Immortal Valor - The Black Medal of Honor Recipients of World War II

The remarkable story of seven African-American soldiers and their extraordinary acts of bravery who were denied the Medal of Honor for more than 50 years due to their race. In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during World War II, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African-Americans served, not a single black soldier received the Medal of Honor. The omission remained on the record for over four decades.But recent historical investigations have brought to light some of the extraordinary acts of valor performed by black soldiers during the war. Men like Vernon Baker, who single-handedly eliminated three enemy machine guns, an observation post, and a German dugout. Or Sergeant Reuben Rivers, who spearheaded his tank unit''s advance against fierce German resistance for three days despite being grievously wounded. Meanwhile Lieutenant Charles Thomas led his platoon to capture a strategically vital village on the Siegfried Line in 1944 despite losing half his men and suffering a number of wounds himself. Ultimately, in 1993 a US Army commission determined that seven men, including Baker, Rivers and Thomas, had been denied the Army''s highest award simply due to racial discrimination. In 1997, more than 50 years after the war, President Clinton finally awarded the Medal of Honor to these seven heroes, sadly all but one of them posthumously. These are their stories.>

Product details

• Authors: Robert Child
• Publisher: Osprey Publishers
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.06.2023
• EAN: 9781472852847
• ISBN: 978-1-4728-5284-7
• No. of pages: 288
• Dimensions: 154 mm x 234 mm x 22 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military, HISTORY / Military / General, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, HISTORY / Military / United States, Social discrimination & inequality, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, United States of America, USA, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), True war and combat stories, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Race & Ethnic Relations, c 1945 to c 2000 (Post-war period), HISTORY / African American & Black, Racism and racial discrimination / Anti-racism, Relating to African American / Black American people