Cpl.Sgt. Benjamin Berry A Real Life Super Hero 5 Bronze Service Stars
The Black soldier of World War II was, for the most part, the faceless supporter of America’s war effort, at least initially. He was the supply man, fumigation/Sterilization bath and laundry companies , the ammunition handler and the engineer. Only occasionally was he an artilleryman, infantryman or tanker.
Those Black combat units that existed were mostly corps troops sent to add firepower at the toughest point in the fight. As corps artillery units and non-divisional tank and tank destroyer battalions, they were attached, not assigned, and thus were not identified as participants in hundreds of battles except in their own unit histories.
Cpl. Sgt. Benjamin Berry served with the 1,500 men of the 80th on the Front lines
This conglomeration of soldiers covering key points was probably a continuation of the “every soldier an infantryman” requirement which began in the 106th Infantry sector at the time of the initial breakthrough. Policy or not, the idea continued throughout the war.
The integration of Black and white troops happened out of necessity and did not occur only with combat troops under fire. During the siege of Bastogne when many units had lost their service personnel and equipment, Technician 4 Beoman Williams of the 333rd Field Artillery Group headquarters set up an improvised kitchen and fed over a thousand men daily. Among the first ambulances to reach the besieged troops at Bastogne were those of the 590th Ambulance Company (Black). Necessity had broken barriers that were thought to be unbreakable
Called “the greatest American battle of the war” by Winston Churchill, the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes region of Belgium was Adolf Hitler’s last major offensive in World War II against the Western Front.
Lasting six brutal weeks, from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, the assault, also called the Battle of the Ardennes, took place during frigid weather conditions, with some 30 German divisions attacking battle-fatigued American troops across 85 miles of the densely wooded Ardennes Forest.
European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
Cpl. Sgt. Benjamin Berry The EAME Medal issued by Roosevelt