During periods of war and conflict, U.S. Army units have experienced numerous issues, such as equipment and personnel shortages, battle damaged equipment, and casualties. However, most units have not experienced one of the most dangerous and detrimental issues to morale and readiness—racism. The 758th Tank Battalion in World War II: The U.S. Army’s First All African American Tank Unit is the last of three books that Joe Wilson wrote to honor and highlight the service of one of the only three African American tank battalions that deployed and fought during World War II. The author does an excellent job of blending personal accounts of the soldiers who served in the 758th Tank Battalion, family member input, and other sources to paint a vivid picture of the insurmountable odds (segregation, stereotypes, politics, and racism) the soldiers of the first African American tank battalion had to overcome to fight for their country. This book also highlights the heroic actions and success of this unit in helping to liberate Italy during the war. As Wilson denotes, as liberators the Italian people cheered the 758th soldiers; however, after the war the men returned to a nation where segregation was the norm and where they were treated as second class citizens instead of heroes.
This book is not a chronology of the deployment, battles, and activities of the 758th during World War II. However, Wilson does an excellent job of blending eyewitness accounts of the unit’s activation, training, combat experience, heroism, and deactivation after the war ended. The author also does an excellent job of describing how segregation and racism created stumbling blocks for the unit. One of the points the author makes upfront is that the formation of the 758th was a struggle. As the book underscores, the United States was a segregated society before, during, and after World War II and segregation extended to the military.
