African Americans in the Vietnam War

Between 1961 and 1964, African Americans accounted for more than 20 percent of Army fatalities, even though they represented only 12.6 percent of Army personnel in Vietnam. According to New York Times reporter Sol Stern, "the statistics show that the Negro in the army was more likely than his white buddy to be sent to Vietnam in the first place; once there, he was more likely to wind up in a front-line combat unit; and within the combat unit was more likely than the white to be killed or wounded."(1) African American Vietnam vets who were not killed in Vietnam returned home to encounter persistent racism and widespread unemployment. 

Letter from Rupert Trimmingham,

"Myself and eight other Negro soldiers were on our way from Camp Claiborne, La., to the hospital here at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. ...We could not purchase a cup of coffee at any of the lunchrooms around there... As you know, Old Man Jim Crow rules. But that's not all; 11:30 a.m. about two dozen German prisoners of war, with two American guards, came to the station. They entered the lunchroom, sat at the tables, had their meals served, talked, smoked, in fact had quite a swell time. I stood on the outside looking on... Are we not American soldiers, sworn to fight for and die if need be for this our country?"(2)

Even though they were all fighting for the same country, the African American soldiers were not treated as equals. They could see the injustice of being forced to go to war for a country who did not see them as full citizens.

Haywood T. "The Kid" Kirkland shared his experience as a Black GI in the Vietnam War.

He says,

 “You would see the racialism in the base-camp area. Like rednecks flying rebel flags from their jeeps. I would feel insulted, intimidated. The brothers they was calling quote unquote troublemakers, they would send to the fields. A lot of brothers who had supply clerk or cook MOS [Military Occupational Specialties] when they came over ended up in the field. And when the brothers who was shot came out of the field, most of them got the jobs burning sh-- in these 50-gallon drums. Most of the white dudes got jobs as supply clerks or in the mess hall. “(1)

He goes on to discuss his life after the war, as he struggled to find a place in a society he did not feel welcome in.

The last sentences sums up the feelings many African Americans had towards the war.

 “They killed Dr. [Martin Luther] King just before I came home. I felt used.”(1)  

1. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/kirkbloodsvietnam.html
2. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/warletters-letters/#trimmingham