93rd Infantry Division (United States)
The 93rd Infantry Division was a "colored" segregated unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. However, in World War I only its four infantry regiments, two brigade headquarters, and a provisional division headquarters were organized, and the divisional and brigade headquarters were demobilized in May 1918. Its regiments fought primarily under French command in that war and saw action during the Second Battle of the Marne. They acquired the nickname Blue Helmets from the French, as these units were issued horizon blue French Adrian helmets. Consequently, its shoulder patch became a blue French helmet, to commemorate its service with the French Army during the German spring offensive.
1 May 1944, members of the 93rd Division on the Numa-Numa Trail, Bougainville.
En route to Hill 165, members of 93rd Div. struggle through some clinging mud along the East-West trail on an island in the South Pacific. April 15, 1944.
The Japanese commanding officers at Halmahera land at Morotai to surrender to the 93rd Infantry Division
Racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces
A series of policies were formerly issued by the U.S. military which entailed the separation of white and non-white American soldiers, prohibitions on the recruitment of people of color and restrictions of ethnic minorities to supporting roles. Since the American Revolutionary War, each branch of the United States Armed Forces implemented differing policies surrounding racial segregation. Racial discrimination in the U.S. military was officially opposed by Harry S. Truman's Executive Order 9981 in 1948. The goal was equality of treatment and opportunity. Jon Taylor says, "The wording of the Executive Order was vague because it neither mentioned segregation or integration." Racial segregation was ended in the mid-1950s.
An African-American military policeman on a motorcycle in front of the "colored" MP entrance, Columbus, Georgia, in 1942.
Peter Salem shooting Major John Pitcairn at the battle of Bunker Hill
Commandant William Ward Burrows I enforced a policy against enlisting "Blacks and Mulattoes" into the United States Marine Corps.
Company I of the 36th Colored Regiment