Buffalo Soldier, U.S. Marines share stories of segregation
by Claudia Bustamante
Every year, residents of Lucca, in Tuscany, celebrate the end of Nazi occupation by honoring the Americans who came to liberate it.
In 1944, much of occupied Tuscany was freed by the U.S. Army 92nd Infantry Division, the only segregated division to fight in Europe during World War II. They were known as buffalo soldiers.
“Here we were in World War II, giving them their freedom and not even free ourselves,” said Ivan Houston, a former Army sergeant and author of “Black Warriors: The Buffalo Soldiers of World War II.”
“We were second-class citizens.”
Houston, along with original African-American members of the […]
