lTJq4Dobd3A

The 371st Infantry Regiment formed in August 1917 and consisted of African­ American
draftees mostly from South Carolina and white officers. After training at Camp Jackson,
the unit arrived on the Western Front in April 1918. It was placed under the command of
the French Army because of their desperate need for new troops, and out of fear that racial
tension might erupt between black and white American soldiers. After four years with
over a million French casualties and the stalemate of trench warfare, France was grateful
for the African­ Americans’ willingness to fight to push the Germans from French soil.