There are countless reasons to be proud of America’s military achievements in WWII. One achievement that deserves more recognition than it gets is the progress the Army made during and shortly after the war in dealing with race. In 1940, the military had fewer than 2% African Americans, almost all of whom were in segregated, low-level jobs. Ten years after the war, the last all-Black units had been disbanded, and a quarter million Black men and women were intermingled with Whites in our nation’s military services. The history of this change should be a source of pride for all Americans and an inspiration for the possibility of future change. The history is not simply a story of Black-White relations, but one that involves the full range of people who have made America great.

Eighty years ago in September 1945, U.S. soldiers still faced real dangers and challenges, and many were called on to display true heroism. At the time, my father, Sgt. Roger Thomas, was newly arrived in India and was serving as a Toxic Gas Handler with the 771^st Chemical Depot Company (Aviation) at Ondal Advanced Chemical Park in West Bengal. He was one of many replacements for more experienced soldiers who had been managing the CBI’s central stockpile of toxic chemical bombs. The bombs were filled with the same toxins that had been used during WWI, but had been manufactured and deployed in far greater quantities for possible “retaliation in kind” if Germany or Japan again initiated chemical warfare.

Eighty years ago, in May 1945, the dangers and the responsibilities faced by soldiers in the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service became frighteningly clear. The 760^th Chemical Depot Company was stationed near Oro Bay in what is now Papua New Guinea, maintaining the central American stockpile of toxic chemical bombs for the South West Pacific. The 760^th was ready to supply many thousands of toxic munitions for what President Roosevelt had promised would be a massive “retaliation in kind” if Japan resumed using its own toxic chemical weapons, as it had done earlier in China.