[Granville-Hough] 28 Oct 2009 - Buffalo Soldiers

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:00:24 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: A History Remembered -28 Jan 2009

Buffalo Soldiers of Yosemite National Park.

     Like Ranger Shelton Johnson of Yosemite National Park, I, too,
became intrigued with the
history of the Buffalo Soldiers of the 24th Infantry when some 20 years
ago I, with my son and grandchildren, first walked the trails they
established in Yosemite National Park.  We visited the foundations of
the barracks they had occupied, and we pondered how they endured the
cold winter nights.  We learned they had been withdrawn about 1913
during the Mexican Revolution to join or support General Pershing in
Northern Mexico.  We probably saw the Booker T. Washington tree which
was recently
the subject of a Television documentary.
     The experience brought into vivid focus my own time as a Caucasian
officer in the 969th Field Artillery Battalion at Fort Sill, OK, the
last black unit at Fort Sill.  Some of the men who knew history
sometimes said, "We are the last of the Buffalo Soldiers."  Indeed, in
1948/49,  under President Truman's orders, we were all reassigned to
other units, and segregated Army units became history in the Continental
U. S.
	When I went to Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican soldiers were still
segregated as Puerto Ricans, and internally as either colored or
Caucasian Puerto Ricans.  I do not know exactly when all segregation
ceased in the Army, but it was after 1953. (After noting that some
Puerto Rican soldiers in Caucasian units had brothers in colored units,
I asked my 1st Sgt how the racial determination was made.  He said:
"That's no problem at all.  It's whatever is on the soldier's birth
certificate."  So the doctor at birth entered either Caucasian or Negro,
according to the appearance of the mother and child, and that is the way
the
person went through life.  If you got different doctors through several
different births, you could get different races recorded for that family.)
	As an old soldier and Regular Army officer, I still recall with respect
the men of the 969th and how we excelled in the tasks we were assigned.
  After integration, we no longer had the "can do" pride of unit we had
before; indeed, other sources of pride had to be developed based more on
what the individual soldier could do.