Immortal Valor

The Black Medal of Honor Winners of World War II

By: Robert Child

Narrated by: Vaughn Johseph

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

The remarkable story of the seven African American soldiers ultimately awarded the World War II Medal of Honor, and the 50-year campaign to deny them their recognition.

In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during World War II, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African-Americans served, not a single black soldier received the Medal of Honor. The omission remained on the record for over four decades.

But recent historical investigations have brought to light some of the extraordinary acts of valor performed by black soldiers during the war. Men like Vernon Baker, who single-handedly eliminated three enemy machineguns, an observation post, and a German dugout. Or Sergeant Reuben Rivers, who spearhead his tank unit’s advance against fierce German resistance for three days despite being grievously wounded. Meanwhile Lieutenant Charles Thomas led his platoon to capture a strategically vital village on the Siegfried Line in 1944 despite losing half his men and suffering a number of wounds himself.

Ultimately, in 1993 a US Army commission determined that seven men, including Baker, Rivers and Thomas, had been denied the Army’s highest award simply due to racial discrimination. In 1997, more than 50 years after the war, President Clinton finally awarded the Medal of Honor to these seven heroes, sadly all but one of them posthumously.

These are their stories.

©2022 Robert Child (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Long Overdue

This collection of historical accounts is incredible. The author builds a narrative and recounts the official citations. It is great to see this men be recognized albeit years after their acts of valor.

Fighting two wars at the same time

Unbelievable stories of Black American vets who went above and beyond the call of duty while facing the hatred of domestic white terrorist in their own ranks and when returned from battle. The stories were of men of character and courage.

Informative

Truly eye opening and thought provoking. The recount of actual events are described in a manner that you can imagine yourself there.

This book brings recognition and honor to 7 American heroes who deserved to be remembered!

I have been an avid reader of WWII History for most of my life. I have read hundreds of books on the subject, and view myself as an a WWII History Buff, if not an expert. However, besides a few mentions and nods to the African American combat experience in WWII, not much is written or publicly well known. Every WWII buff knows of the Red Ball Express, and the Tuskegee Airmen, and maybe a passing knowledge of the Buffalo Soldiers in Italy. But not much else has been written about their juxtaposed experiences of fighting bravely and honorably for a country that treated them as less than second class citizens.

Immortal Valor was highly researched and well written. This book tells the remarkable stories of 7 African American soldiers who fought gallantly for a country that frequently turned its back on them. These men deserve to be household names.

A must-read - fabulous!

Clear and concise historical facts that bring it home. The author was thorough and professional.

Amazon Book!!!

An amazing book that shows while heroism knows no color in our nation, the awarding of valor sometimes has.

outstanding

in a world where our youth grow up knowing the whole marvel and dc Canon, it's unfortunate that we can't do better to make sure that the real stories of our nation's heroes and complicated history are told.

Depth of the author’s research.

Very sobering story. One of my sons is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and a US Marine. God bless the efforts of the men highlighted in this book.