He enlisted in 1943, and by 1944, his unit deploys to Normandy. So, he actually drops out of high school when he's 17 and volunteers for the Army. DELMONT: Medgar Evers’ story really encapsulates the much broader African American experience during the war. But it was the really vital work that helped to win the war. It's not the kind of stuff that shows up in Hollywood films. And so they played really important roles behind the scenes in terms of loading and unloading ships, driving trucks, clearing jungles, building runways, a lot of the kind of grueling backbreaking labor that isn't glamorous. But generally speaking, the more than a million Black Americans who served in the military, in the Army, they were in supply and logistical roles. Later in the war, there were a number of Black units that participated in combat. Within the Army, by and large Black troops were not allowed to participate in combat for infantry units. That’s not until a couple years into the war that you get the Montford Point Marines, the first Black Marines in the Marine Corps. At the start of the war, the Marine Corps doesn't allow any Black men or women to serve at all. DELMONT: So, one thing that’s important to remember is the entire military is segregated in WWII.
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