The Black Soldiers of D-Day
The soldiers of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion were taught how to make flammable hydrogen gas, gauge wind speed, predict weather patterns, and other skills necessary to keep their balloons in the air. They lived and ate in segregated barracks and mess halls. Off base, things were hazardous: they were routinely harassed by white civilian police, white MPs, and white soldiers – including one who shot a 320th trainee in the back, killed him, and escaped punishment.
One black soldier recalled years later that he stopped going off base because “every time you go to town, somebody gets beat up“. What galled them the most, however, was seeing German and Italian POWs in restaurants where black American soldiers were not welcome. Despite the racism and daily indignities, the black soldiers were still ready to die for their country, and so that others, thousands of miles away, could live free.
The 320th was shipped to Britain, where it underwent further training in amphibious operations in preparation for D-Day. On the morning of June 6th, 1944, the 691-man battalion had its baptism of fire when it landed alongside the infantry on Utah and Omaha beaches. Its members plunged off landing craft into waist-deep water and waded ashore as bullets whizzed by.
Attached to the belts of many were car-sized or larger balloons, filled with highly flammable hydrogen. The 320th became the only black combat unit to see action on D-Day. In the face of enemy fire, they flew and maintained their flammable balloons at an altitude of roughly 200 feet, tethered to cables that created a hazardous thicket to discourage the Luftwaffe from strafing the beaches.
