My Uncles in World War II

This is a historical and brief documentary of the contribution of African American in war.

UNCLE EDWARD AND UNCLE SHERRY
AS A WORLD WAR 2 SOLDIER AND SAILOR

During my years of extensive slave research, I learned that some families can lose their family connection by the spelling of the surnames or not having the original name at all. In this short write-up, I'll explain how my cousins, Louis Sherry GAILES and his wife Helen Louise WASHINGTON-GAILES, both deceased, were actually from the same ancestor. Louis was born about 1927 in Opelousas, Louisiana to Odell Edward GAILES and Ethel GUIDRY. Helen was born about 1937 in Washington, Louisiana to Aaron WASHINGTON, Sr. and Letha NESBIT. Louis is the great-grandson of Washington GALES, a former quadroon slave of Joseph GRADENIGO, a free man of color, who purchased himself out of bondage. While Washington was enslaved, he had two known children, one named Emile, Helen's grandpa, who he had with a Negro slave named Arthemise, and another named James William GALES who he had with a slave named Louisa. Emile took on his father's forename as a surname. Also, he used his father's former owner's surname as shown in his second marriage: GRADENI, Emile Washington (Washington & Artemise THOMAS) m. 5 Feb. 1883 Irene THOMAS, wid. of Gustin LEDE (Wash. Ch.: v. 1, p. 83)WASHINGTON, Emile m. 29 Jan. 1883 Irene THOMAS, wid. of Justin LEDE (Opel. Ct. Hse.: Mar. #12683).





My uncle: Edward Odell Gailes Jr.
Technician fifth grade
The T/5 insignia of a letter "T" below two chevrons. Name Edward O Gailes
Gender Male
Birth Date 8 Jan 1922
Death Date 28 Apr 1986
SSN 439164367
Enlistment Branch ARMY
Enlistment Date 21 May 1941
Discharge Date 3 Mar 1947
Page number 1
Country United States


Service branch United States Army
Abbreviation T/5 or Tec 5
Rank group Enlisted
Pay grade 5th Grade
Formation 26 January 1942
Abolished 1 August 1948
Next higher rank Technician fourth grade
Next lower rank Private first class
Equivalent ranks Corporal






My Uncle 'Sherry" Louis Gailes



Service On board vessel during World War 2


Louis Sherry Gailes
in the U.S., World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949
Name Louis Sherry Gailes
Record Type Enlistment
Enlistment Date 1 Jun 1946
Description Receiving Station, New Orleans, La. 30 Apr 1931 to 1 Nov 1946 Part14, 2 Apr 1946 /1 Jul 1946
Detail Source
Name Louis Sherry Gailes
Record Type Military

This is not the same Comfort Class Medical Ship Uncle Sherry was on, but it is the same ship number!
Military Date 1 Apr 1946
Ship, Station or Activity Comfort
Ship Number or Designation T-Ah 20
Series MLR Number A1 135 Service Number: 276 03 13
Receiving Station: San Francisco, Ca. 1/1/1939 to 1/1/1949 Part 48, 2 Mar-1 May 1946

I would like to give an anaysis on the emphasis of African Americans in earlier conficts in American history. One big issue was racial
profiling on African American troops during the period between the Spanish American War and the World Wars.

In Jim Crow Texas, black Regular Army units returning victoriously from Cuba and the Philippines collided head-on with local segregation and bigotry. As the soldiers' expectations of dignity and respect met with racial restrictions and indignities from civilian communities, a series of violent episodes erupted.

Although confrontations also occurred elsewhere, the most notorious were in Texas, beginning with an 1899 clash between white lawmen in Texarkana and black soldiers riding a troop train west after returning from Cuba. The first truly violent episode came in 1906, when troops were accused of attacking Brownsville after civilian provocations. In 1917 a full-scale battle in Houston resulted in fifteen dead and twenty-one injured. Between 1899 and 1917, a series of other face-offs—some involving the complex relationships of blacks with local Hispanic populations—occurred when black soldiers stood up for their rights or their lives in San Antonio, Laredo, El Paso, Rio Grande City, Del Rio, and Waco.

This little-known story, never before told in full, illuminates the collision of racial discrimination with racial pride and reveals once again the petty biases, institutionalized racism, and mutual suspicions that have divided American society. But it is also a story of lofty aspirations too long delayed, of the transformation of a downtrodden race into a self-confident people, and of the noble attempt, however dangerous its means, to realize full citizenship.

Clearly written and impressively researched, Black Soldiers in Jim Crow Texas traces the relationship of the four? black military regiments—the 24th and 25th Infantries and the 9th and 10th Cavalries—with white civilian communities in the period between the Spanish-American War and World War I. Drawn from previously unexploited sources, it fills a void in the increasing body of research on the black military and illuminates the magnitude of racial intolerance in early twentieth-century America. No other work has explored these issues in such depth and with such skill.

Chapter 2
Where it all begun.

African-American Soldiers had served in the Revolutionary War all though they were initially barred. The need for troops led to
them being used in integrated units. Many enslaved and free blacks were recruited to fight against the British. Many Black
Soldiers were scattered throughout the Continental Army in integrated infantry regiments.
Although the Southern states were reluctant to allow the recruitment of enslaved African-Americans for the army, they had no
issue using free and enslaved Blacks in the navy.

Black Soldiers also fought with the British; enslaved blacks choose whatever side that would help them gain their freedom.
African Americans also served as gunners, sailors on privateers and in the Continental Navy during the Revolution. Blacks did a lot of different roles in the military. From simple jobs to James Lafayette, gained renown serving as spies or orderlies for well-known military leaders. By 1775 more than a half-million African Americans, most of them enslaved, were living in the 13 colonies. Early in the 18th century New England ministers and conscientious Quakers, such as George Keith and John Woolman, questioned slavery. They were ignored. By the 1760s as more colonists began to speak out against British tyranny, more Americans pointed out the contradiction between advocating liberty and owning slaves. In 1774 Abigail Adams wrote, “it always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.”

Talk of liberty gave thousands of slaves high expectations, and many were ready to fight for a democratic revolution that might offer them freedom. In 1775 at least 10 to 15 Black soldiers, including some slaves, fought against the British at the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill. Two of these men, Salem Poor and Peter Salem, earned special distinction for their bravery. By 1776, however, it had become clear that the revolutionary rhetoric of the founding fathers did not include enslaved Blacks. The Declaration of Independence promised liberty for all men but did not end slavery; and even though they were great fighters, the Continental Congress did not allow black soldiers to join the army.

With no guarantee of freedom, many free and enslaved African Americans in New England were willing to fight against the British. As soon states found it increasingly difficult to fill their enlistment quotas, they began to turn to this untapped pool of manpower. Eventually every state above the Potomac River recruited slaves for military service, usually in exchange for their freedom. By the end of the war from 5,000 to 8,000 Blacks had served the American cause by fighting, in support roles, or in the navy. By 1777 some states created laws that encouraged white owners to give slaves for the army in return for their enlistment bounty, or allowing masters to use slaves as substitutes when they or their sons were drafted. In the South the idea of arming slaves for military service met with such opposition that only free blacks were normally allowed to enlist in the army.

Crispus Attacks was a whaler, sailor, and stevedore of African and Native descent who was regarded as the first person killed in
the American Revolution. Historians disagree on whether Attucks was a free man or an escaped slave, but most agree that he was of Wampanoag and African descent. Two major sources of eyewitness testimony about the Boston Massacre published in 1770 did not refer to him as black or as a Negro; it appears he was instead viewed by Bostonians as being of mixed ethnicity. According to a contemporaneous account in the Pennsylvania Gazette, he was a mulatto man, named Crispus Attucks, who was born in Framingham, but lately belonged to New Providence, and was here in order to go for North Carolina.

Peter Salem was an African-American from Massachusetts who served as a U.S. soldier in the American Revolutionary War. Born into slavery in Framingham, he was freed by a later master, Major Lawson Buckminster, to serve in the local militia.

Salem fought with his company in the Battle of Bunker Hill. According to Samuel Swett, who chronicled the battle, Salem had mortally wounded Royal Marines officer John Pitcairn who died from a musket shot.This has been disputed. About a dozen other free African Americans took part in the battle, including Phillip Abbot of Andover Mass Barzillai Lew, Salem Poor, Titus Coburn, Alexander Ames, Cato Howe, and Seymour Burr.

Salem Poor (c. 1747–1802) was an enslaved African-American man who purchased his freedom in 1769, became a soldier in 1775. He was involved in the American Revolutionary War, particularly in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Poor enlisted in the militia when he was
28 years old. He served under Captain Benjamin Ames in Colonel James Frye's regiment. Salem Poor was one of three dozen
African-Americans who fought on Bunker Hill.
The Continental Army, established by way of, having a Main Army, January 1776; and by having a "eighty-eight battalion" resolve.

The goal was to have 36 regiments, most standardized by a single battalion of 768 men strong, and formed into eight companies,
with a rank and file strength of 640.