Commentary: Honoring Black people, buried and missing at the Normandy American Cemetery

By Colonel (Ret.) Edna W. Cummings, U.S. Army
Special for AFRO

“All last night, guns shook on the floor I slept on. Our long males fought with

German 88s in an endless duel.» — Ollie Stewart, African-American newspaper, correspondent for the Invading Forces, France, July 15, 1944.

Eighty years ago, the most heralded battle of World War II, June 6, 1944, or D-Day, consisted of a landing of Allied forces along the 50 miles of beaches along the Normandy coast, in France.

The beaches were codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, June and Sword.

Approximately 2,000 black soldiers participated in Operation Overlord and the Battle of Normandy which lasted until August 1944. Relegated to service units, they transported supplies (e.g., the Red Ball Express), built bridges and dug graves for the dead.

Of the 9,387 service members buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, 135 are African-American men, three are women and five are listed on the Wall of the Missing.

Only one black combat unit, the 621-member 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, landed on D-Day on the beaches of Omaha and Utah. Three soldiers from that unit died June 6, said Cpls. Brooks Stith of North Carolina, Henry Harris of Pennsylvania, and Private James L. Simmons of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Brooks and Stith are buried in Normandy and Simmons is buried at Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Upper Marlboro.

An African-American newspaper in July 1944 reported the death of Simmons, who arrived in France in December 1943. Three days before his death, he wrote to his family: “The way things are going now, it won't be long before I … » I will go home.

At 22, Sgt. Willie Leroy Collins of Macon, Georgia, also died June 6, 1944. He served in the 490th Harbor Battalion. He was killed by German artillery while unloading cargo on Utah Beach. He was the only D-Day casualty reported in his unit.

Beyond D-Day

Planning for the catalytic D-Day battle began several years before, and in December 1943 the engagement strategy developed into Operation Overlord which lasted until June 30, 1944. However, the Battle of Normandy in its its entirety only ended in August 1944 with the liberation of Paris. .

The war in the European Theater of Operations ended with the surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945. According to the Department of Defense, between June 1944 and May 8, 1945, there were 552,117 American casualties on the European theater of operations, including 104,812 killed in action. . Some of these deaths occurred in separate units that were building and repairing roads, airfields and bridges.

The 364th Engineer Service Regiment has five members buried in Normandy, who died between July and August 1944: PFC Earlie Carothers, 25, of Mississippi, July 7; Sgt. Melvin Jones, 22, of Georgia, July 8; PFC William L. Ryerson, 24, of New York, July 7; Cpl. Gen. U. Walker, 25, of Florida, July 7; and Staff Sgt. James W. Kersh, of Tennessee, August 11.

The only black officer buried in Normandy is Second Lieutenant Eddie May. He was a native of Mississippi and joined the army in Wisconsin and served in the 1349th General Service Regiment. In 1942, he graduated from Beloit College and Beloit considered him one of the best athletes of World War II. In 1964, Beloit inducted him into the Hall of Honor.

Also buried in Normandy are a member of the Black Merchant Navy, mess steward Earlie J. Gabriel, and several naval personnel. Two days after D-Day, Clarence N. Copeland was killed. He was a naval officer second class from Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey. Copeland was assigned to the USS Rich which sank after hitting an underwater mine and following a subsequent attack by the Germans.

In July 1945, three black women from the Central Postal Directory's 6888th Battalion lost their lives in an automobile accident, said Sgt. Delores Brown and Private Mary Barlow, of Connecticut, and Private Mary Bankston, of New York. Barlow and Bankston were members of the 6888th's entertainment troupe that had performed two months earlier at a show put on by the Birmingham, England, welcoming committee. Unlike other troops buried in Normandy in combat conditions (i.e. mattresses, parachutes, tents, or similar materials), these women were buried in their military service uniforms. The commander of the 6888th, Major Charity Adams, raised funds to ensure burial in a coffin built by the German prisoners. As with other wartime burials, the women were initially buried in another location and, with the consent of their families, transferred to the Normandy American Cemetery in 1948.

On March 14, 2022, President Biden recognized the service of the 6888th with the nation's highest honor, a Congressional Gold Medal.

The Normandy Wall of the Missing bears 1,557 names, three of which belong to the 364th Engineer Service Regiment, who died July 7, 1944: PFC Sylvester D. Haggins, New York; PFC Mack Homer, Georgia; and Tech 5 Daniel Wyatt, Louisiana. Two other names of black troops appear on the wall: Tech 5 Reese G. Boone of North Carolina, 514th Port Battalion and TSGT Raymond Heads, Texas of the 3688th Quartermaster Truck Company.

As we honor the fallen on Memorial Day and commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, I hope we continue to honor the service and sacrifice of the thousands of soldiers who are missing or buried in sacred places, away from their loved ones.