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National Cemetery Administration

 

African Americans in Military Service

Notables » African Americans in Military Service

National cemeteries were created in the 1860s to honor those who serve in America's armed forces, a mission that continues today. The NCA system and its memorial features have spanned over 150 years and reflect the diversity of demographic groups who answered the call. At many locations segregation in life meant segregation in death, but the Army was insistent that white or Black, U.S. veterans deserved burial in a national cemetery. The struggles and injustice endured by African American servicemembers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries echoed the social and political climate of civil life.

The fight for racial equality is evidenced through the recognition of veteran activists, pilots, heroes, artists, journalists, and sadly, victims. Their inspirational stories helped advance American civil rights, and what follows are some accounts of African American service from the Civil War through the Vietnam War.

On this page:

↓ Civil War

↓ Western Frontier

↓ Spanish-American War

↓ World War I

↓ World War II

↓ Korean War

↓ Vietnam War

Civil War

During the Civil War, an estimated 179,000 African Americans served as part of six units of U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), divided into 175 regiments. These were the first organized units for Black soldiers. These men, many formerly enslaved, enthusiastically volunteered to fight for the Union. As soldiers they fulfilled combat and labor functions. By the war's end, Black soldiers represented 10 percent of the Union Army and about 25 percent of the naval force.

Today, 36 NCA-managed national cemeteries contain a total of almost 24,000 African American soldiers; over half of these men were buried as unknowns. The rate of lost identities among the fallen USCT, almost 60 percent of all Union troops, overshadows the nearly 44 percent of white soldiers buried as unknown as of 1870.

After the war, the Army established National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) to care for Union veterans, Black and white. Civil War veteran Joshua Williams was the first Black veteran to be admitted to the Central Branch of the NHDVS in Dayton, Ohio in 1867.

United States Colored Troops regimental flag and motto. Detail of carte de visite of a United States Colored Troops regimental flag and motto, ca. 1862. (Library of Congress)

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Western Frontier

In 1866, the Army Reorganization Act authorized the formation of 30 new regiments. Based on the outstanding USCT performance in the Civil War, it included six all-Black units: the 9th and 10th Cavalry, and the 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st Infantry regiments. A consolidation in 1869 reorganized the four units of foot soldiers into the 24th and 25th infantry regiments. Cavalry units were nicknamed "Buffalo Soldiers" by the Plains Indians with whom they engaged in battle for control of the West.

The reason for the term remains speculative: the Black soldiers' hair resembled buffalo and they wore buffalo hides for warmth, but it may refer to the fierceness of a buffalo with which Black soldiers fought. For definitive historic accuracy, "Buffalo Soldier" is confined to the units that served during the years immediately after the Civil War and during the Indian Wars. "Buffalo Soldier" soon became an honorific term for Black heroism and service, especially since the segregated cavalry and infantry units remained into the mid twentieth century.

Photograph of Buffalo Soldiers on horseback at Fort Robinson, NE. Buffalo Soldiers (9th Calvary) at Fort Robinson, NE, 1889. (National Archives)

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Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War of 1898 resulted in Spain relinquishing its claim on Cuba and ceding Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. An estimated 200,000 volunteers and National Guard units fought in the war, including 3,339 African American regulars and about 10,000 volunteers.

The Army sent its Buffalo Soldier cavalry and infantry regiments to Tampa, FL, to prepare for the invasion of Cuba. The move provided new visibility to the Black soldiers' service, compared the the obscurity of their tours of duty in the western territories. Once in Cuba, the color line broke down during the heat of battle for San Juan Heights. The battle included Roosevelt's legendary charge up San Juan Hill and an assault on Kettle Hill by unsegregated Black and white soldiers. Over 200 soldiers, thirty of them Buffalo soldiers, were killed at San Juan Heights. Less known is the other battle fought that day at El Caney, where ten soldiers and two officers of the 25th Infantry were killed. At the war's end, the troops' performance in Cuba received acclaim alongside that of Roosevelt and his Rough Riders.

Photograph of Buffalo Soldiers at attention at Camp Meade, PA. African American soldiers at Camp Meade, PA, 1899. (Library of Congress)

Interred at VA National Cemeteries

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World War I

During World War I, African Americans made up nearly 11 percent of the Army in the form of 404,000 officers and enlisted men, in part through segregated drafts. Racial bias was so strong that most African Americans worked on vital but generally unskilled tasks, including construction. The exception was the 92nd Infantry Division, as well as the 369th, 370th, 371st, and 372nd regiments of the 93rd Infantry Division. These soldiers fought with France's 4th Army. Black servicemembers in these units were considered local heroes.

Yet after the war ended in 1919, some whites at home feared that African American veterans would demand civilian equality based on their military experience. Racial tension spiked. During summer and fall 1919, 25 American cities endured major anti-Black race riots in which white mobs lynched at least 10 Black veterans in uniform. The Houston Riot of 1917 foreshadowed these tragic events.

Photograph of two African American soldiers in front of U.S. flag. Two unidentified African American soldiers, 1917–1918. (Library of Congress)

Houston Riot of 1917


When World War I broke out in April 1917, the War Department ordered two military installations built at Harris County, TX. Black soldiers in the 24th Infantry were sent to protect the construction work despite the area's reputation for racial discrimination. African American troops guarding Camp Logan outside Houston were embroiled in the Houston Riot of 1917, one of the largest race riots in U.S. history to that point and one where only Black soldiers were condemned in a lapse of procedure and a miscarriage of justice. Of the nineteen African American soldiers executed for their role, seventeen are interred at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, TX.

Interred at VA National Cemeteries

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World War II

World War II had been underway in Europe for more than two years before the United States joined the fight in December 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

1941 was an eventful year for civil rights in the military. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order prohibiting all racial discrimination when hiring in the Armed services. The Tuskegee Airmen had its first class of aviation cadets, and the Marine Corps began recruiting African Americans for the first time. Other military branches remained segregated until 1948, when President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 requiring equal treatment for all persons.

Photograph of people at an Army field office in the Greek Temple of Neptune during World War II. U.S. Army field office in the Greek Temple of Neptune, September 1943. (NARA)
Photograph of Army nurses during World War II.Army nurses arrive in Scotland, August 1944. (NARA)

Montford Point Marines


Photograph of Montford Point Marines in dress uniform, 1943. Montford Point Marines in dress uniform, 1943. (NARA)

The Marine Corps was white-only until 1942, when President Roosevelt directed that Black soldiers be trained at the segregated Montford Point facility in North Carolina. These servicemembers were the first African Americans to serve in the Marine Corps, and became known as the Montford Point Marines. From 1924 to 1949, an estimated 20,000 Black men trained at Montford Point.

On June 27, 2012, President Barack Obama awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian recognition awarded by the U.S. Congress, to nearly 400 surviving Montford Point Marines. The medal recognized their "outstanding perseverance and courage that inspired social change in the Marine Corps."

Obverse of the Montford Point Marines Congressional Gold Medal. featuring three Marines on the left and three in the forefront with rifles. Text following apex of the medal's arc reads 'MONTFORD POINT MARINES 1942-1949.'
Reverse of the Montford Point Marines Congressional Gold Medal, featuring a troop in formation with a tower in the background on the right; the text reads: 'FOR OUTSTANDING PERSEVERANCE and COURAGE that INSPIRED SOCIAL CHANGE in the MARINE CORPS 2011 ACT OF CONGRESS.'
The obverse and reverse of the Montford Point Marines Congressional Gold Medal. (Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture)

Technical Sgt. Alfred Masters was a Montford Point Marine, and the first African American to be sworn in as a US Marine. He served in World War II. Masters died June 16, 1975 and is buried at Fort Bliss National Cemetery. Maj. Joseph Raymond Giesel, who was white, was among the first officers to train African American Marines. Giesel served in World War II and Korea. He was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2012 for his role at Montford Point. He died June 20, 2014, and is buried at Roseburg National Cemetery.

Members of the 99th Fighter Squadron, Tuskegee Airmen. (NARA)

Remembrance: Tuskegee Airmen

On March 26, NCA honors Tuskegee Airmen Day. Their flight school in Tuskegee, Alabama, began as a civilian pilot-training program, as the U.S. military denied African Americans the opportunity to fly until 1940. During World War II, Tuskegee Airmen served in the African American flying units of the U.S. Army Air Forces, credited with 1,491 missions.

They served as pilots, navigators, bombardiers, engineers, quartermasters, warrant officers, support and medical personnel, and instructors. Their achievements advanced integration practices and civil rights in the middle decades of the twentieth century and their accomplishments laid siege to entrenched prejudice in American society and military policy. In 2006, Tuskegee Airmen received the Congressional Gold Medal for their service.

Nearly 100 Tuskegee Airmen are interred at VA national cemeteries. Learn more about them and visit their memorial pages to celebrate the legacy, military service, and sacrifice of these heroes.


At the beginning of World War II, approximately 4,000 African Americans served in the military. As a result of the massive Black recruitment starting in late 1941, the Army reactivated its 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions. The 92nd was the only Black division to fight as a division, seeing action in Italy in 1944 and receiving the Cross of Merit from the future King Umberto II. By war's end in 1945, the number of African American uniformed men and women topped 1.2 million.

Photograph of U.S. and French World War II soldiers talking.U.S. and French soldiers, February 1945. (NARA)
Photograph of soldier recieving medical treatment by servicemembers of the 92nd Division.Medical treatment by the 92nd Division in Italy, February 1945. (NARA)
Photograph of a tank in the streets of Germany during World War II.761st Tank Battalion in Germany, April 1945, the first African-American tank battalion to fight. (Army)

Interred at VA National Cemeteries

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Korean War

The war in Korea, from 1950 to 1953, was the first conflict to be shaped by President Truman's executive order of desegregation. The policy was met with resistance. Full integration took years to achieve, despite prior steps in this direction.

After the Port Chicago, CA, disaster in 1944, calls for the desegregation of naval forces led the Army to deactivate its two all-Black cavalry units. The 25th Infantry folded in 1947, but the 24th Infantry continued in service. This regiment was among the first deployed after North Korea invaded the southern republic and fought bravely in exceptional circumstances. Courage came in many forms. The regiment's one Black officer was sentenced to death for refusing his white commander's order to return to front-line positions his men had just been forced to leave, which President Truman later commuted after public protest. Two others received the Medal of Honor posthumously. In 1951, the 24th was disbanded, due to white prejudice that criticized the regiment's performance.

Photograph of 25th Infantry soldiers holding guns during Korean War. Machine gun division, 25th Infantry, in Korea in February 1951. (Center for Military History)
Photograph of a corporal filling out a form beside a soldier's grave in Nations Cemetery at Taegu, Korea. Cpl. William R. Davidson of the 114th Graves Registration Company, Quartermaster Corps, fills out a Form 52B, with information about a deceased American soldier at the United Nations Cemetery at Taegu, Korea, January 1951. Objects shown, from left: cross-shaped grave marker, triangular unidentified-soldier marker, and small bottle to contain a Form 1042 that is buried with the soldier. (Army)

Interred at VA National Cemeteries

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Vietnam War

Photograph of African American soldiers in battle during the Vietnam War. "Engaging the Enemy," 1969. (NARA)

The war in Vietnam, from 1961 to 1975, was the U.S. military's first integrated combat operation. Discriminatory draft practices meant a high percentage of enlistees were poor and Black. Project 100,000, a Great Society program initiated in 1966, reinforced that trend by offering opportunities to the young and poor through military service. African American participants accounted for 41 percent of the enrollees, and 40 percent were assigned to combat positions.

At the time, Black Americans made up about 9 percent of the armed forces but represented 20 percent of combat-related deaths in Vietnam. By the end of the decade, the number of combat-related deaths decreased to about 12 percent even if front-line tours of duty did not. By the mid-1970s, African Americans represented 15 percent of the armed forces. Several Black servicemembers received the Medal of Honor and other commendations for their service.

Interred at VA National Cemeteries

Medal of Honor Recipients
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