Black Soldier White Army: The 24th Infantry Regiment in Korea

In late September 1950, two months after thebeginning of the Korean War, the commander ofthe 25th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. William B.Kean, requested that the Eighth Army disband theall-black 24th Infantry Regiment because it hadshown itself “untrustworthy and incapable of carrying out missions expected of an infantry regiment.”Thus began a controversy that has continuedto this day. Critics of the racially segregatedregiment have charged that the 24th was a dismalfailure in combat. The African-American veteransof the organization and others have responded that the unit did far better than its antagonists would concede and that its main problem was the racial prejudice endemic to the Army of that day. Military historians have tended to cite the lack of training and preparation afflicting all of the U.S. Army unitsentering combat during the early weeks of theKorean War and the inability of senior commandersto remedy deficiencies of leadership in the24th within a reasonable period of time.For a while, with the integration of the armedforces, the talk on all sides subsided, but when theU.S. Army’s official history of the Korean War, Southto the Naktong, North to the Yalu, authored by Roy E. Appleman, appeared in 1961, it reignited the controversy by publicizing the background of Kean’s charges. During the late 1970s, as a result, a number of individuals began an effort to persuade the Armyto revise its history to reflect a more balanced view of the regiment. In 1987 Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh, Jr., directed that the U.S. Army Center ofMilitary History undertake a definitive evaluation ofthe 24th’s role in the Korean War. If the regiment’sperformance was commendable, the record could be amended. But if its service was less than successful, the reasons behind its shortcomings ought to be examined for the lessons they might convey to the soldier of today.