Brothers-in-arms: Edward and Erwin Breaux

Erwin Breaux

Black Americans fought
war on two fronts

BY RICHARD SCHMIDT
STAFF WRITER
  The song "Buffalo Soldier," by the late reggae artist, Bob Marley, refers to the African American soldiers who fought against the Indians during the Westward Expansion movement.
The Indians, who were impressed by the Buffalo Soldier’s bravery and tenaciousness, gave the soldiers their name because of their dark, wool-like hair.
   It also pays tribute to black soldiers fighting for America in WWI and WWII.
   And Erwin Breaux, of Crowley, was a Buffalo Soldier in WWII. But for more than 50 years, he did not reveal his military status to anyone – until recently.
   "We just decided to keep silent," said Breaux. "Although we were proud of what we did, we went through so much that we wanted to forget about."
   Breaux is referring to the racial prejudice he and his fellow soldiers encountered on and off the battlefield.
   Sgt. Breaux was part of the 92nd "Buffalo" Division during WWII. He was trained to be a demolition man; a person in charge of picking up mines and delivering ammunition to guns and cannons.
Preparing to fight the Germans and Italian soldiers in the difficult and varied terrain of Italy, Breaux’s division was ordered to go through jungle training in north Louisiana, desert training in Arizona, and more training in Indiana. His division was all black, except for a few of the officers.
   "Everyone was colored except some high ranking officers, such as few captains and majors. However, we did have black captains and majors."
   Desert training was hard and difficult, Breaux said.
  "They taught us how to go without water for a long time. And then sometimes we were allowed to have one canteen of water a day," said Breaux. "But sometimes we couldn’t have any water for a few days. We also learned how to drink water from cactuses."
Breaux and his division were always under constant racial prejudiced and hate from whites.
  When training in Arizona, a white general from Washington D.C., gave Breaux and his men coordinates to shoot a105 Howitzer, large field artillery, that took seven men to operate and could shoot almost ten miles.
   "Our gunmen and commanders knew that there was something wrong with the coordinates from the general, so we did not fire," said Breaux. "Later we learned if we would have fired, we would have wiped out an entire Arizona town. The general’s coordinates were right on it."
   Despite what Breaux considered a set-up that day, not all whites rejected the Buffalo Soldiers. However, many soldiers considered them inferior to fight for the United States, and like the general, wanted the military to get rid of them.
   "The Buffalo Soldiers had a reputation as no nonsense fighters, and a lot of people were jealous of us for this," said Breaux. "They tried to humiliate us."
   Buffalo Soldiers wore a patch on their shoulder. But according to Breaux, many whites would refuse them service when they saw the patch, and they would usually have to remove it. But sometimes they didn’t.
   "Our division was training for something in north Texas, and we stopped at a convenience store in a small town to get a bite to eat. The owner said we were not allowed to go inside, so our regiment busted inside and took the store apart," said Breaux. "We told the man that we were fighting for your country and that we deserved to be treated fairly."
   However, Breaux said there were many times when he and his men would take the patch off to avoid arousing the white public, and this shamed him.
   "Once our patch was off, people considered us to have a working position in the Army, such as a quartermaster. But they didn’t consider us as fighters for freedom. This hurt our pride."
Racism would even make it’s way to the battlefield in Italy.
   According to Breaux, there was an incident where a Buffalo Soldier was interested in an Italian girl. A white U.S. tank battalion crew got behind the soldier and chased him toward the front lines where Breaux and the rest of his division were located.
   "When my company came to his rescue, we found twelve tank guns pointed directly at him," said Breaux. "He was either going to get lynched or blown to bits. But we stood up for the soldier, and threatened to attack the white crew with our ‘big guns’ if they fired on the man. Fortunately our captain spoke with the white captain, and the situation was solved peacefully."
   Breaux said many of the white soldiers were jealous that the Italian girls were so interested in the Buffalo Soldiers.
   "The Italians girl loved us," said Breaux. "Some got on the boat to come to America and marry us. They liked our dark skin and wooly hair."
   According to Breaux, jealous whites would tell the Italians women that the Buffalo Soldiers had tails like monkeys.
"But the Italians women took it as a lie, and because of this liked us even more," said Breaux.
   The Buffalo Soldiers, even though they fought against the American Indians, were respected by the Indians and were considered friends.
   "We could go on their land without being prejudiced," said Breaux. "They gave us our official name, calling us Buffalo Soldiers, because of our dark, wooly hair. They respected out fighting abilities."
   Breaux said the Buffalo Soldiers accepted a group of Japanese Americans, who had their own battalion and fighting for the United States.
   "Their battalion was right next to ours in Italy. And boy, they were they good," said Breaux.
  Breaux and his regiment arrived in Italy in 1943 and stayed for two years. (As it happened, the regiment had orders to go to Japan, but the war ended.)
   In battle, Breaux’s artillery crew were positioned about six miles behind the main infantry of Buffalo Soldiers, who were on the front lines. All of his division consisted of black soldiers, including the pilots, who flew above Breaux and his artillery crew, to tell them where and when to fire.
   Breaux would also do the difficult task of mine sweeping.
  "I would usually pick up more than five mines a day," said Breaux. "t wasn’t to hard to do, accept when the mines were stacked on top of each other, like three at a time."
  Breaux said there was also smaller mines that he was responsible for picking up.
  "They didn’t kill you, but they could blow your feet off."
  Breaux’s friend and fellow soldier, "Manou" Joseph, was also a fellow mine sweeper.
  "Manou and I took up mines because only two men worked demolition in our group," said Breaux.
Sadly Breaux’s friend didn’t live to go home.
  "He got blown up," said Breaux. "It was so sad. But he died a hero."
  The Buffalo Soldiers also took care of prisoners of war.
   "With the Geneva Convention, it was hard to mistreat them.   However, some soldiers got away with a lot of stuff," said Breaux.
When Breaux got back to the U.S, he received a medical honorable discharge from the military.
  "I was proud to be a part of such a great band of brothers," said Breaux.
  The Rev. Donald Burnette Sr., Pastor of Morning Star Missionary Church in Crowley, convinced Breaux tell the world he was a Buffalo Soldier.

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