Endnotes for Chapter X

1 For comprehensive discussions of the findings of health studies, see Samuel J. Holmes, The Negro's Struggle for Survival: A Study in Human Ecology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1937) ; Julian H. Lewis, The Biology of the Negro (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1942) ; and E. Franklin Frazier The Negro in the United States (New York: Macmillan, 1949) , pp. 567-92.

2 Mil Pers Div ASF, The Procurement of Military Personnel, II, 326-29, MS OCMH; Quotas, Calls, and Inductions (Selective Service System Special Monograph 12, Washington, 1947) , 1, 97-99.

3 Cf. Physical Examination of Selective Service Registrants (Selective Service System Special Monograph 15, Washington, 1947) , 1, 149-80, and Tables in 111, 46, 50.

4 Ibid.,1, 160

5 Maj. Ernest B. Howard, MC, "Gonorrhea from the Standpoint of the Army," American Journal of Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and Venereal Diseases, CXXVII (1943) , 607-15.

6 Major regulations governing the induction of venereals were contained in MR 1-9, 31 Aug 40; MR 1-9, 15 Mar 42; State Dir Adv No. 77, 26 Sep 42; MR 1-9, 15 Oct 42; State Dir Adv 126, 17 Dec 42; Ltr, AG 3;2.02 PR-I, 2,, May 43; Local Bd Memo 178, amended 6 Jan 44; MR 1-9, 19 Apr 44. 

7 Data from National Headquarters Selective Service System Report, Venereal Disease in Selective Scrvice Registrants. On the incidence of syphilis in the civilian population, see Thomas Parran, "The Role of the United States Public Health Service in Venereal Disease Control," Federal Probation, VII (April-June 1943) , 5.

8 Rpt, Capt Robert Dyar, MC, to the Air Surgeon, 6 Jun 42, AAF 726.1; 2d Ind, Hq AAF EDC and FAF to CG EDC and First Army, 31 Dec 42, on Ltr, Hq AAF to CG FAF, 11 Dec 42, AAF 726.1; AGF Statistical Bull 50, 25 Nov 42.

9 Capt Marcellus H. Goff, MC, 366th Inf, VD Among Colored Trps, Incl to Ltr, Hq First Sv Coind to CG ASF, 20 Aug 43, SPOCS 726.1.

10 Memo, Capt James W. Fisher for Chief Experimental Sec, Research Br ASF, 2 Jan 45, AAF TI&E Div Files.

11 Ibid.; Hist Tuskegee Army Air Fld From Conception to 6 Dec 41, AF Hist Div; Ltr, Hq Greenville AAB to CG Third AF, Tampa, 29 Oct 42, AAF 726.1 Genito-Urinary, etc., Diseases, hinder 1.

12 U.S. Code, Title 18, sec. 512.

13 Ltr, IG Second Army to CG Second Army,1; .12, and 3 Inds, AGP 333,1/03 Second Army.

14 Incl 4, S-2 3334 FA to CO 333d FA, Cp Gruber, Okla., 10 Feb 43; 1st Ind, 8th Hq Sp Trps Third Army to Ltr, Hq AGF to Third Army, 29 Jan 43, AGF 726.1/74 (VD).

15 Ltr, Maj George McDonald to Hq AAF, 21 Jan 43, AAF ;26.1 binder 2. The commander of the nearby post did not believe conditions were so bad as this and made McDonald specify locations and describe them in detail.

16 Ltr cited n. 15; 1st Ind, 384th Engr Bn (Sep) to Ltr, IG Second Army, 17 Nov 42, AGF 333.1/58 (Second Army); Memo, Hq ASF for Chief Experimental Sec, Research Br I&E Div ASF. 2 Jan 45, in AAF TI&E Die Files.

17 Bisbee, a mining town, had few facilities for visiting soldiers, though it was nominally the post town. At its own request, it was placed off- limits to nonresident Fort Huachuca personnel.

18 Dispatch, L. S. Armstrong, American Consul, Nogales, Sonora, to Secy of State, 16 Jul 42, No. 375. In 93d Div Files 291.

19 1st Ind, Hq Ft. Huachuca to CG Ninth Sv Comd, 4 Aug 42, to Ltr, Ninth Sv Comd to CO Ft. Huachuca, 28 Jul 42, copy in 93d Div Files.

20 Ibid.

21 ist Ind, Hq Ft. Huachuca to CG Ninth Sv Comd, 4 Aug 42, papers in CSOIG 333.9 Ft. Huachuca, Ariz. (18) .

22 Hq 92d Div to Unit CO's, 2 Jul 43, 726.1 92d Div Files.

23 Memo, Office Judge Advocate 93d Div for CG 93d Inf Div, 13 Jan 42, 93d Div Files 250.

24 Ltr, Surg (VDCO) AAF Gulf Coast TC to Maj Robert Dyar, Hq AAF, 29 Jan 43, AAF 726.1 binder 2.

25 Rad, Ninth Sv Comd to CO Ft. Huachuca, 13 Feb 43, Ft. Huachuca 726.1.

26 Office VDC Ft. Huachuca to Post Surgeon,10 May 43, Ft. Huachuca ;26.1 (VD Control).

27 Office VDC Ft. Huachuca, Venereal Disease Bulletin, 20 Aug 43; Ltr, 92d Inf Div Surgeon to CG VIII Corps, Brownwood, Tex., 28 Aug 43. Both in Ft. Huachuca 726.1 (VD Control) .

28 Ft. Huachuca, VD Bull, 27 Aug 43. 

29 Ibid., subsequent issues.

30 Ibid., 24 Dec 43.

31 Ibid., 9, 16, 30 Jul, 31 Dec 43.

32 Ltr, Maj Wayne W. C. Sims, MC, Ninth Sv Comd VDCO to Col E. B. Maynard, MC, Surg Ft. Huachuca, 12 Nov 43, Ft. Huachuca 726.1.

33 Address, Maj. George McDonald, Negro Prostitution and Methods of Control, delivered before the Alabatna State Conf on VD, State Capitol, 9 Jul 43, Montgomery, copy in AAF 726.1 Genito-Urinary, binder 4.

34 VD Bull i, Kecsler Field, Miss., July 1943. Also, Lecture on VD for Narration of a Proposed Film, Incl to 4th Ind, McDonald to Surgeon Tuskegee AAF, 17 Sep 43, on basic VDC Br Air Surgeon's Office to CG AAFTC Ft. Worth, 25 Aug 43, AAF 726.1 Genito-Urinary Diseases, binder 4; Ft. Huachuca, VD Bull, 6 Jul 44 (vol. 2, No. 9), Ft. Huachuca 726.1.

35 Ltr, Selfridge Fld Station Hosp to Air Surgeon, 14 Oct 43, AAF 726.1, binder 4.

36 Ltr, Hq Cp Area MacDill Fld, Fla., to CO's All Cld Orgs, MacDill Fld, 26 Aug 43, no file No.; Ex L, Hist Rpt EAUTC MacDill Fld, 18 Mar 43-1 May 44, folder 2, exhibits A-S, AF Hist Archives. In some towns, "health cards" were sources of numerous incidents of racial friction as women with soldier escorts were stopped and asked to show them. Cf. Memo, TIG for CofS, 4 Jun 43, AG 291.21/22; Frank Yerby, "Health Card," Haiper's Magazine, CLXXXVIII (May, 1944), 548-53

37 Address, Maj. George McDonald, Negro Prostitution and Methods of Control, 9 Jul 43, copy in AAF 726.1 Genito-Urinary, binder 4.

38 See A VDC Program for Colored Troops, AAF 726.1. This mimeographed description of the program, with station unnamed, was distributed to service and training command headquarters, which, in some cases, reproduced it for fields, camps, and stations. See, for example, Ltr and Incl, Hq Ninth Sv Comd to CO's Posts, Camps, and Stations, 26 Jul 43. 726.1 SPKIM.

39 Off Def Health and Welfare Svs, Social Protection Sec, Conf Bull II, 5 (8 Mar 43) ; Memo, Brig Gen Benjamin O. Davis for TIG, 6 Jul  44, AAF 3331 Misc, Tuskegee.

40Ltrs, AAF 726.1, binder 2 (19-42-43) .

41 Ltr, Maj McDonald to Maj Julius R. Scholtz, Hq AAF, 2 Aug 43, AAF 726.1 Genito-Urinary, binder 4.

42 Ltr, ACofAS Pers Hq AAF to CG's AF's and AF Gomds, 11 May 43, AAF 726.1; Ltr, Hq AAF to co Tuskegee AAF, 17 Sep 43, AAF 726.1 Genito­Urinary, binder 4; Rpt, Maj Robert Dyar, CofAAF VDC Br, to the Air Surgeon, no date, but Incl to Ltr, CofAS to CG's AA1 SEATC, AAFTTC, 20 Jun 43, AAF 726.1 Misc; Rpt of Insp Trip to Third AF, 31 Mar-2 Apr, 8 Apr 43, Incl to Ltr, Actg Air Surgeon to CG Third AF, 19 Apr 43, AAF 726.1 Misc.

43 Ltr, Office Dir Med Div Ft. Huachuca to CO Ft. Huachuca, 25 Jun 43, 726.1; Ltr, Hq 92d Div to CO's All Units, 23 Jul 43, 726.1 GNMAM, Div Files.

44 WD Cir 88, 28 Feb 44, Venereal Disease Control Among Negro Troops.

45 During the last half of 1943, twenty stations, all Ground and Service Forces training centers, had 5,000 or more Negro troops, with the bulk of Negroes at stations with smaller numbers of troops. Inca 2 to Memo, SGO for TAG, 18 Dec 43, AG 726.1 ( 18 Dec 43)(3) .

46 Memo, Capt James W. Fisher for Chief Experimental See, Res Br ASF, 2 Jan 45, AAF TI&E Files.

47 Ibid.

48 Interoffice Ref sheet, 92d Inf Div Surgeon to CofS, 12 Nov 42, 92d Div Files, shed 2, No. 44.

49 Ltr, CO 370th Combat Team to CG AGF, 23 Nov 42, 92d Div Files, sheet 2, No. 44. Two of the officers were court-martialed; sufficient evidence in the third case was not available for charges to be brought.

50 Suggestions were made from time to time to the effect that the initial examinations of Negro registrants at some induction stations may not have been so carefully conducted as those for white inductees. If this was true, of course a higher percentage of men with undetected or unrecorded defects would have become available for induction. See Robert Wormser, "Race and Draft," The Nation, CLVI (May 29, 1943) , 790; Notes, ASF 5th Tug Conf, Cp Barkeley, Tex., 24-26 Oct 44, P. 171, ASF Control Div Files; Lt. Col. Herbert S. Ripley, MC, and Maj. Stewart Wolf, MC, "Mental Illness Among Negro Troops Overseas," The American Journal of Psychiatry, CIII (January,1947) , 507.

51 There were investigations of sporadic charges that the medical and dental care of Negro men were being neglected. These charges, usually made in letters of enlisted men, their relatives, or their friends to the White House or the War Department, were seldom sustained. See, for examples: Ltr, AGO to CG AAF, 17 Feb 44, AG 291.2 (9 Feb 44) (1) ; Ltr, Hq AAF WCTC to CG AAF WCTC, 31 Jul 43, AAF 201.601 Disability.

52 Ltr, IGD (Lt Col McFarland Cockrill) to CG 2d Cav Div, Cp Funston, Kans., 12 Jan 42, 2d Cav Div File 333, filed with 9th Armd Div Files.

53 Section VIII, AR 615-300, provided for the discharge of constitutionally inapt and undesirable men.

54 Memo, Maj Gen Fred W. Miller, CG 93d Inf Div, for Lt Gen Courtney H. Hodges, CG Third
Arrny, 27 Mar 43, AGF 322/1 (93d Inf Div) .

55 Memo, Hq ASF for Dir Mil Tug ASF, 20 Jan 44, SPTRU 333.1 (Engr).

56 Statement, Lt Everett Paris, CO Co B, 378th Engr Bn, Freda, Calif.,exhibit B, p. 7, Incl to Ltr, Asst IG Hq Desert Tng Center to CG DTC, 11 Aug 42, AG 29 1 .21 

57 Ltr, CO Cp Rucker, Ala., to CG Fourth Sv Comd, 24 Jan 44; Ltr, Surgeon Cp Gordon Johnston to CG ASFTC, Cp Gordon Johnston, Fla., 9 Feb 44, and Inds and Incls to both Ltrs, Hq Cp Rucker, Ala., 333-1.

58 Physical Examination of Selective Service Registrants (Selective Service System Special Monograph 15, 1947) , 1, 158f.

59 Memo, Capt William B. Bryant for Chief Fld Sv Br, I&E Div ASF, 7 Mar 45, Wyo., A-AF TI&E Files.

60 Lit, Asst to Dir Mil Pers Div Ninth Sv Comd to CG NSC (The Surgeon), 28 Dec 42, copy in Ft. Huachuca 333.1 Insps-Post Camps Stations.

61 Maj Ralph L. Todd, CO ist Bn 365th Inf Regt,92d Div, to AGF Hist Off (Maj Bell I. Wiley), 20 Jun 44, quoted in Wiley, The Training of Negro Troops, AGF Hist Study No. 36.

62 Ltr, CO Co D ist Bn 365th Inf Regt, formerly of the 25th Inf, 92d Div, to AGF Hist Off, 19 Jun 44. AGF Hist Study No. 36.

63 Maj Gen Sherman Miles, CO First Sv Comd, 18 Feb 44, in Rpt, ASF Cool of CG's Sv Comds, Dallas, Tex., pp.141-42, ASF Control Div Files.

64 Statement of Brig Geri Horace L. Whittaker, in Notes, ASF Fifth Tug Conf, Cp Barkeley, Tex, 24-26 Oct 44, p. 107, ASF Control Div Files.

65 Ltr, Hq 92d Inf Div to CG Fourth Army, 21 Jul 44, 92d Div Files, 220.31-D; Memo, Enl Div, G-1 Sec, Hq ACT, for CofS AGF, 16 Aug 44, AGF 333-1/1 (92d Dix.)

66 Memo, Col Edwa Inf Regt] to CG ACT, (92d Div).

67 Memo, Maj John S. Tarr, IGD Fourth Army (Lt Col Thomas A. O'Neil, Actg G-1, Lt Col William E. Wilkinson, MC, and Capt Jones B. Huskey, Inf, all of Hq Fourth Army concurring), for CofS Fourth Army, to Aug 44, AGF 3331/1 (92d Div) . For accounts of men bent at the waist see P. G. Hamlin, "Camptocormia: The Hysterical Bent Back of Soldiers," Military Surgeon, XCII (March, 1943) , 295-300; Lt Col S. A. Sandler "Camptocormia: A Functional Condition of the Back in Neurotic Soldiers," IF'ar Medicine, VIII (1945), 36-45.Thirteen of the 19 soldiers studied by Sandler were Negroes. Most recovered when told they were to be discharged.

68 Memo, Col Anderson F. Pitts [IGD Second Army] for CG AGF, 16 Aug 44, AGF 333.1/1 (92d Div) .

69 Memo, Col . P. Morrow [Hq AGFj for CG AGF, 14 Aug 42, AGF 3331/1 (92d Div).

70 Capt James K. Batts, MC, 365th Inf, quoted in Memo cited n. 69.

71 For examples, see Rpt, Surgeon Consultant Ninth Sv Comd for TSG, 5 Jul 44; Rpt of Orthopedic Consultant for TSG, 22 Aug 44; Ltr, Consultant in Surgery Ninth Sv Comd Surgeon for TSG, 8 May 45. All in SPRS`v-I 333.1 Ft. Huachuca.

72 Memo, End Div G-1 Sec, AGF, for CofS, 16 Aug 44, AGF 333-1/1 (92d Div) (Incl).

73 Capt. Morris H. Alder, "The Management of the Maladjusted Soldier at the Basic Training Center," Journal of Clinical Psychopathology, VII (April, 1946), 713-29. See also Maj. Isidor Weiss, "Psychoses in Military Prisoners," Journal of Clinical Psychopathology, VIII (April, 1947), 689-705; William C. Menninger, Psychiatry in a Troubled World (New York: Macmillan, 1948) 214-21; Lt. Col. Herbert S. Ripley, M.C., O.R.C. and Maj. Stewart Wolf, M.C., O.RC, "Mental Illness Among Negro Troops Overseas," American Journal of Psychiatry, CIII (January, 1947), 510; Capt. Rutherford B. Stevens, M.D., "Racial Aspects of Emotional Problems of Negro Soldiers," loc. cit., pp. 493­98; Memo, Col Edward O. Gourdin for CG AGF, 17 Aug 44, AGF 3331/1 (92d Div).

74 Memos, Col Anderson Pitts for CG AGF, 16 Aug 44, and Col Edward O. Gourdin for CG AGE, 17 Aug 44, AGF 3331/1 (92d Div). 

75 WD Cir 370, 1944.

76 The percentage of all men separated from the Army as physically and mentally unfit during the same period was 42 percent. (Strength of the Army, 1 Jun-1 Jul 45.)

77 Ltr, Deputy Chief for Hospitals and Domestic Opns to 'I'SG (through CO Ft. Huachuca, CG :VSC), 8 Jun 45, Ft. Huachuca 333.1 Insp Post, Camp, Stations, Hospitals.

page created 15 January 2002


Return to the Table of Contents

Return to CMH Online