Thread by @NerdPyle

76 years ago this month, the 614th Tank Destroyer battalion engaged the Nazis in combat. This all-Black unit would be the 1st awarded the Presidential Unit Citation & one of its officers, Lt Charles Thomas - eventually - awarded 1 of just 7 Medals of Honor in WW2. /Thread

The 614th formed at Camp Carson, CO then moved to Camp Hood, TX for training. They became a towed tank destroyer unit, manning the M5 3" gun. Crews served this gun with little protection & would take significantly higher casualties in the war than self-propelled units. /2

Like all segregated US Army units, the 614th had a small cadre of white officers. But Black officers, NCOs, & enlisted formed the fighting unit. They would face constant racism from nearby civilians & other all-white Army units even as they trained to fight for them. /3

Shipped to England in 1944, the 614th landed at the Utah beachhead in Oct & engaged the enemy a few weeks later near Metz, knocking out German pillboxes, machine gun nests, & observation posts while attached to the 103rd Infantry Division. Their 1st great test was coming /4

On Dec 14, the AT guns of 3rd Platoon/C Co moved to capture the town of Climbach under Task Force Blackshear. They came under heavy fire from entrenched Germans. Lt Charles Thomas went forward to protect the guns & his scout car was hit, wounding him & his crew. /5

Thomas first helped his crew escape the burning vehicle & then, exposed to the enemy, directed return fire of the guns. Hit again by in the chest, arm, & legs, he continued to lead his men from an open field under artillery & machine gun fire. He refused evacuation. /6

The soldiers threw back several German counterattacks, firing a machine gun from a burning halftrack while parties of volunteers ran back to their lines to retrieve more rounds for the surviving two anti-tank guns. The unit suffered 50% casualties. /7

Cpl Peter Simmons & PFC William Phillips received posthumous Silver Stars. Thomas received the Distinguished Service Cross. Col Blackshear later said

“The unflinching determination of this group constituted the most magnificent display of mass heroism I have ever witnessed.” /8

The 614th continued the advance through France in the new year, attacking the Siegfried Line & often fighting as infantry. In one raid, Lt Joseph Keeby & his men charged a fortified mill, killing & capturing its defenders & earning five Bronze Stars /9

The 614th pushed into Germany & Company A assaulted the fortified town of Kindwiller. Their captain wounded, Staff Sergeant Charles Parks took command & captured the town, receiving the Bronze Star. They took 100 of prisoners while destroying dozens of pillboxes /10

In March, a recon party led by Lt Serreo Nelson was ambushed by Germans who demanded their surrender. Refusing and returning fire, Nelson climbed out of his scout car to remove a roadblock. A German officer emerged & tried to shoot him. /11

But Sergeant Matthew Spencer knocked the German’s gun aside & then shot him at point blank range. The Americans fought their way back to their lines, escaping harm. Nelson would receive a Silver Star while Spencer was awarded the Bronze Star. /12

By the end of the war, the Black soldiers of the 614th had earned 28 Bronze Stars, 8 Silver Stars, & 79 Purple Hearts. The racism of the Army meant that this extraordinarily decoration count was actually far less than deserved; many were denied or reduced /13

As the war in Europe ended, the men of the 614th rested in the mountains of Austria. Their unit historian noted they had “proved to the world that the negro soldier could and would fight.” /14

The return to America as heroes would not change the reality of American racism. Lt Chris Sturkey – who received a battlefield promotion for valor & won the Silver Star – later recalled walking into a diner in full uniform only to be told “We don’t serve n----rs in here.” /15

Despite well-documented gallantry in combat, not one Black solder had been awarded the Medal of Honor in WW2. After research in the 1990s, 7 Black soldiers - including the late Major Charles Thomas - had their Distinguished Service Crosses replaced with the Medal of Honor /16

For more reading on the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion, I recommend:
cmohs.org/recipients/cha…
tankdestroyer.net/images/stories…
nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/6…
nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/6…
/f