Wednesday, February 09, 2000
Last of Buffalo Soldiers fights for recognition
All-black unit served in WWII after long history
BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
William Snow, Linwood Greene Jr. and Lorenzo Denson were deployed to North Africa and Italy.
(Tony Jones photo)
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In 1943, Lorenzo Denson was one of about two dozen men from Cincinnati drafted to serve in an all-black cavalry unit on the Mexican border.
“The only horse I'd ever seen was the milkman's horse on Seventh Street,” he said.
Shortages of men in segregated black infantry units took Mr. Denson and other Cincinnatians overseas — without their horses — to North Africa, Iran and Italy. They worked as everything from paratroopers to combat engineers. Mr. Denson was a firefighter at an airfield.
“We did our job,” he said. “We did what we were told.”
These Tristate men also found their way into history as the last of the Buffalo Soldiers, members of the renowned all-black cavalry units formed during the Indian wars. The U.S. Army disbanded all horseback cavalry units in 1944.
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IF YOU GO
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• What: “A Conversation with Buffalo Soldiers.” At least five of the nine living African-American cavalry members from the Cincinnati area will discuss their experiences as the last of the all-black horseback units to serve in the U.S. Army.
• Where: Corryville Branch, Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County, 2802 Vine St.
• When: 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday.
• Miscellaneous: No charge. Light refreshments will be served.
• Information: 369-6034.
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This month — Black History Month — finds Cincinnati's Buffalo Soldiers on a final ride. Like the Tuskegee Airmen and other groups of black veterans before them, the Buffalo Soldiers are trying to win recognition for contributions that they say have been overlooked for more than 50 years.
Mr. Denson, now 79, retired and living in Columbia Township, will be among a group of nine living World War II-era Buffalo Soldiers scheduled to make its first Tristate appearance Thursday at the public library in Corryville.
“We helped to win World War II,” said Linwood Greene Jr., 79, of Silverton, another Buffalo Soldier.
At least 14 of Cincinnati's World War II Buffalo Soldiers are dead — none was killed in action — and chances are this piece of Tristate history would have faded away if not for George Hicks III. A retired Army veteran who's a fan of the all-black cavalry units, Mr. Hicks moved from Washington, D.C., to the Tristate a couple of years ago and immediately organized the Cincinnati-based Heartland Chapter of the Ninth and Tenth Horse Cavalry Association.
“These men are American heroes,” said Mr. Hicks, 50.
There are 20 domestic chapters of the Ninth and Tenth Association and one in Germany. About 650 black cavalry veterans from World War II are still living.
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MORE ON THE WEB
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To read more about the Buffalo Soldiers, check the following Web sites:
• www.buffalosoldiers.net — includes historical information and links to books and audio compact discs.
• www.9th-10thcav.org — official Web site of the Ninth and Tenth (Horse) Cavalry Association, links to history sites and effort to build Buffalo Soldier memorial in Junction City, Kan.
• www.zianet.com/wblase/courier/buffalo.htm — historical information, including the names of 20 Buffalo Soldiers who received the Medal of Honor.
• www.zianet.com/institute/ — Web home of the the North American Historical, Preservation and Research Institute.
Or write to Ninth and Tenth (Horse) Cavalry Association, P.O. Box 475, Junction City, KS 66441.
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“We owe a lot to George,” said Mr. Denson, who appeared at the Buffalo Soldiers booth at the Indiana Black Expo in July in Indianapolis. Public reaction there added urgency to the black troopers' mission.
People — black and white alike — didn't know who they were. “They thought we were actors,” Mr. Denson said.
The men sported black hats with crossed cavalry swords and the No. 10 affixed to the front. With blue shirts they wore the cavalry's standard yellow neckerchief.
“Once people found out who we were and what we did, they wanted to have their pictures taken with us,” Mr. Denson said.
William Snow, 77, of New Burlington will appear at the library with Mr. Denson and at least three other men.
“Overseas, we did everything we were instructed to do,” said Mr. Snow, a Walnut Hills native and retired postal worker. “I was proud to be in the cavalry. I am proud to be part of the history.”
The black cavalry dates to post-Civil War North America. Its first recruits in 1866 were former slaves who patrolled the frontier from Texas to Montana. They guarded settlers and protected wagon trains.
Buffalo Soldiers earned respect and their nickname from the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indians they sometimes fought, a story captured in the song “Buffalo Soldier” by the late reggae icon Bob Marley. Indians said black soldiers' hair resembled buffalo fur.
Four all-black regiments, stationed throughout the western territories, were known as some of the fiercest fighters of the Indian wars.
They were among Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders in Cuba during the Spanish-American War and crossed into Mexico in 1916 under Gen. John J. Pershing.
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WHO'S LEFT
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Of the 23 Cincinnati-area men who served in C Troop of the 28th Cavalry in World War II, nine are still living:
• Lorenzo Denson, 79, Columbia Township.
• Uell Flagg, 75, Roselawn.
• Linwood Greene Jr., 79, Silverton.
• Cecil Howard, 75, Madisonville.
• Fred Jennings, 76, Roselawn.
• Aurthur W. Jordan Sr., 77, Middletown.
• Charles Marshall, 75, Hamilton.
• William J. Snow, 78, New Burlington.
• Otis Wesley, 85, Columbia Township.
To reach the local chapter, write to the Ninth and Tenth (Horse) Cavalry, Buffalo Soldiers, Heartland Chapter, P.O. Box 19130, Cincinnati 45219.
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During World War II, fearing a Japanese land invasion through Mexico's Baja Peninsula, the government placed cavalry units — first white, then black — along the rugged border terrain. Armed units on horseback protected dams, power stations and rail lines important to San Diego's war industries.
Black troopers from Cincinnati were sworn in at Fort Thomas and sent to train at Camp Lockett near San Diego.
“We were trained in infantry and how to be infantry on horseback,” Mr. Denson said. “When you were assigned a horse, you were instructed to treat this animal like it was your best friend.”
African-Americans could not rise beyond the rank of sergeant, so all commanding officers were white.
“They treated black troopers very well,” Mr. Denson said.
Patrolling the border is how Buffalo Soldiers figured they would close out the war.
But within a year of arriving in California, the cavalry troopers were put on alert to go overseas. They were put aboard a segregated train for a two-day ride to Newport News, Va.
A stop in Houston showed the men that many of their white countrymen wouldn't accept them, even though the troopers would put their lives on the line for them.
“We were in cramped quarters on the train, and the colonel got us out and had us marching up and down the platform to stretch our legs,” said Mr. Greene, the Madisonville native who lives in Silverton.
“The mayor of Houston heard we were there, and he came out and said, "Get them niggers back on the train.' And that's exactly what he said.
“So the colonel has us go back to a train car and assemble our .50-caliber machine guns. We went back out and marched until it was time to switch trains.”
Many historians consider Buffalo Soldiers unsung heroes, troopers who did jobs a lot of white soldiers didn't want to.
“Blacks were second-class citizens in the military, and blacks were second-class citizens in society,” said Pat O'Brien, a history professor and 20th century America expert at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kan.
Emporia is near Junction City, Kan., home of the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry Association, which is raising money to build a Buffalo Soldiers memorial there.
“In many ways, World War II — and the performance of the black soldiers — provided the context for the civil rights movement,” Mr. O'Brien said. “It readily exposed the paradox — how could you fight against one thing overseas and promote it at home.”
Mr. Greene, who joined the combat engineers and worked as a welder, landed at Normandy on D-Day. He was wounded six days later when the Jeep in which he was riding ran over a mine.
He took shrapnel in the head, hand and stomach. The next 14 days were a blur. He received the Purple Heart and an honorable discharge at a Cleveland hospital on Aug. 4, 1945.
Mr. Greene came home to Cincinnati and went to work as a railway mail clerk. He experienced more racism at home than he did abroad.
“I was in the same boxcars sorting the same mail, and they wouldn't let me join the union,” he said.
Paul Greene, his son, was a U.S. Marine killed in Vietnam in 1966. Paul Greene was 19.
“I'm proud of my son's service to his country,” Linwood Greene Jr. said slowly. “I'm proud of my service to my country.”
Mr. Snow, who also received an honorable discharge, didn't think he would live to see the United States again.
“I had as much fun as I could because I thought I would be gone at any minute,” he said. “God was with me. That's how I didn't get hurt.”
Mr. Denson is most proud of his honorable discharge, dated Nov. 6, 1945. He also received the American Theater Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal and Victory Medal.
“The No. 1 thing is that honorable discharge. A lot of things happen in the service, and they had a lot of ways of busting you down,” said Mr. Denson, who retired in 1981 from Cincinnati Public Schools as a plant operator.
Not far behind are his feelings for his unit.
“I liked the outfit. I liked the horses. I learned a lot,” he said. “We didn't come in until the tail end, but we did a good job.
“No, we weren't actors. We were the real thing.”
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