08/01/2008

SO MUCH OF America's history isn't taught in the schools, especially black history. Think back to high school. Did your history book mention the Tuskegee Airmen or Buffalo Soldiers?

Those two groups, composed entirely of African Americans, fought in our country's wars when the military was segregated. And they fought courageously, winning numerous medals. Yet this information was hidden even from young blacks, who were unaware of the heroics.

Finally, recognition has come to the Tuskegee Airmen, who were honored by President Bush at the White House in 2007.

As for the Buffalo Soldiers, Oakland resident Erwin Breaux was chosen last year to place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

"People respect me and they honor me," Breaux said of this late-in-life tribute. "Lots of white folks and colored people respect me for what I done for them."

Breaux, 87, served 3-1/2 years in the 92nd Infantry Division of the Army during World War II. His rank was sergeant, his specialty machine-gun demolition, his comrades-in-arms black.

He fought in Europe nearly two years on two fronts, against the Germans and Italians. In Genoa, Italy, an ammunitions truck that Breaux was riding in turned over, dumping the soldiers down a mountainside.

Breaux estimates he tumbled 300 feet into a snowbank, with the truck coming down on top of him.

"The truck buried me in the

snow, and the snow is what saved my life," he said recently. "I was paralyzed across the back, and I was in a hospital for two months."

Fortunately, he suffered no broken bones, and after leaving the hospital, he was able to walk again.

Interestingly, though the Buffalo Soldiers fought with distinction again during World War II, Breaux said he received his medal by mail a few months ago.

"I was disappointed that it took so long for us to receive our medals," he said. "But I'm very satisfied with the organization I was with."

And why not? The Buffalo Soldiers were to ground warfare what the Tuskegee Airmen were to air combat — some of America's finest military men.

The Buffalo Soldiers were formed during colonial times, when former slaves, freemen and Black Civil War soldiers bonded to serve America during peacetime.

The Buffalo Soldiers then fought in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the Mexican Expedition, World War I, World War II and the Korean War. During the Civil War alone, 23 black Americans received the nation's highest military award.

The name "Buffalo Soldiers" came from Cheyenne warriors, who wanted, in 1867, to honor the all-black 10th Cavalry for its fierce fighting ability. Buffalo Soldiers then evolved into a generic term for all black soldiers.

But defending one's country as a segregated unit had to leave a bad feeling with black Americans, who also were denied civilian rights that whites took for granted. Breaux couldn't vote in his native Louisiana at the same time he fought for democracy abroad.

"That never bothered me," he said of the segregated military. "I learned more about it after I got out of the service. I was just there to do a job."

After the war, he earned a living in construction. But it was his laying the wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — President Bush placed it this year — that turned his time spent as a Buffalo Soldier into a unifying force.

"White, colored, Spanish — you name 'em. All came and asked me if they could hug me and kiss me on the cheek," Breaux said of that experience. "I said, 'Help yourself.' They were proud to see me and to know who I was. But people don't know a lot about their history. They need to be told. We've progressed in a lot of ways, but there's still a long ways to go. We're mostly a race of people, regardless of your color."

Dave Newhouse, Inside Bay Area - Oakland,CA,USA