758th Tank Battalion in World War II

In 1941, the U.S. Army activated the 758th Tank Battalion, the first all-black tank battalion. This took years of protests and a lot of political clout because African Americans had to fight for the right to fight. Segregation and discrimination had reached critical levels and the Pittsburgh Courier called for the “Double V Campaign.” It appealed for victory abroad against the forces of global domination and victory at home against racism. Two other all-black tank battalions joined the 5th Tank Group, the 761st in 1942 and the 784th in 1943. The 758th fought the Nazis and the Fascists in Northern Italy from the beautiful beaches of the Liguria Sea through the Po Valley and up into the rugged Apennine Mountains. They breached the Gothic Line with the 92nd “Buffalo” Infantry Division. Victorious over history’s most racist regimes, many black service members returned home with hopes of a more tolerant nation. Most were bitterly disappointed. Segregation was still the law of the land; racism was alive and well. For many black veterans, disappointment became determination to fight discrimination with the same sense of purpose that had defeated the Axis.

After the war they deactivated but unlike their sister battalions, the 761st and 784th, they were reborn in the 64th Tank Battalion keeping their distinguished unit insignia, a black rampant elephant head with white tusks and the scrolled motto – “We Pierce.” And reborn again as the 64th Armored Regiment comprised of four separate battalions, the 1/64th, 2/64th, 3/64th, and 4/64th. The ancestral 758th Tank Battalion established in 1941 began with the rudimentary Stuart light tank, advanced to the Sherman medium tank, the Pershing medium/heavy tank, the Patton main battle tank, and now to the ultra-modern Abrams main battle tank. They went from the meek 37 millimeter cannon to a technically advanced 120 millimeter main gun augmented by a thermal viewer, an inter-vehicle tracker, a guided missile system, and other high-tech devices. This unit fought racial discrimination up until it became integrated in 1953, although discrimination continued at the individual level, the unit overcame it. They entered the Korean War to fight for Democracy ironically a segregated unit but returned to the United States fully integrated.