Re: Race Relations and Korea

[Ben Frank <ben.frank@tcs.wap.org>]

As I have said earlier, Black Marines were in evidence and served in the
Korean War. In 1968, the History and Museums Division of the Marine Corps
published a monograph, "Blacks in the Marine Corps," by Henry I. Shaw, Jr.,
and Ralph W. Donnelly. Chapter 6, "A Decade of Integration," It begins: "On
30 June 1950, immediately following the outbreak of the Korean War, there
were 1,502 black Marines on active duty, 1,075 on general duty assignments
and 427 serving as stewards. In overall strength the Marine Corps stood at
74,279, its post-World War II low. Three years later, as the was was
drawing to a close, 14,731 black Marine were on active duty,only 538 of
whom were stewards. The overall strength of the Marine Corps was 249,219,
its peak for the Korean War. The growth in the number of black Marines from
two percent of the Corps; strength to six percen accurately reflected the
end of segregation. Certainly the manpower demands of the war hastened the
change, but the combat prformance of black Marines in integrated units did
nothing to lessen the pace."

The mongraph quotes the comments of the Marine combat leaders in the war.
In one of the interview sessions I had with General O.P. Smith, who
commanded the 1st Marine Division from the Inchon landing until a year or
more later, he told me: "Oh, yes, I had a thousand Negroes, and we had no
racial troubles. The men did whatever they were qualiied to do. There were
communicators, there were cooks, there were turck drivers, there were plain
infantry--they did everything, and they did a good job because they were
integrated, and they were with good people....Two of these Negroes got the
Navy Cross. There was no fooling: they were real citations, and there were
plenty of Silver Stars and Bronze Stars, and what have you. And I had no
complaint on their performaces of duty.:

Hopefully this ends the question of whether there were blacks in the
Marines in Korea. BMF