Blood for Dignity: The Story of the First Integrated Combat Unit in the U.S. Army

The integration of black platoons in 1945 represents the first time since the American Revolution that African American soldiers were integrated into white combat units. The experiences of these soldiers were truly radical and a harbinger of things to come. Clearly, these black infantrymen planted the seeds of integration in the army--and the nation.

Blood for Dignity tells the story of these soldiers through the eyes of 5th platoon, K Company, 394th Regiment, 99th Division--the first integrated combat unit since the Revolutionary War. These men were involved in heavy combat at the Remagen Bridgehead and several other critical junctures as they drove back the German army. The performance of these men laid to rest the accepted white attitude of a century and a half that blacks were cowardly and inferior fighters. In fact, they proved to be just the opposite.

Author David Colley interviewed many of the members of the 99th. Their accounts along with years of reseach paint a gripping, combat-heavy portrait of young men fighting together for their nation. For as they will tell you, in combat situations, prejudice and the color line disappears.

David Colley is an award winning journalist formerly with the Baltimore Evening Sun who writes frequently on military subjects. His previous book, The Road To Victory, The Untold Story of WWII's Red Ball Express, received the Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Book Award. He has written for numerous national publications including The New York Times, Popular Mechanics, American Heritage Science & Technology, Army, and Mechanical Engineering. He has also appeared on the History Channel. Colley served in the army, assigned to an ordnance unit attached to the Strategic Army Corps.