Pearle Mack Jr. grew up in a fairly integrated area of ​​potato farms in Topeka, Kansas. Like many Americans at the time, he was shocked by the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941 and wanted to do something to help his country. He first encountered racism when he attempted to enlist in the U.S. Army and was placed in the segregated World War II military with negligible leadership of black officers. He was one of many black soldiers who lived in the armed forces and set out to prove that he could serve as well as any white soldier and deserved equal status with whites on the front lines. of war and in the non-combatant society from which he came. no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay African Americans played an important role in World War II. The African Americans who contributed to this legendary war rejected the prejudices of their society by exceeding the expectations of many people with the high standards by which they fulfilled their duty. The Tuskegee Airmen fought racial discrimination and overcame limited opportunities to become one of the most beloved combat units of World War II. The Red Ball Express proved itself combat capable and worthy of service for Allied troops by playing a leading role in the defeat of the Nazis. The injustice suffered by African Americans upon their return from the war motivated them to fight for change leading to the civil rights movement. The exceptional efforts of African American soldiers during World War II paved the way for racial integration within the United States military. The efforts these soldiers made to prove themselves have not gone unnoticed by American historians. Col. Eldridge Williams, who served in the Army with the Tuskegee Airmen from August 1941 to November 1963, said a white doctor's false diagnosis of an eye disease prevented him from realizing his dream of becoming a pilot, while becoming a navigator. "I think the story that hasn't been told is a story like mine in which the inner battle that was fought... shall we say, helped open the door for unity to enter into fight, demonstrate your abilities and succeed,” he said. Colonel Herbert Carter said he joined the aviators because flying planes would keep him from being "cannon fodder" if he was drafted into World War II and that "it was better than d 'to be a soldier in the ranks'. He said the aviators should be noted for the way they criticized the perception that black people could not fly planes in wartime. Former Tuskegee University President Benjamin Payton said the Airmen resembled the struggle of black Americans to be fully included in American society. “They retained their hope and faith in America despite the way it treated them,” he said. “Unlike most of their colleagues, these great aviators also fought an enemy of prejudice at home,” said Senator Jeff Sessions. When World War II took hold, civil rights groups and the black press forced the U.S. Army Air Corps, the precursor to the Air Force, to admit black airmen. A lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People against the Pentagon persuaded President Franklin D.Roosevelt to build the program. The first class of aviation cadets known as the "Tuskegee Experiment" began with 13 students at Tuskegee Army Airfield, in Tuskegee, Alabama, about 40 miles east of Montgomery, in July 1941. Tuskegee University was chosen to host the training because it had a private airfield and provided aviation courses. At the time, black people were not allowed to fly in the military and the “experiment” was to see if they could fly planes and operate heavy machinery. The aviators flew more than 15,000 combat voyages across Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa, primarily to protect American bombers from hostile fire, without losing a single bomber over the next four years. Nearly 1,000 pilots were trained at Tuskegee Army Airfield before it closed in 1946, after which men from all-black units were sent to an air base in Ohio. The aviators were sometimes known as the Red Tails because they painted the tails of their planes red. Carter said the aviators should be noted for how they conquered an environment that said "they didn't have the ability, dexterity, physiology and psychology to fly something as complicated as airplanes or tanks.” The response from black airmen was “train me and let me demonstrate that I can,” Carter said. “We said the antidote to racism was excellence and performance and that’s what we did,” Carter said. The Red Ball Express was a predominantly African-American truck. convoy which provided an essential supply route for American troops in Europe (Gass 2017). Red Ball is a traditional term used on railroads to mean “priority freight” (Wright 2005, 8). A long-distance supply system maintained by a provisional truck brigade was established after a lack of foresight and planning on the part of Allied logisticians. The Red Ball Express was supervised by the Communications Area Motor Transport Department under the direction of Colonel Loren Ayers. The Forward Section of the Communications Area Motor Transport Brigade, led by Colonel Clarence Richmond, was responsible for searching and operating the trucks. The route started from the advanced supply depots at Saint Lô and continued to a transit zone in the La Coupe-Chartres area outside Paris. Knowing that the roads were not suitable for heavy traffic in both directions, the providers organized a one-way loop road, reserved for Red Ball traffic. The northern, shorter half of the loop was for loaded vehicles, and the southern half was for returning empty vehicles. The Motor Transport Brigade restricted the Red Ball Express to all but the most necessary trucks. The Red Ball Express began operations on August 25, 1944 with 3,358 trucks in 67 companies. Red Ball drivers delivered 4,482 tons that day, allowing the Motor Transport Brigade to soon double the number of trucks it gave them. Express reached its peak four days later with 132 companies, nearly 6,000 trucks, transporting 12,342 tonnes. Drivers swapped places to operate the vehicles to keep the mission running. The sense of urgency required by the mission spread to all positions involved. This reading was reinforced by the considerable media coverage given to the Red Ball Express. Enjoying a level of media attention rarely given to military combat support, the Red Ball units were.