Review of "Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles," by Tanya Lee Stone

 Review of

Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, by Tanya Lee Stone, ISBN 9780545622943

Five out of five stars

Another battle against segregation

 In World War II, the United States military was still generally segregated. Even in the units where blacks served alongside whites, the blacks were largely relegated to service positions. Despite the outstanding performance of black units during the American Civil War, the common misconception was that blacks were intellectually inferior and unreliable in combat.

 Among ground troops, the elite forces are the paratroop units. Well trained to jump from planes and fight in small, concentrated units until major forces arrive, they suffered casualties in training and the expectation was that they would have a higher casualty rate in combat.

 This book is a history of the first black unit of paratroopers, the 555th, generally known as the triple nickles. It is a story of triumph over deep seated racial prejudice in the U. S. military, although that triumph was not total. While the unit was formed, they were not deployed to combat positions, but sent to the American northwest in order to fight fires.

 One of the most closely guarded secrets of the war was the effectiveness of a Japanese plan to start fires in the forests of the American northwest. The Japanese were aware of the air currents in the upper atmosphere and how they would take high altitude balloons from Japan to America. Therefore, the Japanese manufactured balloons and attached incendiary bombs to them. It was a very inexpensive way for the Japanese to fight back. The results were kept so secret that the Japanese never learned of the damage being done, so they cancelled the program. It is important that it is mentioned in this book.

 The men of the triple nickles performed very well in the extremely dangerous job of jumping into a burning forest and fighting the fires. While they were not given the opportunity to show their mettle in combat, their courage cannot be questioned. As is pointed out in this book, some of the members of the unit went on to serve in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

 Every move towards overcoming segregation and racial bias is a step forward and needs to be made part of the historical narrative. This book is a valuable entry into the history of the movement towards equality.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of "The Autumn Dead," by Ed Gorman

  Review of The Autumn Dead , by Ed Gorman, ISBN 0345356322 Four out of five stars An aging ex-cop is handed a case to retrieve a case   Jack Dwyer is an ex-cop that now works for a private security agency. Most of what he does is bust shoplifters and other petty criminals. He is a bit overweight and has few prospects to improve his situation. However, he has an interesting past that is focused on his high school years.   A woman that was a flame of his in high school and has retained her beauty suddenly pops back into his life. She offers Jack a significant amount of money to retrieve a suitcase from the house of a man she had been living with. Since she has a key and claims that the suitcase is really her property and she still has a significant sway over Jack, he agrees to take the job.   When he gets there he finds the owner unconscious from a blow on the back of the head. This is the first hint that the case is much more complex than Jack thought. Hi...
Read more

Review of "The Forty-Minute War," by Janet and Chris Morris

  Review of The Forty-Minute War , by Janet and Chris Morris, ISBN 0671559869 Three out of five stars Absurd initial premise and bad ending   This book begins with an absurd premise, not the event, but the context. A group of committed terrorists manage to acquire a nuclear weapon and a plane. The manage to fly it from Saudi Arabia to Washington D. C. where they detonate it. Distraught over the knowledge that his wife and family have been killed, the American President orders a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. They retaliate and it is all over in 40 minutes. After ordering the strike, the American President takes a gun and kills himself.   There are two reasons why this premise is absurd, one major and the other minor. The major one is that the intelligence services of the United States were aware of the nuclear weapon and had an elite anti-terrorist team on the ground ready to take out the terrorists. However, the team was given a stand-down order. Whil...
Read more

Review of "Heat," by Mike Lupica

  Review of Heat , by Mike Lupica, ISBN 9780142407578 Five out of five stars More about life than sports   Satchel Paige is arguably the all-time best baseball pitcher. One of his teammates once said, “The good lord didn’t give Satchel an arm, he gave him a whip.” Michael Arroyo was also born with what his father said was, “the arm.” Even though he is still young enough to play Little League baseball, Michael can throw an 80-mph fastball and he has excellent control. His goal is to help his team move on to the Little League World Series.   While baseball is his joy, his life is complicated. His father brought Michael and his seventeen-year-old bother Carlos with him in an escape from Cuba and they now live in New York City. Their father died suddenly of a heart attack and the boys are terrified that social services will learn of their plight and either separate them into foster care or send them back to Cuba.   With the help of some kindly neighbors, the ...
Read more