All language subtitles for Serving.For.Justice.The.Story.Of.The.333rd.Field.Artillery.Battalion.2020.1080p.BluRay.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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(soft music)

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- [Nicholas] Being black,
having dark skin in America

75 years ago was linked
to being enslaved.

The legacy of slavery was
deemed a necessary evil

for the development
of a continent and
wealth of a nation.

Forever identified as
being a characteristic

of the southern states,
it was ubiquitous,

existing in northern
states like New Jersey

and the New England region.

It eventually took a civil war

to decide the social direction

of the rapidly expanding nation.

A fictitious
character, Jim Crow,

(playful piano music)

and popular song, "Jump, Jim
Crow" was created in 1828

as a minstrel performance
done in blackface

by white composer,
Thomas Dartmouth Rice.

♪ Wheel about and turn
about and do just so ♪

♪ Every time I wheel
about I jump Jim Crow ♪

- [Nicholas] It lampooned blacks

as slow witted,
lazy, and cowardly.

Becoming widely popular by 1838,

Jim Crow became a pejorative
term for black Americans.

(intense drum music)

At the close of the
civil war in 1865,

the Klu Klux Klan and
others were formed

as a paramilitary terror group

with a platform of nativist
white racial supremacy.

Their object was to
control the social progress

of now freed black Americans,

and they often used
violence to accomplish it.

Today, the term,
Jim Crow, survives,

reflecting a time period
in American history

where racial
segregation was made law

by Southern legislatures
and would be enforced.

The Klan, as it
came to be called,

terrorized the black American
communities, and in 1871,

in a response to
widespread violence,

Congress passed the
Klu Klux Klan Act,

which authorized President Grant

to use military force
to suppress the KKK.

Still, problems remained at
the close of the 19th century,

and the races remained divided,

and attempts to keep it that way

reached the highest
court in the land.

The legal principle
of separate but equal

became United
States law in 1896,

with the US Supreme Court
case, Plessy versus Ferguson.

This cemented disenfranchisement

and discrimination of blacks
for the next 60 years.

It was an oppressive
time in the South

for most black Americans,
so those who could

decided to leave for more
racially tolerant northern

and western cities and states.

From 1910 to 1960, over 4
million African Americans

migrated out of the South.

But the reception they received

often was less than welcoming.

In cities like New
York and Chicago,

blacks lived in squalid,
expensive tenements,

and faced continued
social restrictions.

After World War One, in America,

a series of violent race riots
ensued across the country

in a period known
as the Red Summer.

In rapidly growing industrial
towns like Chicago,

frustrations and
tempers grew short

on a hot summer afternoon
in late July, 1919.

The city experienced a
brutal five day race riot.

38 people died and more
than 500 were injured

because whites accused
a black beach goer

of drifting over
an implied boundary

on a segregated town beach.

The boy was stoned and
eventually drowned.

The city erupted.

Fact was, communities
like Chicago lacked a plan

that responded to
the great migration

and the growth it supported

while others felt threatened
and resorted to violence,

which usually went unprosecuted.

This was the society the men

of the 333rd Field Artillery
Battalion were born into,

many coming from families
who remained in the South.

Those families found
a way to survive there

as they managed the
strict social codes

which limited their mobility,

and endured segregated services,

which were underfunded
and not equal.

They lived in a world where
their lives did not matter much,

and their vote was
not equal to whites.

They were often intimidated

to exercise their
rights as citizens,

which could include voting
or taking legal action

or reporting a crime if it
involved a white person.

In 1945, life in America
and civil rights policy

resembled that of the
turn of the 20th century.

Racial segregation had
become so entrenched

that it would take more
than political activism

or new national legislative
measures to uproot.

It would take a
world changing event.

(intense music)

- [News Anchor] Yesterday,
December 7th, 1941,

a date which will
live in infamy.

The United States of
America was suddenly

and deliberately attacked
by naval and air forces

from the empire of Japan.

- [Nicholas] With the
attack on Pearl Harbor,

America was now at war
in a global conflict

that was tearing apart
Europe and the Far East.

Western democracy was
fighting for survival

under the crushing totalitarian
ambitions of Nazi Germany

and Hitler's warped dreams
of a new world order,

led by a master Aryan race.

These plans were
familiar to many

of the men who
lived in the South.

This new master race,
which Hitler envisioned

as a racially pure hierarchy,
saw Germans at the top

and Jews and dark skin
people at the very bottom.

To achieve his
goals, Hitler set out

on a policy of
extermination and genocide,

with his intention to wipe
out the Jewish people.

Dark skinned people
would be next.

Black Americans who
had suffered the burden

of racism and
segregation at home

now had to face an
even greater peril,

their annihilation
from a fanatical leader

who planned to
take over the world

and who wanted to
eliminate their race.

- They hated our guts, inferior,
call you monkeys, whatever,

you weren't as good as a monkey.

Most of them were
blonde hair, blue eyes.

They were the pure,
pure people, so-called,

but I've seen SS troopers
shoot their own people down.

They didn't wanna fight, that's
the way they were, fanatics.

- [Nicholas] Answering
their nation's call,

(soft music)

black Americans enlisted
in great numbers.

They saw World War II
as blacks before them

had seen their wars
as an opportunity

to prove themselves equal
to fellow white Americans.

The equality and respect
they have long sought

since the end of the Civil War,

they believed was almost
within their grasp.

Many black soldiers would go
on to distinguish themselves

in heroic acts of valor,

including the 333rd Field
Artillery Battalion.

(bright music)

The story of the 333rd
Field Artillery Battalion

began here in the
desolate southwest expanse

on the edge of the Great
Plains, Camp Gruber, Oklahoma.

(intense music)

Both black and white soldiers

trained here in
segregated units.

The 333rd drew a majority of
men from the Jim Crow South,

who rarely traveled beyond
their own town borders.

Among those men were James
Aubrey Stewart of West Virginia,

Curtis Adams from
South Carolina,

and Robert Green of Georgia.

They were among the men
who would become known

as the Wereth 11.

(glass shattering)

These men were no
strangers to prejudice,

segregation, or racial violence.

(soft piano music)

Thomas forte bore witness to one

of the bloodiest race
riots of the era,

the Lee Street riots
in January 1942.

Sparked by tensions
between black

and white recruits
from rival army bases,

the number of dead
black soldiers

remains in dispute still today.

Against this backdrop,
one month later,

(bright music)

the Double V Campaign was
born via an announcement

in a black owned
Pittsburgh newspaper.

The slogan was "Democracy,
victory at home and abroad."

The campaign and
slogan swept the nation

as many black
recruits envisioned

a new era of racial
equality at home

once they defeated
the Nazis abroad.

- The catalysts for the
Pittsburgh Courier's launch

of the Double V
Campaign was a letter

from James G. Thompson
from Wichita, Kansas,

a 26 year old
African American man.

Thompson was aware of the
Pittsburgh Courier's role,

and felt that this publication,

which may have had as
many as a million readers,

was the one he should
direct his letter to.

And as a matter of fact,
then other newspapers

such as the Chicago Defender,
the Baltimore Afro-American,

picked up on the
Double V Campaign

and became an important
ally in this effort.

One that FDR opposed by the way,

felt that if there
wasn't sort of

unqualified acceptance
of the war effort,

that it could be
detrimental to the cause

and pressured the newspapers
to change their tone,

change the subject and
not to push this issue,

but they proceeded.

Some interesting things
happening around the country.

During the war, there were
the zoot Suit Riots in LA,

course, the zoot suit
was this symbol of black

sort of opposition to sacrifice
in terms of rationing,

so the zoot suit was seen
as a symbol of excess,

and these navy guys, Marines
and members of sailors

in California attacked
Mexican Americans

who were wearing the zoot suit,

and then blacks joined in to
support the Mexican Americans,

and of course, the zoot
suit was very popular

with African Americans,
and Malcolm X,

of course, in his autobiography,

talks about his experience
with the zoot suit.

- [Nicholas] During this time,

(soft music)

Eleanor Roosevelt
spoke out with support.

There can be no democracy
in the United States

that does not include
democracy for blacks.

Americans only
want to talk about

the good features
of American life,

and hide our problems like
skeletons in the closet.

- There are a couple of things
that really sort of highlight

why the black community so
embraced Eleanor Roosevelt.

She brought sharecroppers
to the white house,

she opposed segregated seating

at the Southern Conference
for Human Welfare,

she supported the NAACP and
its efforts to stop lynching,

there was a Wagner-Costigan
anti-lynching bill

that she supported
when Franklin did not,

and she often voiced
opinions that he could not

because he was afraid of losing
Southern democratic support.

- [Nicholas] The
men of the 333rd

(upbeat drum drill music)

carried the dream of
equality with them

into training and into battle.

They knew that they had to
stand out, train harder,

fight tougher, and win
their victory at home.

Still, they had to deal
with rampant discrimination

that had become even more
pointed in basic training.

- As a black soldier in
the United States Army,

you weren't as good as a
dog, especially in the South.

I was sitting on a barrack
step reading a comic book

and a state side
officer come by,

told me to cut the grass,
I stood up, saluted him

and told him that as a
noncommissioned officer,

I'm not required
to do manual labor,

you can put me in
charge of a detail,

but I'm not gonna
cut that grass.

He hollered, "Jail that nigger!"

There I go, man, them
damn peas dropped

out of the sky from somewhere.

(bright music)

- [Nicholas] One blustery
afternoon in March 1943,

the 333rd thought they
had their opportunity

with the arrival of
the army's newest

and most complicated field gun,

the 155 millimeter Howitzer.

It was the US Army's answer
to the German's 88 gun.

(dark drum drill music)

(crickets chirping)

- Man, Oklahoma's cold,
sure ain't South Carolina.

How come we bunking out
here in these tents?

- What?

You expect to be
bunking with white boys?

- Yeah, why not?

- Listen, everything's
separate out here, Adams,

sleep, eat, train, just
like home, but it works.

- Well, at least I get to take

my frustrations out
shooting them guns.

(chuckling)

- Adams, you ain't got the
sense God gave a goose,

we ain't gonna be
shooting no guns,

we'll be stacking shelves,
cleaning out barrels.

The new guns, them new guns
for the white boys to shoot.

- What?

- Let's let it serve
for justice, you know?

It's the best we gon do.

It's all right, man.

It's all right.

(panting)

- [Nicholas] The
commander of the 333rd,

Harmon Kelsey's
orders were clear,

all soldiers would
begin training

on the 155s, including
black recruits.

It was a daunting task from
the outset for the men.

First, they had to learn
the 200 page field manual,

then train together
in highly specialized

orchestrated roles
to operate the gun.

Each 155 Howitzer required
a six man gun crew.

(dark piano music)

- First time I saw Kelsey
was in Camp Gruber, Oklahoma,

and he made his little speech,

and the only way you
get out of this outfit

is die out of it,
there's no transfers.

(upbeat drum drill music)

- [Nicholas]
Serving under Kelsey

was a plainspoken Oklahoman,
Captain William McCleod,

who established a
bond with the men.

- There was a lot of
grumbling about, you know,

guys wanting to kick his butt.

He called the company together,

says "Anybody that
wants to fight me,

I'll take off my shirt,
you take off yours

and we'll have a go
at it, man to man.

If you beat me, I'll
shake your hand,

if I beat you, I expect
you to shake my hand

and it's off the record."

Nobody made another sound.

(intense music)

- [Nicholas] McCleod
oversaw the men's long

and arduous training schedule,

from spring 1943
into early 1944,

bringing them together
into a cohesive unit.

Mastering the 155
became a matter

of accomplishment and
pride for the unit.

In early February 1944, with
their training complete,

the 333rd embarked for England.

(bright orchestra music)

Looming just four months away

was a massive secret
allied operation

to invade German
occupied France.

D-Day would change
the course of the war,

and the 333rd would be
right on the front lines.

There are few adjectives
which have not been applied

to the combined amphibious
and airborne assault operation

which took place on
the 6th of June, 1944.

Two and a half years in the
planning, Operation Overlord,

the invasion of German
occupied France,

would require men and
might the likes of which

had never been seen on
the face of the Earth.

The men of the 333rd
knew what they had to do

and what was at stake.

- Once you hit them
beaches and get out

of the cold water of
the English Channel,

you're a different person,

it's kill or be
killed, you know this.

- [Nicholas] Once the
333rd arrived in France,

they quickly gained a reputation
for their deadly accuracy.

During the battle of Lis Depuis,

the 82nd airborne,
struggling with a tiger tank,

called on the 333rd
to take it out.

Battery C fired four rounds
from four 155 howitzers.

Two of the shells were
direct hits on the tank.

(explosions booming)

The distance from
battery C's guns

to the tiger tank
was nine miles.

As allied troops made their push

out of Normandy in July, 1944,

the 333rd was called
upon time and time again

to soften up targets
for the infantry advance

at places such as
Saint-Malo and Brest,

and further east, outward
from the continent peninsula.

(bright fanfare music)

(people cheering)

In late August, Paris
was finally liberated,

and although not strategic,

its symbolic significance
was not lost on anyone.

(soft music)

With the prize of Paris
now in allied hands,

General Eisenhower
had a standing bet

that the war would
be over by Christmas.

The refrain and the war in
'44 was on everyone's lips.

Just days after liberation,

Paris showed little trace
of German occupation.

In these late
summer days of 1944,

(soft piano music)

men of the 333rd
began once again

to dream of their
lives back home.

Curtis Adams of South Carolina
had a newborn son, Jesse,

whom his wife had
brought to meet his dad

while he was at Camp Gruber.

James Aubrey Stewart
dreamt of spring baseball

with his beloved
Piedmont Giants,

where he excelled as a pitcher.

- I am among a
number of scholars

who believe that the
military experience

is as central to the
African American experience

and the black freedom struggle

as any other kind of experience.

Seven blacks receive the medal
of honor in World War Two.

(soft music)

Only two blacks have
received the medal of honor

as a result of their
actions in World War One.

One of those was Henry Johnson,
who received his in 2015.

First was Freddie
Stowers of South Carolina

who received his in 1993,

and this is only as
a result of pressure

that was brought to
bear on the authorities,

but we believe those behind
the valor medal taskforce

and review believe that
there are many more

who are worthy of consideration

and are undertaking
a systematic review

to try to right
the historic wrong

that has been committed
against African Americans.

(intense music)

- [Nicholas] The allied push
into the continent was rapid,

and the US War Department

began shifting troops
to the Pacific Theater.

No one suspected that
within four short months,

the war in Europe would
not only not be over,

but that the toughest
fighting yet still lay ahead.

By mid December, 1944,
the extreme Western front

in the Belgian Ardennes
had grown eerily quiet.

(wind whistling)

Many allied commanders
called it the ghost front.

Supply problems in the wake
of Operation Market Garden

had left this weakly defended
sector virtually on its own.

The 333rd comprised
of batteries A,

B, C, and headquarters battery,

settled into the Belgian
Ardennes ghost front in October.

They were fire support
for the combat experienced

Second Division Artillery.

As October faded into a
miserably cold and wet November,

McCleod receives word
that the Second Division

was being replaced by
the 106th Infantry.

(bright music)

They would arrive
by December 11th.

The 106th Goldenlions
had never seen combat.

They were as green
and inexperienced as
any troops could be.

The 106th would be
responsible for holding

a 22 mile front line,
three times the distance

normally assigned to a division.

But since this area was
known as the quiet sector,

no one considered it a problem.

Hitler's ultra secret plan
known as the Ardennes offensive

(dark intense music)

had been hatched
during the summer.

His operation would
employ half a million men

and over 2000
pieces of artillery,

spearheading the offensive
were Hitler's hand chosen

and fanatical Waffen
SS, which were ordered

to spread a new wave of terror,

unrestricted by
human inhibitions.

Leading the effort was
the Sixth Panzer Army,

commanded by one of Germany's
most decorated soldiers,

World War One and
Russian front veteran,

General Sepp Dietrich.

Hitler's former body guard,
Dietrich was despised

by most of the
higher officer class,

who thought he
lacked intelligence,

but he had a hard won
reputation for bravery,

and was known as a brutal
division and core commander.

The Sixth Panzer
Army would follow

a path cut by Colonel
Joaquin Piper,

who was greatly admired by
Hitler for his fanaticism.

He was a charismatic leader,

who inspired fierce
loyalty in his men.

His orders were simple,

move as rapidly as
possible to the Muse river,

and take no prisoners.

Squarely in the path
of the German offensive

were the unsuspecting 333rd
Field Artillery Battalion,

located now just six kilometers

from the German border
at Schoenberg, Belgium.

(explosions booming)

(intense music)

Just after dawn, the morning
of 16 December, 1944,

Adolf Hitler's
Ardennes offensive

swung the full might of
the German war machine

against British and
American troops.

The Germans were throwing
everything they had

at the lightly defended
American front lines.

Five tube naval
warfare batteries

blasted high explosive
rockets across the border.

Soldiers called the
terrorizing sound they made

screaming mimis.

(rockets screaming)

The most devastating weapon
in the German arsenal however

was their 88 gun,

(gun booming)

with a range well
over nine miles.

(explosion booming)

Americans trapped by falling
88 shells had almost no chance.

- [Soldier] Keep your head low!

(soldier screaming)

(explosion booming)

- [Nicholas] The 333rd
had sprung into action

at the first sound
of German artillery,

(intense music)

providing fire support for
the frontline infantry.

- Counter battery, fire, cell,
HE, charge five, fuse quick.

- [Officer] Base deflection,
right two, minor five, XI302.

- Number two, warden,
ground, elevation 371!

- Round ready, Sir.

- Fire!

(guns booming)

- Fire!

- [Nicholas] By 17 December,

they had been shelled for
the better part of two days.

- [Soldier] Incoming!

(explosions booming)

- [Nicholas] Exhausted
with their ammunition

nearly depleted, orders came
through to evacuate the unit

with the exception of the
forwardmost exposed battery C.

- [Soldier] Incoming!

- [Nicholas] Orders
had been issued

for the battery
to remain in place

in fire support for
the 106th infantry.

Commander Kelsey arrived
from headquarters,

evacuating most of the
men into three trucks,

leaving Captain McLeod
and a handful of men

to withstand the
German onslaught.

- We fired till we
ran out of ammunition.

(dark music)

Can't kill with just so
many with trench knives.

And they had, I'd say
the Germans had to walk

over piles of their
dead to get to us.

That's a hard thing to do
when a man's got a rifle out

coming at you and all you've
got is a trench knife,

but I got a couple of them,

some of the other guys
got a couple of them.

That was the least of my
thoughts, being captured.

Killed, yes, captured, no.

I think the real reason
why McCleod surrendered

was to save lives,
because weren't nothing
else he could do.

We could all die, you know,
just fought with what we had,

hand to hand combat until
every man was killed,

but he didn't want that,

he wanted to try to save
as many lives as he could,

and that's what he
did by surrender.

- [Nicholas] Captain
McLeod and the men

who could walk were
taken prisoner.

The wounded were not.

(gun banging)

- All of us that
were left alive,

they moved us out on the
road and started walking.

(bright trumpet music)

(speaking in German)

I saw them when they
were taking the pictures,

and that was propaganda,

especially when they
captured black troops.

They parade you off
in these little towns,

and like I said, the diehard
Germans have beaten you

and you couldn't do
nothing about it,

you just keep walking and look
straight ahead, that's all.

- [Nicholas] While the war
was over for George Shomo,

Captain McLeod, and
the rest of battery C,

Colonel Kelsey and
his three trucks

raced back towards St. Vith,

but the Germans had
already pushed past him.

(soldier shouting
in foreign language)

His convoy was surrounded.

All were forced to surrender
and march back towards Germany.

American P47s continue to
pound the German columns,

including those with
American prisoners of war.

One came upon Kelsey's men.

(intense drum music)

(soldier shouting in German)

(gun booming)

In the chaos and confusion of
the American plane strafing,

several of the 333rd
were able to escape.

They joined up with
other members of the unit

and headed northward
through the thick forest.

These men would become
known as the Wereth 11.

(wind howling)

(guns firing in distance)

- I can't feel my feet
no more, they're frozen.

- Maybe, maybe
just take a break.

We ain't seen no
Germans for a while now.

Up there, we can take
a rest today, come on.

(sighing)

(soft music)

Don't need no bible to prayer,

once you got it
memorized by heart.

- Yes, Serge.

- We could all do with a
little bit of prayer right now.

- Sorry, Serge.

Just keep getting a real bad
feeling about all of this,

afraid we ain't gonna make it.

- We made it this far.

Don't expect you to
give up now, Curtis.

We ain't going
through all of this,

little walk in the woods
stop the 333rd, right?

Right? Right?

- Hey, man, our guys
probably kicking

they butt back to
Germany by now.

(chuckling)

(uplifting music)

- I hear that.

Hey, maybe we all
lost except the 106.

(laughing)

- You see these
neckties, shiny shoes,

can't fight a war like that.

- Well, I'm sure they seen their
share of action too by now.

- [Nicholas] Heading in the
Wereth 11's same direction,

(dark music)

unbeknownst to them,
was a four man SS patrol

from Gustave Knittel's
1st SS Recon Battalion.

The men had to
keep off the roads

(soft music)

inside the tree line
to avoid being spotted.

They thought they
were heading west,

but became turned around and
were actually heading north.

After an ice cold
trek of 10 kilometers,

they arrived exhausted at
the small hamlet of Wereth.

The first house they
encountered was a farmhouse,

owned by Mathias
Langer and his family.

They decided to ask for shelter.

The exhausted men were
offered bread and butter

and all the Langers could spare.

The welcoming warmth
of the farmhouse family

delayed the men from moving on.

Mathias Langer was
taking a great risk

inviting the Americans
into his home.

This part of Belgium was
still part of Germany

before World War One,
and several families

in the village remained
loyal to Germany.

Mathias also had more than
seven children living at home

that he and his wife
Maria had to care for.

Their three oldest boys had
gone into hiding in Belgium

to avoid becoming conscripts
in the German army.

What Matthias and Maria
offered these cold

and tired American
soldiers was invaluable.

It is easy to imagine
that these treasured hours

the 11 men spent
with the Langers

were perhaps the most
enjoyable and comforting

the men had experienced
in a very long time.

Still, Matthias knew they
remained in great danger,

and he urged the reluctant
men to keep moving.

(dark music)

Soon, however, it
became too late.

Gustave Knittle's 1st SS patrol
arrived at the Langer home.

They had been directed
to it by a woman in town

whose husband was in the SS

and knew the Langers were
sheltering the Americans.

(soldier shouting
in foreign language)

All were taken by surprise,

and they saw it was
a German patrol.

The 11 men had two
carbines between them,

and outnumbered
the four Germans.

(soldier shouting
in foreign language)

The Americans, however,
decided that best course

was to repay the kindness
they had been shown,

surrender and protect the
family which had sheltered them.

The men were forced to
sit on the frozen ground

beside the Langer home,
while the commander

of the patrol entered
the farmhouse to eat.

The 11 men remained shivering,

sitting in the cold
for over an hour

until the commander returned.

The 1st SS patrol
then forced the 11

to march in front
of the vehicle.

Tired and barely able to
walk, some men fell behind.

William Pritchet was run down,

his leg buckling and breaking

beneath the weight of
the patrol vehicle.

Those who could not
continue were forced

to march at gunpoint into a
field 750 meters to the north.

None could imagine the horror
about to descend upon them

as the patrol carried
out Hitler's orders.

(gun clicking)

(camera shutter clicking)

The men were
tortured, then killed,

in the cruelest and most
inhuman manner imaginable

in a grizzly war crime
that still shocks the soul.

- These were guys
out of my outfit.

They just mutilated
them and murdered them,

and left them laying
out there in the field.

(dark music)

When the spring thaw come,
they found their bodies.

- [Nicholas] The
war crime at Wereth

was not the only
atrocity committed

by the German 1st SS
Division that day.

Just four hours earlier,

20 miles to the northwest
at Malmedy, 84 soldiers

from the 285th Field Artillery
Observation Battalion

were mowed down in a field
by German machine guns.

20 of the 84 bodies
recovered showed

head wounds with burns
and powder residue

consistent with a
small caliber gun

fired at point blank range.

Although an investigation
was launched

into the massacre at Wereth,
it was closed administratively

due to inconclusive evidence
on February 19, 1947,

by lead war crimes investigator,
Colonel Burton Ellis.

The crime was swept
under the rug of history,

and in the final 1949
congressional report

on war crimes committed
by the 1st SS division

during the Battle of the Bulge,

all names of the victims,
both civilian and military,

were listed along with
the war crime locations.

Wereth was absent.

(soft music)

Due to the heavy American losses

suffered in the Hurtgen Forest
and the Battle of the Bulge,

the US army was hard pressed

for reinforcements
early in 1945.

The outstanding performance

of African American
combat units,

such as the Tuskegee airmen,

the 761st Tank Battalion under
General George S. Patton,

and the 333rd Field
Artillery Battalion

compelled the US
army to call upon

African-American volunteers
from service units.

These volunteers were to
train as infantry soldiers

and to be integrated
into white units.

The men were formed into
52 all black platoons,

comprised of about 50 men each.

Typically, four
platoons made a company.

They were added,
making a fifth platoon.

(upbeat fanfare music)

At the close of the war, like
the men a generation earlier

who had returned from
fighting World War One

expecting well earned respect
after fighting for democracy,

these veterans quickly learned

they would have to fight
again for victory at home.

Jim Crow America too
survived the war.

In some respects,
stronger than ever.

Black veterans who
played an equal part

in America's victory
abroad discovered

that their hopes of a second
double V victory at home

seemed to have died with their
brothers on the battlefield.

- Lynching was a very
important element

in the Double V Campaign
because it was the most blatant

and brutal and barbaric
expression of the fascism

that existed in
the United States

or the racial discrimination.

(soft music)

The Japanese were watching
this very carefully,

long before World War Two.

As a matter of fact,
blacks and the Japanese,

black Americans
and Japanese had,

had actually been on the
same page for some time,

and especially around the
Paris Peace Conference of 1919,

and William Monroe
Trotter actually presented

to the conference a 15th point,

and that was to end racial
discrimination among nations.

And the Japanese actually put
this proposal on the table

and it was rejected by the
United States and other nations

as a result of
the United States'

and Great Britain's, you
know, disapproval of it.

- [Nicholas] America in 1945

(soft music)

remained rigidly mired
in racial discrimination,

which had only become
more entrenched.

- I came out of the
army with nothing

but the clothes on my back.

That's what happened to
black troops down there.

They hand me a train ticket,

my separation
papers, that was it.

And I rode in a washroom

from Alabama to Washington DC.

And there was a whole empty car

in the back of where, you know,

where I was supposed
to be sitting at,

they wouldn't let us go

and it was four of us
rode in the restroom,

one of the guys was
a lieutenant, but I,

I didn't mind 'cause they had
the combat and everything,

hell that was paradise riding
somewhere in the train,

I just made the best of it.

- [Man] The GI Bill of Rights

is not a reward or a
handout for a gravy train,

but rather an American
way to make it easier

for each man to take his place
once again in the community

and get some of those things
for which you went to war.

- [Nicholas] The GI
bill legislation,

created to financially
assist US veterans

in building their
lives once back at home

was not distributed fairly
to all former servicemen.

Black veterans discovered
that its benefits

were designed with
Jim Crow laws in mind,

and were blatantly
discriminatory.

In the New York and
Northern New Jersey suburbs,

67,000 mortgages were
insured by the GI bill.

Fewer than 100 were
granted to non-whites.

Many banks and mortgage
agencies in the South

simply refused loans to blacks.

Culturally, America
had not changed

after her sons and daughters
died fighting for her freedom.

Even though the US lacked
a comprehensive plan

to equally support
its African American

veterans and civilians,
in the mid 20th century,

change slowly came nonetheless.

In 1948, the same year
the Wereth incident

was omitted from the official
record of war crimes.

President Truman's
executive order, 9981,

(soft piano music)

removed the policy barriers

of racial discrimination
in the US armed forces.

- [President Truman] There
is no justifiable reason

for discrimination
because of ancestry

or religion, or race, or color.

- [Nicholas] This
is one of the few,

if not the first instance
where the military

led its own nation
on a social policy

which took its government
another 17 years to enact

in the Civil Rights Act of 1964,

a law which finally abolished
racial discrimination

at all levels of public life.

The service and sacrifice
of the Wereth 11,

Forte, Stewart,
Adams, Moss, Davis,

Mootton, Turner,
Green, Pritchet,

Bradley, and Leathewood,
along with countless others.

The brutal murder of these lost

and until recently
forgotten 11 soldiers

should not be forgotten,

but is not what
should identify them.

To do so diminishes the ultimate
impact of their sacrifice

and what they exhibited in life.

Their story is a human one,

underscored by the
selfless humanitarian act

of one Belgian family and
the sacrificial gratitude

of 11 war weary
American soldiers,

seven of whom eternally rest

at Henri Chapelle
American Cemetery.

This is a story that
confirms our humanity,

sense of dignity,
and shared values,

despite a world war's horrors,

summed up best by American
general Dennis Via,

speaking at a memorial
ceremony in Wereth.

These men were brothers,
sons, and fathers.

They served because, like us,

they believed in the
values we hold dear,

freedom, justice, liberty.

They believed in
the greater good.

For this, we are thankful
for their service.

(soft music)

In October, 2017,
after 73 years,

the 11 were finally recognized

with unanimous
passage of joint house

and Senate Resolution
99, which corrected

the 1949 Congressional
War Crime Report omission,

and honored the dedicated
service and ultimate sacrifice

of the soldiers from the 333rd
Field Artillery Battalion

known as the Wereth 11.

(drum drill music)