In 1941, the U.S. Army activated the 758th Tank Battalion, the
first all-black tank battalion. This took years of protests and a
lot of political clout because African Americans had to fight for
the right to fight. Segregation and discrimination had reached
critical levels and the Pittsburgh Courier called for the "Double V
Campaign." It appealed for victory abroad against the forces of
global domination and victory at home against racism. Two other
all-black tank battalions joined the 5th Tank Group, the 761st in
1942 and the 784th in 1943. The 758th fought the Nazis and the
Fascists in Northern Italy from the beautiful beaches of the
Liguria Sea through the Po Valley and up into the rugged Apennine
Mountains. They breached the Gothic Line with the 92nd "Buffalo"
Infantry Division. Victorious over history's most racist regimes,
many black service members returned home with hopes of a more
tolerant nation. Most were bitterly disappointed. Segregation was
still the law of the land; racism was alive and well. For many
black veterans, disappointment became determination to fight
discrimination with the same sense of purpose that had defeated the
Axis. After the war they deactivated but unlike their sister
battalions, the 761st and 784th, they were reborn in the 64th Tank
Battalion keeping their distinguished unit insignia, a black
rampant elephant head with white tusks and the scrolled motto - "We
Pierce." And reborn again as the 64th Armored Regiment comprised of
four separate battalions, the 1/64th, 2/64th, 3/64th, and 4/64th.
The ancestral 758th Tank Battalion established in 1941 began with
the rudimentary Stuart light tank, advanced to the Sherman medium
tank, the Pershing medium/heavy tank, the Patton main battle tank,
and now to the ultra-modern Abrams main battle tank. They went from
the meek 37 millimeter cannon to a technically advanced 120
millimeter main gun augmented by a thermal viewer, an inter-vehicle
tracker, a guided missile system, and other high-tech devices. This
unit fought racial discrimination up until it became integrated in
1953, although discrimination continued at the individual level,
the unit overcame it. They entered the Korean War to fight for
Democracy ironically a segregated unit but returned to the United
States fully integrated.
General
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