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The 366th Infantry Regiment was an all African American (segregated) unit of the United States Army that served in both World War I and World War II. In the latter war, the unit was exceptional for having all black officers as well as troops. The U.S. military did not desegregate until after World War II. During the war, for most of the segregated units, all field grade (majors and above) and most of the company grade officers (second lieutenants, first lieutenants, and captains) were white.

World War I
The 366th Infantry was constituted 16 August 1917 in the National Army as the 366th Infantry, assigned to the 92nd Division, and organized at Camp Dodge, Iowa, in November 1917.

In World War I the regiment served overseas as a part of the 92nd Division, National Army and earned credit for battle participation as follows:


 * St. Die Sector (Lorraine), 23 August 1918 – 20 September 1918
 * Meuse-Argonne Sector, 26 September 1918 – 5 October 1918
 * Marbach Sector (Lorraine) 8 October 1918 – November 1918

The 366th Infantry was demobilized 25 March 1919 at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and reconstituted 16 December 1940 in the Regular Army.

Fort Devins
"Important part of the 366 story" There 2y 8mo, Feb 1941-Nov1943 Many soldiers in the regiment came from NYC-Atlanta areas; cold/snow was an adjustment Several soldiers died while they were there; at least one buired in the Ft. Devens cemetary Lt. Elmer Best, killed on the fort in a gun accident. He was from NYC.

366 Unique in that this regiment had several support companies with them services, anti-tank, cannon 105mm artillery, and medical detachment. Designed to be able to function on their own when moved somewhere. Most infantry regiments in divisions were not organized with support companies and depended on other battalions for these services.

Between 126 and 180 officers with them at all times; 3200 enlisted men (plus or minus several hundred)

Brigade comprised of soldiers of color who were not Black, also; Several soldiers of East Asian descent in the regiment

First and only combat regiment commanded by a "colored" colonel to enter into combat in US military history. Howard Donovan Queen was the commander.

Unique "separate" regiment because they are attached directly to a THEATER COMMAND (way up on the chain of command) Not assigned to a division until 1944. "Separate" means "separate for a division." in COMBAT, you had to be attached for a division. Commands above division weren't AT combat. So the regiment needed to be attached to a division to enter combat.

"Separate" regiments were often split up to provide replacements or duties undesireable to other regiments"

New England guard duty
The 366th Infantry Regiment was one of the few battalions armed, trained and ready to go defend sensitive facilities and infrastructure throughout New England

Maine
WWI, Germans sent soldiers to the US to sabotage infrastructure.

German soldier took train to Vanceboro with three suitcases of explosives, blew up the RR bridge

Platoons from the 366th armed, trained, had weapons, trucks, sent out to guard airfields, waterworks, railroad bridges and other sensitive infrastructure in Maine,

Playing catch and were recruited to join local baseball team; Baseball team won league championship

Army got local national guard andd other units to replace Black Guards who went back to Devins to keep training in infantry

"Soldiers lived in boxcars at Dunn’s Corner in North Yarmouth, and residents like the Atkins family, which had a farm near the outpost, made friends with the troops, according to Kanes. The soldiers went to dances and a swimming hole, played cards with residents, and attended a bean supper, she added."

"Troops were also stationed in Falmouth, where they joined a baseball team and guarded the Presumpscot River Bridge, Kanes said."

Rhode Island
Guarded rubber plant in Bristol? RI that was the biggest rubber plant in the country.

Combat
October '43, left Fort Devins and went to Camp AP Hill (sp?) in VA.

Arrived at night, townspeople didn't know, woke up to 4k armed soldiers outside the city, successfully got them moved out.

Drove to Camp Atteriberry (sp?) just south of Indianapolis

Trained at Atterbury until March /44, sent back to Camp Hemry VA to prepare to deploy

Sailed from Hampton Roads to Casablanca, train to Oran, Algeria; ship to Naples

Went to base in Foggia, got split/spread out again; security at 20+ airfields. November 27, sent to Tuscany to Livorno to attach to the 92nd division opposing the Germans at a series of fortifications across Tuscany called "Gothic line" or "green line" where Germans had built caves and high fortifications to stop Allies from going north. 92nd was having trouble breaking through; 366 sent to assist

Queen had kept the regiment united despite calls to split them up, send them to be stevedores, etc. Asked for thirty days to get them re-trained as infantry since they had been split up and doing security for so long. 92nd commander (General Edweard Molloy Almond) promised 15 days. Arrived 27 November, three days later started being sent to the front lines. In Italy 90 days.

92nd picked out smaller units, left officers behind (didn't want the 366th's officers. Soldiers orphaned without trusted commanders

Almond told soldiers in the 366th: "I did not send for you. Your Negro newspapers, Negro politicians, and white friends have insisted on your seeing combat and I shall see that you get combat and your share of the casualties." Cites Howard Queen's The Invisible Soldier, page has three digits

Very difficult to put the list of names, photos, information about the soldiers together. Much more difficult than for the Buffalo Soldiers. No list for this regiment. Many names not even on the WWII site of names of soldiers killed

"50 soldiers died that day from that regiment" (probably talking about Sommocolonia?) Two notable battles in Italy: Battle of Sommocolonia Sinquale (sp?) canal; tried to cross the canal in the face of overwhelming German artillery, suffered lots of casualties in two days

It was activated 10 February 1941 at Fort Devens, Massachusetts and assigned to the Eastern Defense Command on 30 April 1942.


 * Attached to the 1st Service Command on 1 May 1943 and to the XIII Corps on 1 September 1943.
 * Moved to A. P. Hill Military Reservation, Virginia 14 October 1943 and to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, 23 November 1943, under XX Corps.
 * Assigned to XXII Corps 21 January 1944, and staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia 22 March 1944, until it departed Hampton Roads P/E (Port of Embarkation) 28 March 1944.
 * Arrived North Africa 6 April 1944 and attached to 15th Air Force Service Command for airfield security duties from Sardinia to the Adriatic coast.
 * Assigned to Fifth Army 4 November 1944 and arrived Livorno, Italy 21 November 1944, for attachment to the 92nd Infantry Division until 25 February 1945.
 * Disbanded in Italy on 28 March 1945, and personnel transferred into the 224th and 226th Engineer General Service Regiments.

Combat chronicle
Colonel Howard Donovan Queen was the commanding officer (CO) at the time of embarkation in March 1944. Although the 366th Infantry had been at "combat readiness", after a prolonged period which was devoted only to guard duty, Queen felt that they needed at least three months for preparation to be "combat ready". Queen wrote a significant request for withdrawal from active command and included his guarded reservations in regard to his deeply held tenets. In spite of this upper officials decided in November 1944 to attach the 366th Infantry to the 92nd Division.

After continuing poor combat performance, including many instances of unauthorized withdrawals upon meeting the enemy, low morale, and malingering, the 92nd Infantry Division was believed by both German and American commands to be fit for only defensive roles. The division was completely withdrawn from the front in early 1945, with the infantry components of the division being reorganized from the ground up. Two of the 366th Infantry's three battalions were recommended "not be used again for offensive action unless urgent military necessity required it." The 92nd Division commanders proposed that the "366th be removed from the front lines and disposed of as higher headquarters might direct," which was accepted. The 366th Infantry Regiment was disbanded on 28 March 1945, with personnel transferred to the 224th and 226th Engineer General Service regiments.

Notable veterans



 * West A. Hamilton, commander who later served on the D.C. School Board and advocated for a National Memorial building for African Americans in D.C.
 * Edward W. Brooke III: First African American after Reconstruction elected to the United States Senate. (World War II veteran)
 * Frederic E. Davison: first African-American US Army Major General and division commander (World War II veteran)
 * William L. Dawson: First African American to chair a committee of the United States Congress (1949) (World War I veteran)
 * Aaron R. Fisher: Distinguished Service Cross recipient, World War I
 * John R. Fox: Medal of Honor (posthumous) recipient, World War II
 * James F. Hamlet: second African-American US Army Major General (World War II veteran)
 * Charles Pratt, father of James Pratt, later elected county judge for Kalamazoo County, Michigan
 * William Phelps, 24-year Army career then became financial and student aid officer for Morgan State U and then Johns Hopkins
 * Wade McCree (sp?) became US Solicitor General
 * Fredrick Ellis became Army general after WWII
 * John Letts also elected Michigan judge
 * Samuel Tucker, lawyer in VA, considered brains behing 1960s civil rights movement
 * Ralph Boyd public service award in Schenectedy
 * Harold Russell, USPS admin in NYC and director of disaster services
 * Rothiker Smith has five advanced degrees; captured in Sommacolonia taken to POW camp in Mooseburg Germany and freed by Patton's army
 * Edward Peaks, journalist and civil rights activist
 * Jaime Chase, "tough guy"

General
The 366th Infantry Regiment was awarded two campaign streamers for the Colors; the first for Meuse-Argonne Lorraine (September 1918 to November 1918), and the second for Rome-Arno (January 1944 to September 1944).

The Regimental Shield incorporated the Cross of Lorraine. The Regimental Motto was, "Labor Conquers All Things."