
Forgotten
The Untold Story of D-day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War
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Narrated by:
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Ron Butler
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By:
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Linda Hervieux
The injustices of 1940s Jim Crow America are brought to life in this extraordinary blend of military and social history, an account that pays tribute to the valor of an all-black battalion whose crucial contributions at D-day have gone unrecognized to this day.
In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a unit of African American soldiers, landed on the beaches of France. Their orders were to man a curtain of armed balloons meant to deter enemy aircraft. One member of the 320th would be nominated for the Medal of Honor, an award he would never receive because the nation's highest decoration was not given to black soldiers in World War II.
Drawing on newly uncovered military records and dozens of original interviews with surviving members of the 320th and their families, Linda Hervieux tells the story of these heroic men charged with an extraordinary mission, whose contributions to one of the most celebrated events in modern history have been overlooked. Thousands of African Americans were sent abroad to fight for liberties denied them at home, including these members of the 320th: Wilson Monk, a jack-of-all-trades from Atlantic City; Henry Parham, the son of sharecroppers from rural Virginia; William Dabney, an eager 17-year-old from Roanoke, Virginia; and Samuel Mattison, a charming romantic from Columbus, Ohio. In Europe these soldiers discovered freedom they had not known in a homeland that treated them as second-class citizens - experiences they carried back to America, fueling the budding Civil Rights Movement. In telling the story of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, Hervieux offers a vivid account of the tension between racial politics and national service in wartime America and a moving narrative of human bravery and perseverance in the face of injustice.
©2015 Linda Hervieux (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















know our history
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Unforgettable
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important read
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An enjoyable treatment of an unpleasant topic that needed more coverage
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A Sad Tale of the ongoing discrimination US hist.
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the message seemed to be lost and diluted at times with history of balloons in war and the detail of the troop hauling ship. both parts of the story drag on and have their place in history, but have little to add to the story of forgotten African American soldiers.
The stories of racism need to be told to everyone
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Piece of History that was never told
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Black people during WWII.
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Unforgettable and yet unforgivable .
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A must-read/listen to understand today's racial conflicts
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