There are precious treasures from Alabama buried far away in Belgian soil.
In WWII in Europe, there were over 260,000 African-American G.I.s who served there. Up until recently, (including the shameful and continuous mispronunciation of the word ‘Tuskegee’ by the staggeringly unprepared pol that President Bush allowed to give late award to a brace of elder black Tuskegee warriors… a once in a lifetime occurrence that could never be ‘re-done’ with a dignitary who knew how to be properly respectful**)
… the Black men who served in WWII have been for the most part ‘invisible.’
Here is only one of the stories of the two-hundred-sixty thousand souls, by Norman S. Lichtenfeld M.D. from materials submitted by Steve B. (3rd Armored Div.), both ©2001 All Rights Reserved: Dr. N.S. Lichtenfeld, and Steve B.
“… Black G.I.’s in World War II… were not forgotten to history; they were never acknowledged. They include eleven young artillerymen 333rd Field Artillery Battalion who were murdered by the SS, after surrendering, during the Battle of the Bulge.
“On December 16, German artillery began shelling Schonberg area. With reports of rapid German infantry and armored progress, the 333rd FAB was ordered to displace further west but to leave ‘C’ Battery and Service Battery in position to support 14th Cavalry and 106th Division.
“By morning December 17, these two positions were rapidly overrun by advancing German troops and armor. While many personnel tried to escape through Schonberg, eleven men of the Service Battery went overland …in hopes of reaching American lines. At about 3 p.m. they approached the first house in the nine-house hamlet of Wereth, Belgium.
“The men were cold, hungry, and exhausted after walking cross-country through deep snow. They had two rifles between them. The [Mathius Lange] family welcomed them and gave them food. But this small part of Belgium did not necessarily welcome Americans as “Liberators.” This area had been part of Germany before the First World War …the people spoke German but had been forced to become Belgian citizens when their land was given to Belgium as part of WWI repatriations. Unlike the rest of Belgium, many people in this area welcomed the Nazis in 1940 and again in 1944 because of their strong ties to Germany.
“Mathius Langer was not one of these. At the time he took the Black Americans in, he was hiding two Belgian deserters from the German Army and had sent a draft age son into hiding so the Nazis would not conscript him. A family friend was also at the house. Unknown to the Langers, she was a Nazi sympathizer.
“… a German patrol of the 1st SS Division belonging to Kampfgruppe Hansen arrived in Wereth. It is believed the Nazi sympathizer informed the SS that there were Americans at the Langer house.
“When the SS troops approached, the eleven Americans surrendered quickly, without resistance, and were made to sit in the road in the cold, until dark. The Germans then marched them down the road. Gunfire was heard…
“In the morning, villagers saw the bodies of the men in a ditch. Because they were afraid the Germans might return, they did not touch the dead soldiers.
“The snow covered the bodies until mid-February when villagers directed a U.S. Army Grave Registration unit to the site. The official report noted that the men had been brutalized, with broken legs, bayonet wounds to the head, and fingers cut off.
“Prior to their removal an Army photographer took photographs of the bodies to document the brutality of the massacre.
“An investigation was immediately begun with a “secret” classification. Testimonies were taken from the Graves Registration officers, the Army photographer, the Langers and the woman who had been present when the soldiers arrived. She testified that she told the SS the Americans had left.
“The case was forwarded to a War Crimes Investigation unit. The investigation showed however that no positive identification of the murderers could be found (i.e. no unit patches, vehicle numbers, etc) except that they were from the 1st SS Panzer Division.
“By 1948 the “secret” classification was cancelled and the paperwork filed away. The murder of the Wereth 11 was seemingly forgotten…
“Seven of the men were buried in Belgium at the American Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle … After the war, the other four were returned to their families for re-burial..
The 11 black soldiers from Alabama remained unknown to the world until 1994 when Herman Langer, son of Mathius Langer… erected a small cross bearing the names of the dead in the corner of the pasture where they had been murdered.
It read like this:
Members of the 333rd Field Artillery
Battalion killed at Wereth
Curtis Adams
George Davis
Thomas J. Forte
Robert Green
Jim Leatherwood
Bradley Meagler
Nathaniel Moss
George W. Moten
William M. Pritchett
James A. Stewart
Due W. Turner
“In 2001, three Belgium citizens embarked on creating a fitting memorial to these men and additionally to honor all Black GI’s of World War II.
“With the help of an American physician in Mobile, Alabama, whose father fought and was captured in the Battle of the Bulge, a grassroots publicity and fund-raising endeavor was begun, and has had modest success. There are now road signs indicating the location of the memorial…”
It is believed to that date 2001, the Wereth monument is the only memorial to Black G.I.’s of World War II in Europe.
That’s a lot to be said for this tiny town in Belgium… a lot to be said for one generation inheriting the memories of their fathers so faithfully … and honoring them so fittingly.
** Some in media called this ‘an embarrassment’ for House Minority Leader John Boehner who couldn’t pronounce the word ‘Tuskegee’ and massacred it instead, not once but six times during the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for the Black vets in The Rotunda. We’ve all stumbled with words on important occasions… but…