24-й пехотный полк: История афроамериканских солдат в армии США

The 24th Infantry Regiment is a unit of the United States Army, active from 1869 until 1951, and since 1995. Before its original dissolution in 1951, it was primarily made up of African American soldiers.

The year 1898 saw the 24th Infantry deployed to Cuba as part of the U. S. Expeditionary Force in the Spanish–American War. Elements of the 24th participated in the storming of the Spanish El Viso fortress in the Battle of El Caney. At the climactic Battle of San Juan Hill under the command of Emerson H. Liscum, supported by intensive fire from the Gatling Gun Detachment, units of the 24th Infantry accompanied by elements of the 6th and 13th Infantry Regiments, assaulted and seized the Spanish held blockhouse and trench system atop San Juan Hill.

Company B arrived on 3 April 1899 at Vancouver Barracks, the first African American regiment to serve as part of the garrison there.

In 1899 the regiment deployed to the Philippines to help suppress a guerrilla movement in the Philippine–American War. The regiment returned to the Islands in 1905, 1907, and 1911. Though the 24th fought a number of battles in the Philippines, one of the most notable occurred on 7 December 1899, when nine soldiers from the regiment routed 100 guerrillas from their trenches. Notable commanders during this period included Medal of Honor recipient Colonel Henry Blanchard Freeman and Colonel Charles L. Hodges, who commanded in the Philippines in 1907 and retired as a major general in 1911.

In 1916 the 24th Infantry guarded the Mexico–United States border to keep the Mexican Revolution from spilling onto U. S. soil. When it did, the 24th joined the "Punitive Expedition" under General Pershing and entered Mexico to fight Pancho Villa's forces. In 1919, rebels and troops of the Mexican government fought in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, which borders the U. S. city of El Paso, Texas. The 24th Infantry crossed over again to engage the rebels, ensuring that no violence erupted across the U. S. border.

During the nadir of American race relations and just months after America's entry into World War I, the soldiers of this historic all black unit had been dispatched to guard the construction of Camp Logan, a military facility in Harris County, where they met animosity from local white civilians. When white police beat and arrested a black private who tried to intervene during a violent, daytime arrest of a black washer woman, the woman, Sarah Travers, and the soldier, Pvt Alonso Edwards, were jailed. A black corporal sent to inquire after the private, was pistol whipped, chased and shot at, before being dragged out from under a bed and arrested. After untrue rumors of the corporal's murder spread to other soldiers, hostility boiled over. The Houston Riot was a mutiny by 156 black soldiers of the 24th Infantry; it has been called the Camp Logan Riots. Sergeant Vida Henry of I Company, 3rd Battalion led about 150 black soldiers in a two hour march on Houston because they had suffered racial discrimination in the city. The soldiers were met by local policemen and a great crowd of Houston residents, who had armed themselves. When the soldiers killed Captain J. W. Mattes of the Illinois National Guard (after mistaking him for a local policeman), the battalion fell into disarray. In their two hour march on the city, the battalion killed 15 whites, some armed, including four policemen, a white child A Company was sent to Espirto Santo to clear jungle with the
3rd Naval Construction Battalion Detachment building an airfield at Turtle Bay. Another Company was sent to Nouméa to work with B Co. on CB 3 on Ile Nou. First they worked on extending a Navy landing pier. When that was done they assisted in pontoon assembly. The 24th moved to Guadalcanal on 28 August 1943, and was assigned to the XIV Corps. 1st Battalion deployed to Bougainville, attached to the 37th Infantry Division, from March to May 1944 for perimeter defense duty. The regiment departed Guadalcanal on 8 December 1944, and landed on Saipan and Tinian on 19 December 1944 for Garrison Duty that included mopping up the remaining Japanese forces that had yet to surrender. The regiment was assigned to the Pacific Ocean Area Command on 15 March 1945, and then to the Central Pacific Base Command on 15 May 1945, and to the Western pacific Base Command on 22 June 1945. The regiment departed Saipan and Tinian on 9 July 1945, and arrived on the Kerama Islands off Okinawa on 29 July 1945. At the end of the war, the 24th took the surrender of forces on the island of Aka shima, the first formal surrender of a Japanese Imperial Army garrison. The regiment remained on Okinawa through 1946.

Korean Presidential Unit Citation for MASAN CHINJU. Valorous Unit Award for Battle of Mosul. Meritorious Unit Citation for service during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2008–2009 in Diyala Governorate.