Eddie Smith Profile picture
Jun 14 8 tweets 4 min read Read on X
⚠️WOKE CONTENT⚠️™️

🧵 Last week, we went over Black servicemen having to give up rank in order to fight on the front lines. Today, we will meet one of those men.

Pull up a seat🪑, friends.(cont)

#ProudBlue
#ResistanceRoots
#USDemocracy
#Voices4Victory

allthatsinteresting.com/edward-a-carte…
Ever heard of a soldier so eager to fight fascism that he ran away to war at 15, spoke 4 languages, and gave up his rank just to get to the front lines?
Meet Staff Sergeant Edward A. Carter Jr.—one of the most badass heroes of WWII. (cont)

nps.gov/people/edwardc…Image
Long before WWII, Carter was a veteran of two global conflicts. At 15, he ran away to China to fight invading Japanese forces. By 20, he was in Europe fighting fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War. The guy was practically born to defeat tyranny. (cont)

myblackhistory.net/Edward_Carter.…
When the US entered WWII, Carter enlisted. But because the Army was segregated, this highly experienced combat veteran was shoved into a supply role behind the lines. He wanted to fight, but systemic racism kept him on the sidelines—until 1944. (cont)

nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/s…
Facing massive casualties at the Battle of the Bulge, the Army asked Black supply troops to volunteer for the front. The catch? Black NCOs had to voluntarily demote themselves to Private just to fight. Carter didn’t hesitate. He gave up his stripes to get in the game. (cont) Image
March 23, 1945: Carter’s unit is pinned down by a German nest. He leads a 4-man patrol across an open field. Two are killed, one is wounded. Carter is left alone. He gets shot 5 times—leg, arm, hand, neck. He doesn't turn back. He crawls into a ditch.⬇️
military.com/off-duty/books…
An 8-man German patrol comes to finish him off. Carter waits, leaps up, kills 6 of them, and captures the other 2. Bleeding from 5 wounds, he uses the prisoners as human shields to walk back, interrogates them in fluent German, and hands over intel that saves his company. (cont) Image
Denied the Medal of Honor at the time due to racism, Carter passed away in 1963. But history finally caught up. In 1997, his Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. Today, he rests in Arlington National Cemetery. 🫡🪖🇺🇲🎖

#KeepItWoke
#DedicatedToTam✡️🕊 Image
Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Eddie Smith

Eddie Smith Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @eddsmitty

May 31
⚠️WOKE CONTENT⚠️™️

🧵 This is Pvt. Garland W. Beach. You won't find him in a history book. He was one of 115,000 troops who took part in Project Longhorn—a Cold War training exercise that turned deadly. Pull up a 🪑.(cont)
#ProudBlue
#ResistanceRoots
#USDemocracy
#Voices4Victory Image
In April 1952, the U.S. Army launched Operation Longhorn, one of the largest peacetime maneuvers in American history. U.S. troops flooded into central Texas to simulate a Soviet-style invasion and liberation campaign. (cont)
3quarterstoday.com/2015/07/14/mil…Image
The “red enemy” was the U.S. Army’s fictional Aggressor Force, played by the 82nd Airborne Division. They “captured” towns, imposed curfews, seized radio stations, and ran a full occupation government. The "blue" opposition forces included the 31st Infantry Division, (cont) Image
Read 15 tweets
May 24
⚠️WOKE CONTENT⚠️™️

🧵 A White woman's false accusation of rape sparked the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. It led to the start of a multi-cultural civil rights movement.

Pull up a seat.🪑(cont)

#ProudBlue
#ResistanceRoots
#USDemocracy
#Voices4Victory

blackpast.org/african-americ…
Two black men, George Richardson (left) and Joe James, had been arrested as suspects in a rape, and attempted rape and murder. Richardson was accused of raping a white woman and James was accused of murdering a white man. A mob of thousands gathered (cont)
britannica.com/event/Springfi…Image
Image
outside of the jail where Richardson & James were held. As the police were sensing danger, the county sheriff, with help from Harry Loper—a White business owner, secretly removed the two prisoners through the back door and put them on a train that transported them to (cont) Image
Read 10 tweets
Apr 19
⚠️WOKE CONTENT⚠️™️

🧵 The 2nd Ranger Infantry Company was the only all‑Black Ranger unit in U.S. history. They fought two battles at once: the enemy in Korea — and racism in their own Army. (cont)
#ProudBlue
#ResistanceRoots
#USDemocracy
#Voices4Victory
aaregistry.org/story/the-2nd-…
They were activated in Oct 1950, after the Army realized it needed more Rangers… but still resisted integrating them. So instead of mixing Black soldiers into White units, they created a separate Black Ranger company.

Of course they did.🙄(cont)

arsof-history.org/articles/v6n2_…
Make no mistake: these men weren’t an “experiment.”
They were already some of the best paratroopers in the 82nd and 11th Airborne.
They passed the same brutal Ranger training at Fort Benning — often under harsher scrutiny. (cont)

warhistoryonline.com/instant-articl…
Read 12 tweets
Feb 23
⚠️WOKE CONTENT⚠️

🧵 This man was America's first world war hero, but you won't find him in history books. He was called a "one man army", and yes—he was Black. His name: Sgt. Henry Johnson. (cont)

#ProudBlue
#ResistanceRoots
#USDemocracy
#Voices4Victory
warhistoryonline.com/world-war-i/bl…
Henry Johnson was one of the most fearless soldiers in U.S. history. He fought in WWI with the famed 369th Infantry Regiment — the Harlem Hellfighters. Yet for nearly a century, his own country refused to honor him. (cont)

allthatsinteresting.com/henry-johnson
Born in 1892 in North Carolina and raised in Albany, NY, Johnson enlisted in 1917. Because the U.S. Army barred Black soldiers from combat roles, the Hellfighters were assigned to fight under French command. France welcomed them. America didn’t. (cont)

grunge.com/339828/the-unt…
Read 9 tweets
Feb 22
⚠️WOKE CONTENT⚠️

🧵 #BlackHistoryMonth is an opportunity to learn about Black men & women who made contributions to society that do not appear in history books. Today, we honor Major Elizabeth Allen, U.S. Army. (cont)

#ProudBlue
#ResistanceRoots
#USDemocracy
#Voices4Victory Image
Maj. Elizabeth A. Allen didn’t volunteer for Vietnam to stay in the rear. She insisted on serving on the front lines — one of the few Black women in the Army Nurse Corps to do so during the war. Armed with a master’s degree in psychiatric nursing, (cont)

historynet.com/my-war-elizabe…
Allen rejected a safer teaching assignment. She wanted to be where the wounded were. She arrived in Vietnam in April 1967. She was assigned to the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku, a frontline unit supporting the 4th Infantry Division. During the Tet Offensive, a 122mm (cont) Image
Read 12 tweets
Jan 30
⚠️WOKE CONENT⚠️

🧵 This book is one of the most profound pieces of literature I've ever read. I held off on posting a thread about it due to the title—but as they say, never judge a book by its cover.

Pull up a🪑.(cont)
#ProudBlue
#ResistanceRoots
#USDemocracy
#Voices4Victory Image
In 1967, Robert H. deCoy (below) dropped "The N****r Bible"—a raw, controversial "testament" that challenged everything Black Americans were told about their identity. It wasn't just a book; it was a psychological grenade intended to shatter "mental slavery." (cont) Image
To understand why Robert H. deCoy used such jarring language, we have to look at the environment in which he was writing. Published in 1967, The N****r Bible arrived at a major turning point in American history—the rise of the Black Power movement. He joined other thinkers (cont) Image
Image
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(