By Gina M. DiNicolo Publisher: Westholme Publishing OverviewIn The Black Panthers: A Story of Race, War, and Courage — The 761st Tank Battalion in World War II, historian Gina M. DiNicolo offers a comprehensive and candid history of this critical American fighting force. Drawing on extensive archival research, including previously untapped documents, and interviews with […]
The 761st “Black Panther” Tank Battalion in World War II -- An Illustrated History of the First African American Armored Unit to See Combat By Joe Wilson, Jr.With an Afterword by Joseph E. Wilson, Sr. Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers OverviewThe 761st “Black Panther” Tank Battalion in World War II by Joe Wilson, Jr. […]
Part I: The Dayton Boys Go To War, By Wayne D. Robinson, 761st Tank Battalion Historian Buddie V. Branch was inducted on August 9, 1943 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was drafted along with Dayton childhood chums Odell Williams, Clarence Copeland, and Henry Middlebrooks. Another friend, Jovan Council, had been drafted a year earlier and sent […]
Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers was part of Company A, attached to the 104th Infantry in the attack and capture of Vic-sur-Seille. The next day, the force took Chateau-Salins in a four-hour fight in the season's first snowstorm, then continued east toward Morville-les-Vic. The battalion commander was wounded and evacuated, and a 104th task-force commander had […]
On July 6, 1944, one of the 761st's few black officers, Lieutenant Jackie Robinson, was riding a civilian bus from Camp Hood to the nearby town of Belton. He refused to move to the back of the bus when told to do so by the driver. Court-martial charges ensued but could not proceed because the […]
Army Magazine, January 1992By Lt. Col. Philip W. Latimer U.S. Army Reserve retired He stood in the back of a half-track as he spoke to us. He was an imposing figure, and his voice rang out loud and clear: Men, you're the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would never […]
1SG. Joseph E. Wilson, Sr., USA-Ret-Dec., 1925-2003, departed this world on March 11, 2003. He was born on April 23, 1925 in Milwaukee, WI to Augustus and Lula Wilson. At the age of nine, he lost his father to tuberculosis. His mother remarried John Bailey and took him to Gary, IN. He enlisted in the […]
Joseph Anthony Tates, a retired Social Security Administration section chief and a decorated Army veteran cited for his "inspirational courage" while fighting in World War II, died of cancer Tuesday (December 13, 2005) at his Edmondson Village home. He was 84. Born in Baltimore and raised on Brune Street, one was one of sixteen children […]