We Were There
Yvonne Latty
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 Amistad/HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060542179

Voices of African American Veterans from World War II to the War in Iraq.

A few weeks after 9/11, 2001, Philadelphia Daily News reporter Yvonne Latty, daughter of a WWII Veteran, was asked by Veteran Doug Culbreth to write an obituary for his hero, George Ingram, a World War II Navy Steward Submariner. Although he was skilled at many of the complicated jobs on the sub, because he was colored, because the Armed Forces were still segregated, he washed dishes, served officers, & did their laundry ... until that fateful night on the South China Sea when he saved the life of a white man.

Yvonne Latty had always disapproved of her father's war stories, now her curiosity & respect got the better of her squeamishness & she decided to find other black Veterans to ask them about their experiences apropos racism within the military because, supposedly, President Truman's signing of Executive Order 9981 in 1948, should have changed everything. In the beginning it didn't.

These are the Veterans:

World War II
Leonard Smith, Army Tank Corporal, “Black Panthers” Battalion, General Patton's 3rd Army. European Theater.
Margaritte Gertrude Ivory-Bertram, Lieutenant, Army Nurse Corps. 25th Station Hospital, Liberia.
Luther H. Smith, Air Force Captain. Tuskegee Airmen. European Theater POW.
Thomas Hayswood McPhatter, Marine Sergeant. Reserve Navy Chaplain Captain. 8th Ammunition Company. Iwo Jima, Pacific Theater.
Waverly B. Woodson Jr., Army Medic Corporal;Army Reserves Sergeant. 320th Antiaircraft Barrage Balloon Unit. D-Day, Normandy. European Theater.
Gladys O. Thomas-Anderson, Private First Class, Women's Army Corps. 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. France, European Theater.
James Tillman, Army Sergeant. “Buffalo Soldier”. 92nd Infantry. European & Pacific Theaters.
James Hairston, Navy Steward. Pearl Harbor. USS Hornet. Pacific Theater. Korea. 1938-1960.
Samuel L. Gravely Jr., Vice Admiral, Navy Reserves. World War II East Coast Defense. Korea & Vietnam. 1942-1980.

Korea
Charles Armstrong, Army Sergeant World War II; Lieutenant Korea. Survivor of Heartbreak Ridge.
Stephen Hopkins, Army Corporal. 3 1/2 years as a POW.
Robert Yancey, Navy Cook World War II Pacific Theater; Navy Reserves; Army Sergeant Medic, Korea & Vietnam. 1945-1971.
Julius W. Becton Jr., Army Lieutenant General. World War II, Korea & Vietnam. 1944-1983

Vietnam
Norman Smith, Marine Sergeant. Da Nang security. Two Tours.
Elizabeth Allen, Army Nurse Captain. Army Reserves Major. Tet Offensive. 1967-1982.
James Robbins, Army Lieutenant. Company Commander C Company Long Lines North.
Donald Rander, Army Sergeant Intelligence. Hue City. Tet Offensive. 5 years 20 months POW. 1962-1985.
Olivia Theriot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. France & Vietnam. 1959-1979.
James Brantley, Army Radioman, Specialist E-3. Saigon.
Marie Rodgers, Colonel, Army Nurse Corps. Korea & Vietnam. 1952-1978.
Alfredo Alexander, Army Private. “Grunt” Infantryman. Tet Offensive.

Gulf War
Darion Battle, Marine Sergeant. “Gunny” 2nd Battalion. 1975-1995.
Janet Pennick, Army. Philadelphia Deputy Sheriff. Army Reserves. 304th Civil Affairs Unit. 1974-1998.
J. Alexander Martin, Navy E-4. Japan, Philippines & Mexico. Co-founder of FUBU.
Lester Outterbridge, Army Private, Vietnam. National Guard Specialist 4. Gulf War Syndrome survivor. 1968-1996.

War on Terror
Anthony LaSure, Air Force Captain. Air National Guard Major. 177th Fighter Wing. Operation Noble Eagle. 1989-present.
Eric Mitchell, Air Force Captain. Operation Enduring Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom. 1996-present.
Vincent Brooks, Army Brigadier General. Joint Chiefs of Staff staff member. Operation Iraqi Freedom. 1980-present.

Absolutely outstanding! Through the stories of We Were There we see how racism affected Americans who were willing to serve their country which only gave lip service to the words: “freedom and justice for all.” These men & women went into service during times of war often eagerly, sometimes as the only way to get themselves out of trouble. Even as they served in a community that belittled them, they were willing to give their all in the service of their country.

It's as if going to war against our enemies wasn't enough, to be an African American, you had to survive, as these Veterans' stories ably show, soul-crushing racism within the military, as it was slowly & inexorably defeated.

We hear the reflections from life in all arms of the services as well as how their lives have turned out afterwards. From lifers & reservists, from “grunts” & nurses to a West Point graduate & an Admiral. From a Tuskegee Airman POW to a Corporal on Heartbreak Ridge to an Intelligence Officer who survived as a POW in Vietnam. From Persian Gulf War Sergeant to an Operation Iraqi Freedom Air Force Captain ... & Generals.

We Were There could have had 50 voices & I would not have tired of reading their stories, seeing their squeaky-clean service photos & soaking up their modernday images by veteran Philadelphia Daily News photographer Ron Taver.

Highly recommended -- I could not put it down!
(11/07/04)

Rebecca