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His experience in Korea and Vietnam left decorated Army veteran, Willie Thompson, of Seaside, California, with a more complex view of social and political struggle than we’d like to admit exists.   

President Truman integrated the Army in 1948 but it took awhile for the word to get to the field.  It wasn’t until 1951 on Hill 1062 – smack in the middle of the fighting in Korea – that the all-black 24th Infantry was deactivated and its recruits and World War II veterans integrated into white units. 

“Word was, integrated units made better fighting units,” Thompson recalled.  I asked why the army didn’t simply integrate the white soldiers into the 24th.  He answered with an all-but-imperceptible smile.  Then, in a quiet voice, he began a story that would take him from Hill 1062 to Pork Chop Hill, where he won the Silver Star.  

Recruit Willie Thompson arrived in Yokohama, Japan, on February 2, 1949.  Five months later, the Korean Conflict broke out.  “I got to Korea the first of July; within a week the 24th Infantry went into combat.  I was some kind of scared. We fought constantly, day and night, for close to 12 months.  We would take a hill, hold it for a couple of hours, get pushed off and go back again.”

Private Thompson went home to Cincinnati, Ohio for a short break after more than a year in combat.   By April, 1953, he had been promoted and was back in Korea as a member of the integrated Company B, 31st Infantry, 7th Division and part of a 46-man daylight patrol. 

Corporal Thompson suggested that they delay the patrol, leaving under cover of darkness to “add a measure of safety.”  The lieutenant in charge disagreed.   “As we got to the line of departure and crossed into no-man's land, I didn’t feel right. There was nothing to hide behind.  The Chinese could see everything we were doing.” 

“They let us get in position and then they struck.” 

“Guys started hollering they were hit.  I yelled at them not to holler; it would give their position away.” 

“I could feel the bullets hitting my flak jacket.  I thought everyone in town was shooting at me.” By the end of this day, Corporal Thompson had been shot in the head, hand and through his side in the stomach and kidney. 

His commendation read, in part, that he continually exposed himself to enemy fire to assist the wounded and carry on the fight.

Recuperating in Japan, now Sgt. Thompson was standing in formation when the Company Commander, a white officer, asked, “Where did you get all those medals, at the PX?”  The Commanding General in Japan, hearing of the incident, sent that Company Commander packing.  He was sent back to the States and reduced to his lowest rank.

“When I was on that hill I was fighting for everyone not just one race,” Thompson told me. 

Later, Thompson served in Viet Nam and retired from the Army in 1975.

We would like to be able to say, simply, that the integration of the armed forces was both all good, and all right.  Or it was all wrong, a mistake.  I don’t think it works that way.  Just as the recent incidents in Jena, Louisiana suggest, social and political struggle are more convoluted than we imagine.

Dr. John Berteaux, PhD is an assistant professor of philosophy at California State University Monterey Bay.  Click here to contact Dr. Berteaux.