In a segregated army, many white American soldiers did not want black men conversing with white women. And the two white soldiers involved in the murders were acquitted in a court-martial and absolved of their actions.
Black American soldiers Allen Leftridge and Frank Glenn, who served in the US army at the peak of World War II, were shot dead by a white colleague because the duo were spotted chatting up with white female Red Cross workers at a camp in France, newly discovered military records reveal.
In a segregated army, many white American soldiers did not want black men conversing with white women. And the two white soldiers involved in the murders were acquitted in a court-martial and absolved of their actions.
The victims’ families were also frequently subjected to racial discrimination. Leftridge’s widow was denied military benefits because her husband’s death was ruled not in the line of duty “due to his own misconduct”.
Frank Glenn’s death was, however, ruled in the line of duty, archived documents show, and his widow was awarded a “gratuity”.
This forgotten story of racism in the military has been published in Studs Terkel’s oral history, ‘The Good War’, based on an interview by freelance journalist Alfred Duckett.
Duckett was a Black war correspondent who served in Leftridge’s regiment and later worked for Martin Luther King Jr. Duckett later met with Leftridge’s widow, Sarah, and the couple’s daughter.
According to Duckett, the Black soldiers were in charge of watching over German prisoners. Some white US officials, however, were concerned that these Black men would normally interact with white Europeans.
“There was an almost psychotic terror on the part of white commanders that there would be a great deal of association with the white women,” Duckett reported. One white army chaplain, he continued, warned Europeans that Black soldiers had tails.
He claimed that the commander had issued an order prohibiting Black troops from interacting with French civilians.
When Leftridge disobeyed this order by entering a Red Cross tent where women were serving soldiers doughnuts and coffee and conversing with a French woman who was serving coffee and doughnuts, they were shot in the back and killed by a white military official.
Duckett died without clearing Leftridge’s name, and decades before, talk of reparations revived. “We’ve come a long way,” he said. “But racism is just as alive today, maybe even more virulent.”
Leftridge’s daughter, Carolyn Holman, is carrying on her mother’s efforts and continuing to ask army officials to clear his name and compensate her family for back payments that should have been sent to her mother.
It’s unclear how much Sarah Leftridge would have received, or how much her heirs might receive right now, had the Army changed its mind. A $300 gratuity in 1945 is worth about $4,900 today.
According to a statement from spokeswoman Madison Bonzo, the army “puts a high priority on honouring the legacy of all our soldiers and their families, especially when there may be an error or injustice.”
“The army is standing by to assist the Leftridge family through the Army Board for Correction of Military Records at the Army Review Boards Agency, should they decide to submit a records correction request,” The Washington Post quoted the army as saying.
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.