americans served in

the military during the war. And is it the case that not a single one of those men was awarded the Medal of Honor? That is the case. And it was because of a number of factors. Chief among them, there was an unspoken rule that was discovered by a committee that investigated the reasons why African Americans weren't awarded the Medal of Honor, there was an unspoken rule not to recommend black soldiers for the Medal of Honor, even though in many instances they deserve that. And their white commanders settled for awarding them for the second highest honor, which was and is the Distinguished Service Cross. second highest honor, which was and is the Distinguished Service Cross.

Is it also because often these men, these units were not given the kind of roles in which you had an opportunity to demonstrate that kind of valor? Earlier in the war, that was true up until January of 1945, because black soldiers mainly served in service roles in rear echelon positions, the Red Ball Express being an example. But in late 1944, after the Battle of the Bulge, it was realized and Eisenhower realized that white soldiers in the rifle companies were being depleted and they needed a solution. So he issued a letter, the wording is kind of odd, inviting black soldiers for the privilege of serving in rifle companies in combat, beginning in 1945.

And that went out to all the black service organizations, all the service companies, and an overwhelming number signed up. Close to 5,000 black soldiers signed up and they were overwhelming the system. They could only handle about 2,500. And in the end, 2,200 black soldiers went through the training and became combat soldiers. And were they in segregated units or were they brought in as drafts for what became mixed units? Early on, they were thinking, one of Eisenhower's generals was thinking that it would be a one-for-one replacement for white soldiers in units.

And that alarmed everybody because they said, oh, well, that's too much integration. We can't have black soldiers serving side by side with white soldiers, which was ridiculous. So what they did was they developed this idea of the fifth platoon, a fifth platoon attached to a company that would be commanded by white officers. So these black combat soldiers went in and formed a fifth platoon and served that way. And yet, even when they were serving in these kind of roles where they were likely to see a lot of fighting and have opportunity to perform acts of valor, there was an unspoken norm, which was they would not be eligible for the highest Medal of Valor. Yeah, there was, even though that when they first entered into these divisions and battalions, they were kind of looked at very warily by the white officers, but the white commanders had no choice but to put them into action. And they did, and they distinguished themselves many, did, and they distinguished themselves many, many times, especially in the tank units. And they were hamstrung. The commanders knew that they couldn't recommend these soldiers,

no matter what they did, for the Medal of Honor. The one exception, though, is Reuben Rivers, whose commander, Captain David Williams, who commanded Company A in the 761st Tank Battalion, Patton's Panthers. Reuben Rivers was his outstanding tank commander in his company. And he was killed in action after taking out several Tiger tanks and going toe-to-toe with other German forces. And Captain David Williams knew that that was the unspoken rule, that he couldn't recommend Reuben for the Medal of Honor, but he decided not to obey that rule. And he spoke to his commander, Hollis Hunt, and he said, I want to recommend Reuben for the Medal of Honor. Rivers had already been awarded the Silver Star after only about a month in action. That's how outstanding his

service was. And his commander said, well, it's going to be difficult. He says, well, I just feel he deserves the Medal of Honor. And David Williams fought for five decades, essentially, and lived to see Rivers awarded the Medal of Honor in 1997. And he actually was able to attend the ceremony where President Clinton awarded Reuben's sister, Grace, his Medal of Honor. So he never gave up. It's an amazing story. What an outstanding story. And

what was it about the 1990s that suddenly saw this historic injustice start to be rectified? Well, in the late 80s, a researcher, Harnden Hargrove, was researching soldiers from World War I, black soldiers who were deserving of the Medal of Honor because up until the late 80s, early 90s, no black soldiers from World War I were awarded the Medal of Honor either. And he pushed the Army to investigate one soldier's actions, Freddie Stowers. And Freddie Stowers was killed in action in World War I. And the Army recognized that, yes, he deserved the Medal of Honor. And Stowers was awarded his Medal of Honor from World War I in 1991. And that started the

ball rolling for the Department of Defense to realize that no black soldiers from World War II had been awarded the Medal of Honor. So they commissioned a study at Shaw University to look into that exact situation. How many cases of people who won, for example, the Distinguished Service Cross, in how many of those cases was it decided that they should be upgraded to the Medal of Honor? Well, the university study led by Dr. Jill Brand discovered that nine soldiers were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. And one, Reuben Rivers, who was pushed by Captain David Williams, was awarded the Silver Star. And that became the criteria for upgrading their Distinguished Service Cross to the Medal of Honor. And seven of the nine, including Reuben Rivers, were elevated to the Medal of Honor. It was a three-year study,

cost almost $400,000, exhaustive study, interviewing witnesses and interviewing the families and witnesses and interviewing the families and investigating each of these men. And the seven were determined to be deserving of the Medal of Honor. Can you tell me a little bit more about some of these men? Sure. There were seven of them. Vernon Baker was from Wyoming, and he distinguished himself leading a platoon against a German stronghold as part of the 92nd Division. And his unit got the farthest towards their stronghold. He took 26 men up and 19 were casualties, killed in action. But his actions, Vernon Baker, essentially broke through the Gothic line in Northern Italy. And was Baker alive in person to receive his Medal of Honor from the president? Yeah. That's incredible. Baker was the only one that remained

alive in 1997 to accept the Medal of Honor in person. Very emotional for him. He looked back on his service and he had mixed emotions because of the racism in my research into Vernon. Charles Thomas was actually an officer in the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion. He trained as an officer and led his Tank Destroyer Battalion against a town on the Siegfried Line called Kleinbach. And his role was to draw fire so the infantry could circle this town that was held by the Germans, the 22nd Panzer Division, veterans of North Africa. And his unit drew all the fire and was decimated. But he held on, wounded. He took four guns into the fight. Three were taken out. And his unit suffered 50% casualties. But he survived.

He was one of the three Medal of Honor recipients that survived. And his unit is distinguished because they were the first black unit to receive the presidential unit citation in World War II. It's an amazing story. in World War II. It's an amazing story. Edward Carter is truly an amazing person because his story stretches across the 20th century. He was born in Los Angeles of missionary parents. His mother was Anglo-Indian from Calcutta. They moved to Calcutta briefly in his teenage years and then on to Shanghai. And they settled in the international settlement in Shanghai. The Japanese bombed the international settlement in Shanghai in 1932. So where he was living became under attack. And Carter was sort of a rebellious young man. His father was very domineering, a pastor. And he took the opportunity, Eddie,

as I refer to him in the book, Eddie took the opportunity to escape his father's shadow and actually joined the Chinese 19th Army and fought on the side of the Chinese under Shanghai Shack against the Japanese invaders. And his family didn't know where he was. He served for a few months on the line, and he did so well they were about to elevate him to lieutenant. And his father actually discovered that he was serving in the army, and he came to retrieve him. So his father brought him back to the family because he was underage. He was only 15, fighting with the Chinese. That didn't deter him. He wanted to get back into the fight. When the Italians invaded Abyssinia, he asked the American embassy, a consulate,

if he could join the fight. And the Americans told him, we're not at war with the Italians, so no. So they said, why don't you join the merchant Marines? So he joined the merchant Marines for a time, but then left the Merchant Marines in the late 1930s and returned to the States, where for the first time he realized that there was racism. He didn't experience racism in China to the degree that was happening in America. And also the Depression. The Depression wasn't happening in Shanghai. It was a bustling city in the 30s.

In the late 30s, he decided to continue his military career by joining the revolution in Spain, the Civil War. And he went over to Spain, joined up with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and fought on the side of the liberals or essentially the communists. But he wasn't politically minded. And unfortunately, his fighting on the side of the communists came back to haunt him throughout his life. He stayed in the war until 1940, distinguished himself there, came back to the States, found

that he had no work, There was no work for black soldiers. The country was getting out of the depression. So he enlisted in the army in September of 1941, prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, in a quartermaster company. But he was the best marksman in the whole unit. He was written up in the Army Gazette there as one of the best marksmen in the unit, but still he was pushing a mop. His unit, his quartermaster unit, shipped off to Europe in 1944. And when Eisenhower issued that letter inviting black soldiers into rifle companies. He finally had his chance and he joined and passed through the training and joined the 12th Armored Division in the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion.

He was part of a unit that was entering Germany, unscouted territory, in early 1945, in March 1945. So they were labeled Patton's Mystery Division, the 12th Armored, because they had to remove all the insignia from their uniforms, from their vehicles, because Patton didn't want the Germans to know what unit they were. So they entered Germany and were targets of the Germans. And that's exactly what happened on March 23rd, 1945. He and his unit came under attack from an abandoned warehouse, 150 yards off the side of the road by a Panzerfaust, and then a hidden machine gun nest, and an 88. So they were facing formidable firepower.

By this time, Carter was a squad leader. They had elevated him to squad leader because he was a natural-born leader. He volunteered to lead a squad to take out the guns. He and two other men set off. Two of them were wounded, one was killed, and Carter had gotten so far out into the field that there was no way he could turn back. And he saw that his men had taken hits and he was shot himself. He ended up being shot nine times, believe it or not. He was carrying a Thompson

submachine gun. He decided that the only way he could survive is to lay down, play dead, and wait for the Germans to try to find him. And that's exactly what they did. He had planned in his mind when the first German discovered his position and called the others. He could barely stand. He'd rehearsed in his mind that he would take his Thompson submachine gun and take them out. And that's exactly what happened. It was eight German soldiers that came out and surrounded him. And as soon as they called for the others to arrive, he took his Thompson submachine gun, shot six of them, and the other two raised their hands in surrender.

And what he did was, mind you, he could barely walk. So he took one German soldier, put him in front of him. He took the other, put him behind him, and made his way 150 yards back across the field to the American convoy. As Germans and Americans watched in basically awe of him doing this. watched in basically awe of him doing this. And when they got the Germans to the American position, to the convoy, his commander, Vanderhoff, said, okay, let's get these prisoners out and sequestered. And he said, wait a minute, we have to interrogate them first. We have to know what's up the road. And everybody stared at each other. And then Carter started to address the Germans in German because he knew German from learning it in Shanghai

in his international school. So he was able to interrogate the Germans in German, find out the hidden positions up the road. And that resulted in the convoy proceeding safely further into Germany. A tough day for white supremacists in that unit, I'm guessing. I mean, that's extraordinary, eh? Wow.

Yeah. You listen to Dan Snow's history. More coming up. I'm Matt Lewis. And I'm Dr. Eleanor Janaga. And in Gone Medieval, we get into the greatest mysteries. The gobsmacking details and latest groundbreaking research. From the greatest millennium in human history.

We're talking Vikings. Normans. Kings and popes. Who were rarely the best of friends. Murder. Rebellions. And crusades. Find out who we really were.

By subscribing to Gone Medieval from History Hit. Wherever you get your podcasts. Aline, thank you very much for talking to me today. Thank you for inviting me to your show. Your father-in-law, did you know he had this extraordinary story? Is this something that was talked about in the family? No. You see, how this came about, we got a notice from Washington, D.C. He was going to get the Medal of Honor posthumously. They needed a press release. And Mildred, his wife, had a trunk full of his letters. I had to put those letters in chronological order, and he told a story through those letters.

What did you learn about him through those letters? Who was Edward Allan Carter, Jr.? He was a force to be reckoned with. Edward Carter, Jr. was raised in China. He was a warrior from the word go. He went to Fort Benning, Georgia when he joined the army in 1941. He was already a veteran soldier. And in 41, they were shocked because he came there speaking Hindi, he spoke German,

and he spoke Mandarin. He knew every weapon they had at Fort Lewis, and that put him under suspicion. So by October of 41, he was placed under surveillance. A weekly report had to go in to military intelligence because they didn't trust him. So it went to J. Edgar Hoover. That kind of subsided in 1944 when he went overseas to Germany. And so in March of 1945, that's when he got his Distinguished Service Cross. When he returned, did he face the same discrimination and suspicion, even after he had performed with such valor on the battlefield fighting for the U.S.? He had a hard time trying to find a job, so he re-enlisted in 1946.

Yes, he was put under surveillance again. He had proved his loyalty. He had been shot eight times, and he went back to combat. He had proved his loyalty. He had been shot eight times and he went back to combat. See, he had a million dollar wound. He could have come home, but he went back to combat in 30 days after being shot up and finished out the war. So in 1946, when he reenlisted, things went pretty good for him. He was sent to L.A. in 47 to head up the National Guard.

But after that, when he went to Fort Lewis, that's when it all started. And that's when his demise was planned. He got an honorable discharge in September of 49, went to do a routine reenlistment. He was denied. No explanation, no anything, just denied. He took a train to see Omar Bradley, and they wouldn't give him an audience. So there he was stranded in Washington state with his family and no job, which became very difficult. He ended up being a vulcanizer in a tire factory, but that was the downhill side of his, he just didn't care anymore. So he tried to fight it for seven years through the ACLU.

And it wasn't any movement on it. It went all the way up to President Truman. So what he did was he sent his DSC back, his medal. He sent it back. He said it had no meaning. When his country needed him, he was there for them. And at his hour of need, they abandoned him. They betrayed him.

So he didn't want the medal anymore. But the attorney with the ACLU, Mr. Levy, he held on to it because he thought later on he would want it back. So he never did find out why he was denied. Now, this is where my journey started at the White House. Once we accepted the medal, I had him exhumed from West LA and reinterred into Arlington with full military honors. But that was the beginning of my journey to clear his name. And so I started out with Freedom of Information Act. I got his military records and also the ACLU case, which helped me tremendously. But the military records was a shocker. They stopped surveilling him in 1943, but in 1950, there was one sheet of paper from military intelligence to the FBI asking

information about his disloyalty. The sheet of paper said they had no evidence, and that was the end of it. There was never any evidence. That one sheet of paper destroyed his career. And that was the end of it. There was never any evidence that one sheet of paper destroyed his career. So when I got that, it was like, I'm going after the army. I'm going after him big time because they destroyed him for no reason. So I appealed to the Army Board of Correction. And after they saw my case, they said, you're right. He should have been allowed to reenlist. We'll send Mildred a letter of apology. I said, no, you won't.

You're going to apologize before the world. You destroyed him before the world. You're going to apologize before the world. And that's when we got invited to Pentagon for the apology. I let Mildred and her two sons sit on stage while General King apologized to them for what happened to her husband. And so after the apology, I still petitioned to get him a ship. And now he has a ship with his name on it. It's an ammunition ship. And that ship is just awesome. It's stationed in Diego Garcia. So I was asked, do you feel that this is vindication? Do you feel that you got everything? I said, well, let me explain it to you. The Medal of Honor was his. You owed him that. It wasn't vindication. You owed it to him. I said, now the apology you owe to his wife and his sons for what you did to him.

I said, but the ship, it might settle the school. I said, I think the ship kind of balances things out. So it was a bittersweet victory, but I was determined. And 30 years later, I'm still going after this, 30 years later. You know, there's a lot of people who say, well, history, it's in the past, who cares? It's all over. These people are sadly no longer with us. Why does this matter, Aline? Why does it matter to people who are alive today? Because you destroyed his legacy. You can talk about Audie Murphy. You can talk about how great Audie Murphy was, but you destroyed the legacy of a Black man. And I believe he was the most heroic man to be shot up like that and go back to combat. But I didn't

just carry him. I carried the other six with me too. It is our legacy. There's only seven in World War II that received this medal, only seven Blacks. And they did it for their community. They did it to prove they weren't cowards. They did it so that they could come home holding their head up high. Sergeant Carter wore those medals. He was very proud. But on Fort Lewis, to see him strut around with that distinguished service cross on his chest, too much for them to bear. They set out to destroy him, and they did. So he left his story to be told. But for me, my children, my grandchildren, his grandchildren, they're able to tell the story now about their grandfather. Our history books are

full of men and women that did wonderful things, but for Blacks, that's not the case. And there is no one book, no one book that is integrated for World War II that tells the story of Blacks and Whites in one book. Only way you're going to know what the Blacks did is go through the employment of the Negro troops. And in that book, you will see what the Negro troops did. What an exciting journey you went on with your research. It's into the past, but with an eye on the future and the present. Well, I've been working with the World War II Museum in New Orleans, and we did an exhibit that travels. But the Medal of Honor Museum that's being built in Texas, they're going to have a gallery for him by himself. It's important to me to go as far as I can go with this. It's important

for me to never, never let this story die. And that is the reason why I support Rob Childs, because he's carrying on the story. And so I support what he's doing. I know the families of these men. I know their wives. I know their children. Yeah, they received the medal, but I've seen the heartaches, especially Ms. Fox. And so for me, Ms. Fox has passed on, Ms. James has gone, Mrs. Carter's gone, but I committed to carry on their legacy for my family as well as their families. Aline, thank you very much for everything you've done. What an extraordinary story.

Absolutely. And my book, Honouring Sergeant Carter, tells a full story for people that are interested. The book is Honouring Sergeant Carter, a family's journey to uncover the truth about an American hero. Rob, unbelievable stories. If we want to learn more, where can we do so? Well, you can obviously buy the book.

And it's called Immortal Valour, the Black Medal of Honour winners of World War II. Thank you very much for coming on. I feel we have the history on our shoulders. All this tradition of ours, our school history, our songs, this part of the history of our country, all work on and finish. Thanks, folks, you've made it to the end of another episode.

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