Valor Friday

Last week I briefly mentioned Ruben Rivers. Let’s dive deeper into the amazing legacy of the man.

Rivers was born in rural central Oklahoma in 1918 as one of eleven children. Half-black and half-Cherokee, Rivers and his siblings grew up working the family farm. He worked for the railroad before enlisting with two of his brothers into the US Army in 1942 after the US joined the Second World War.

The US military at this time was racially segregated, with black units relegated to mostly non-combat roles. This was in spite of the performance of all-black military formations in the past, like the legendary Buffalo Soldier regiments of the Indian Wars, the Harlem Hellfighters (369th Infantry Regiment) of the First World War, and even one of the heroes of the day at the Attack on Pearl Harbor (Doris Miller).

During the Second World War, black units would be raised and trained, many for combat, without ever actually being employed as such. Most famously, the Triple Nickles of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, who spent the war fighting wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, pioneering smokejumping as a wildland firefighting technique.

Rivers was assigned to one of the rare few black units to see combat. Rivers was a tanker of the “Black Panthers”, the 761st Tank Battalion. They trained at Fort Hood for two years. With the successes of the Allied Invasion of Normandy, the 761st was ordered on 9 June 1944 (just three days later) to Europe.

Among the most famous of men assigned to the 761st was baseball legend Jackie Robinson. At the time, he was 23 year-old second lieutenant. Before he became one of the greatest baseball players of all time, he was actually better known as one of the stars of the UCLA Bruins’ football team (he also played baseball for the Bruins).

On 6 July, at Foot Hood, while on leave, Robinson sat down about halfway back in a bus with another officer’s wife (a light skinned black woman). It was an Army bus, and was supposed to be desegregated, but the driver ordered Robinson (who was in full uniform) to move to the back of the bus, away from what the driver thought was a white woman. The driver said, “Hey, you, sittin’ beside that woman. Get to the back of the bus.”

Robinson ignored the order, and the military police were called. He was soon arrested. The MPs proffered charges against him, but the 761st’s commander Lieutenant Colonel Paul Bates refused to pursue them. In response, Robinson was removed from Bates’ command to another tank battalion, with a commander who did pursue the case. Robinson was tried but acquitted at court martial, but the delay caused by the proceedings meant that he wasn’t with his men when they went to the European Theater.

This was emblematic of the challenges faced by those black men who answered the call to service. Conflicts between black and white soldiers often boiled over. This included a bloody riot between the 761st and an all-white nearby tank unit in January 1942. After MPs intervened on behalf of the white soldiers, the black men vowed revenge. They’d commandeered six tanks and a half-track and were moving out when Colonel Bates intervened and got them to stand down. This mirrored the 1917 Houston Race Riot between men of the Buffalo Soldiers and Houston Police, leaving several dead, and resulted in the arrest and conviction of more than 100 black soldiers.

One of the 761st’s white officers, Captain David Williams described camp life in those days for the black soldiers as “ghastly.” He said their toughest battles were fought at home against their fellow countrymen. “The racism was horrible,” he later recalled.

The black units were billeted far away from base facilities. After walking a mile or more to the main gate, blacks were forced to wait to board buses last, and then had to stand in the back of the bus. Drivers wore pistols to defend themselves from unruly blacks, and if any black soldiers gave them any lip, they pulled over at the next MP or police station and had the man arrested.

”The toughest battles we fought were here – spiritually,” Williams said. ”At least in Europe we could strike back at an enemy. In the States what the hell could you do?”

The 761st arrived in Europe in the fall of 1944. As part of Patton’s Third Army, they were pressed into action as part of the Allied assault on the Siegfried Line.

The Siegfried Line was a series of German defensive fortifications on their western borders. Built directly opposite the Maginot Line of France, it was designed similarly. Consisting of 18,000 concrete bunkers, tunnels, and tank traps, it was a formidable obstacle for the western Allies to overcome if they were to march on Berlin.

Patton gave the men of the 761st one of his characteristic speeches just prior to their entry into combat. He said, “Men, you’re the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would never have asked for you if you weren’t good. I have nothing but the best in my Army. I don’t care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sonsofbitches. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. Most of all your race is looking forward to your success. Don’t let them down and damn you, don’t let me down! They say it is patriotic to die for your country. Well, let’s see how many patriots we can make out of those German sonsofbitches.”

Patton is said to have told a young corporal standing at attention after his speech, “Listen boy,” Patton growled, “I want you to shoot every damn thing you see—church steeples, water towers, houses, old ladies, children, haystacks. Every damn thing you see. This is war. You hear me, boy?”

Despite these words of encouragement, as with most military leaders of the time, Patton privately held out little faith in the black soldiers’ abilities. While he would come to admire the bravery of individual black troops, he held them in low esteem as a group. Patton did find a rather novel use for his “colored” soldiers though.

During the Battle of the Bulge in the brutal winter of 1944 to 1945, German soldiers disguised themselves as Americans manning checkpoints on the frenzied lines of battle. When real Americans approached, the Germans would ambush them. Patton ordered his black troops to man his checkpoints, and gave them orders to shoot white soldiers acting too suspiciously.

The 761st Tank Battalion first saw combat on 7 November 1944 with six white officers, thirty black officers, and 676 black enlisted men. Often at the front of Allied advance, the tankers saw great success. Ultimately, they would spend the next 183 days in continuous combat action, a truly herculean effort for man and machine to say the least.

It was in the early days of their combat that Rivers first stood out among his peers. On just their second day in action, 8 November 1944, Rivers and his men were engaged in heavy fighting at Vic-sur-Seille, France. They were attached to the 104th Infantry Regiment (one of the oldest Army regiments at the time, dating back to 1639).

In a daylight action, Staff Sergeant Rivers, a tank platoon sergeant, was in his tank at the rear of the column when a road obstruction was encountered. Next thing Captain Williams knows, Rivers’ tank comes charging past him. He asked on the radio what the hurry was, and Rivers responded that he was going to get them moving right quick.

Just then, German artillery, dialed in on the obstruction they’d placed, lit up the tanks. Facing heavy enemy resistance, the men in their M4 Sherman medium tanks were stuck.

What did Rivers do? Despite heavy small arms fire directed his way, the 26 year old (he’d just celebrated his birthday a week and a half ago) got off his tank to do it himself. Dismounting from the protection of his armor Rivers, with enemy mortars and small arms fire impacting all around him, calmly uncoiled the tow line from his tank. He dragged the cable over to the obstacle, a large tree trunk studded with mines.

Hooking the cable around the tree, Rivers hopped back into his tank. They pulled the mined obstacle back, with several of the mines being triggered and exploding, and got it out of the way. With the obstruction removed, the column was able to press the attack. From then on, Rivers was to be the company’s lead tank.

For his “brilliant display of initiative, courage and devotion to duty”, Rivers was awarded the Silver Star. One of only 11 awarded to men of the 761st Tank Battalion during the war. Just days later, he would continue to demonstrate the fighting spirit of the black soldier. Rivers was the embodiment of the battalion’s motto “Come Out Fighting.”

A week later, on the 16 of November, Rivers’ company was heading into action against German positions near Guébling, France. Rivers was taking the point position as the lead tank. As they rolled into town, Rivers’ tank struck a German mine.

The explosive tore into the armored vehicle, disabling it, and causing a grievous wound on Rivers’ leg. Williams and the rest of Able Company rushed up to help their valiant lead tankers. Rivers’ leg was ripped open from the knee up. Williams remembers the gash was so deep he could see the man’s bone.

As the captain prepared to inject his platoon sergeant with morphine, he told him, “Ruben, you’re going back. You’ve got a million-dollar wound. You’re going back to Tecumseh. You’re getting out of this. You got a Silver Star and a Purple Heart.”

“Captain, you’re going to need me,” Rivers told him. Williams said, “I’m giving you a direct order! You’re going back! Medics, get the stretcher.” Instead, Rivers pushed Williams’ hand (and the morphine needle away), and told his commander, “This is one order, the only order I’ll ever disobey.”

Rivers refused evacuation, and only allowed the medics to clean and dress his wound. He hobbled into another tank, taking command of the vehicle, and moved with his company to take cover, as enemy artillery began to shell their position.

They remained pinned down for a couple of days and finally moved forward once again on the 19th. By now, Rivers’ horrendous leg wound was infected and festering. It was causing him obvious, constant pain. On the night before they were to move out, Rivers’ comrades again implored him to evacuate. If he didn’t get his leg properly treated, which could never happen at the front in his tank, he was going to lose his leg and possibly his very life. He steadfastly refused to leave his men on the eve of battle.

On the morning of the 19th, nearing the town of Bougaltroff, with Rivers in the lead, they came upon a German tank destroyer formation. Williams got on the radio and ordered his best tanker, his “fearless fighter from Oklahoma,” to pull back.

“I see them. We’ll fight them,” was Rivers’ only reply. Rivers had spotted the tank destroyer and intended not to let it out of his sight in one piece. While the rest of the company retreated, Rivers and another tank moved forward to cover their withdrawal.

Williams watched as Rivers and the enemy exchanged shell fire, with enemy artillery and mortars impacting all around the Sherman tank. German tracer rounds pinged off the tank’s armor, but Rivers ordered them forward, and they kept firing back.

Rivers was fully exposed. They made it to within 200 yards of the enemy guns when two German high explosive shells hit the tank at point blank range. The one-two punch of the impacts obliterated the tank, instantly killing Rivers and wounding the rest of the crew.

Williams blamed himself for not forcing Rivers to evacuate, but he determined to properly recognize the man’s bravery and sacrifice. Just the next day, the company was relieved from front line duties for a short recuperation. Williams gave his report, and formally recommended Rivers for the Medal of Honor.

His colonel took the recommendation and promised to forward it, but Williams knew that no black soldiers had received the Medal of Honor for this or the previous World War (an oversight since rectified). He vowed that if he survived the war, he wouldn’t rest until he got his platoon sergeant the proper recognition.

For Williams and the men of the 761st, their war had just started. When the 101st Airborne Division was cut off and surrounded at Bastogne in Belgium, December 1944, it was Patton’s Third Army, with the 761st operating just a few kilometers away from the city, that would break the German siege of the paratroopers.

After Bastogne, the 761st (and all of the Third Army) made their determined push to, and then through, the Siegfried Line in the late winter and spring of 1945. They were one of the first American units to enter Steyr, Austria, where they linked up with Ukrainian troops of the Soviet Army. On 4 May 1945, just a few days before the end of the war in Europe, the 761st Tank Battalion (and the 71st Infantry Division) liberated the Gunskirchen concentration camp.

The 761st suffered heavy casualties along the way. In just the month of November 1944 24 men were killed (including Rivers), more than 80 wounded, and another 44 lost to non-combat reasons. That month alone more than a dozen of their tanks were outright destroyed and at least a score more were heavily damaged. That would account for more than half of their assigned tanks. By war’s end, 300 Purple Hearts would be received by the men of the battalion.

While most units with a track record like the 761st Tank Battalion received unit-level awards, none were forthcoming at the time to the black soldiers. The 104th Infantry Regiment, to which the 761st Tank Battalion were attached, received the French Croix de Guerre for gallantry in action. Though the 761st Tank Battalion would have been eligible, and by all rights deserving, of the award as an attached element, the Black Panthers were intentionally omitted.

It wasn’t until the Carter Administration, more than 30 years later, that the 761st were recognized with a Presidential Unit Citation.

Captain Williams did survive the war, and he did, for decades, press for an award for Rivers. In the 1990s, the Defense Department commissioned an 18-month long study of past awards looking for evidence of discrimination. As part of this review, they looked at those who had received the Distinguished Service Cross, and decided if any of them had actually rated the Medal of Honor.

In their review, 10 soldiers were recommended for an award upgrade. Rivers was the only man to have not received any valor decoration for his actions under review. Ultimately, seven black men would receive the Medal of Honor from this review, including Ruben Rivers.

In 1997, President Clinton presented Rivers’ sister Grace Woodfork Rivers’ posthumous Medal of Honor. Present at the ceremony was his former commanding officer, David Williams.

Interviewed, Williams said, “You have to understand. In battle, you fight for each other. The pride in the unit. You have a cohesion.” He then paraphrased Shakespeare’s Henry V, “When men fight shoulder to shoulder and bleed and die for a just cause, they become brothers.”

Williams said he believes God’s purpose was for him to live long enough to make sure Rivers was properly honored. At the end of the ceremony, in tears, Williams announced how proud he was to be a Black Panther. He added, “We did win, didn’t we? God can take me at this moment because the deed is done.”

The bravery of Staff Sergeant Rivers was not uncommon among the men of the 761st Tank Battalion. On 4 January 1945, Rivers’ Able Company was holding a tenuous position on the line during the Battle of the Bulge. Short on supplies, Captain Williams relayed to his CO that if the Germans attacked, his men wouldn’t be able to hold. The order came back to hold the line, and more so, to prepare to make their own attack.

Williams gathered his platoon leaders and NCOs. He said, “I’m not going to mince words. If the Germans attack us, we can’t hold them. I guarantee you that if we resist, they’ll kill us all. I’m the company commander, but I’m going to bow out of this one. This is one decision you guys have got to make. Do you want me to wave my underwear or do you want to fight it out?”

A deafening silence filled the room. Then Sergeant Walter Lewis slapped his coffee cup on the table and stood up. “We can’t give up, captain,” he said. “It wouldn’t be right. I say we fight it out.”

Nervous laughter filled the cottage, and the vote was unanimous. “Done!” Captain Williams concluded. “If Walter wants to fight it out, then we’ll fight it out.”

Category: Army, Historical, Medal of Honor, Valor, We Remember