Pearle Mack Jr. grew up in a fairly integrated stretch of potato farms in Topeka, Kansas. Like many Americans of the time, he was shocked by the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941 and wanted to do something to help his country. He first encountered racism when he tried to enlist in the U.S. Army and was inducted into the segregated World War II Army with negligible leadership from black officers. He was one of many black soldiers who made a life in the military and set out to prove that he could serve as well as any white soldier and deserved the same status as whites on the war front and in the non-combatant society from which he came. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayAfrican Americans played a significant role in World War II. The African Americans who contributed to this legendary war rejected the prejudices of their society by exceeding the expectations of many people with the high standards with which they performed their duty. The Tuskegee Airmen fought racial discrimination and overcame limited opportunities to become one of the most highly regarded combat units of World War II. The Red Ball Express proved to be combat-ready and worthy of service for the Allied troops, playing a leading role in the defeat of the Nazis. The injustice faced by African Americans upon returning from the war motivated them to fight for change leading to the civil rights movement. The exceptional efforts of African American soldiers in World War II paved the way for racial integration in the United States Army. The efforts these soldiers made to prove themselves did not go unnoticed by American historians. Colonel Eldridge Williams, who served in the military with the Tuskegee Airmen from August 1941 to November 1963, said a white doctor's false diagnosis of an eye problem prevented him from realizing his dream of becoming a pilot, even though he became a navigator. “I think the story that hasn't been told is one like mine, where the internal battle that was fought… let's say, helped open the door for the unit to go into combat, demonstrate its capabilities and be successful.” , he stated. he said. Colonel Herbert Carter said he joined the airmen because flying planes would prevent him from becoming "cannon fodder" if he were drafted into World War II and that "it was better than being a private." He said the airmen should be noted for how they rejected as false the impression that blacks could not fly planes in war. Former Tuskegee University President Benjamin Payton said the Airmen resembled the struggle of black Americans to be fully included in American society. “They maintained their hope and faith in America despite the way it treated them,” he said. "We dared not fail because people would say, 'We told you you couldn't do it,'" said Airman Charles Dryden. "Unlike most of their colleagues, these great aviators also fought the enemy of prejudice at home." said Senator Jeff Sessions. During World War II he launched himself into society, civil rights groups and the black press forced the United States Air Force, the precursor to the Air Force, to admit black airmen. A lawsuit brought by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People vthe Pentagon convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to build the program. The first class of aviation cadets known as "The Tuskegee Experiment," began with 13 students at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, about 40 miles east of Montgomery, in July 1941. Tuskegee University was chosen to host the training because it had a private airport and provided aviation courses. Blacks were not allowed to fly in the military at the time, and the experiment was to see if they could fly airplanes and operate heavy machinery. The airmen went on more than 15,000 combat trips across Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, primarily to protect American bombers from hostile fire, without losing a bomber over the next four years. Nearly 1,000 pilots were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field before its closure in 1946, after which men from the all-black units were sent to an air base in Ohio. The aviators were sometimes known as the red-tails because they painted the tails of their planes red. Carter said the airmen should be noted for how they conquered an environment that said they "didn't have the skill, the dexterity, the physiology and the psychology to operate something as complicated as airplanes or tanks." The black airmen's response was "train me and let me prove that I can," Carter said. “We said the antidote to racism was excellence and performance and that's what we did,” Carter said. The Red Ball Express was a predominantly African American truck convoy that served as an indispensable supply route for American troops in Europe (Gass 2017). Red Ball is a traditional term used on railways meaning “priority freight” (Wright 2005, 8). A long-range supply system operated by a provisional truck brigade was implemented after a lack of foresight and planning on the part of Allied logisticians. The Red Ball Express was overseen by the Communications Zone Motor Transport Service under Colonel Loren Ayers. The advance section, Communications Area Motor Transport Brigade, under Colonel Clarence Richmond, was responsible for looting and driving the trucks. The route began from the forward supply depots in Saint Lo and continued to a staging area in the La Coupe-Chartres area outside Paris. Knowing that the roads were not suitable to handle heavy two-way traffic, the suppliers organized a one-way circuit, limited to Red Ball traffic. The northern and shorter half of the circuit was for loaded vehicles, while the southern half was for returning empty vehicles. The Motor Transport Brigade restricted the Red Ball Express to all but the most necessary trucks. The Red Ball Express began operations on August 25, 1944 with 3,358 trucks divided into 67 companies. Red Ball drivers delivered 4,482 tons that day, forcing the Motor Transport Brigade to soon double the number of trucks it gave to the unit. The Express reached its peak performance four days later with 132 companies, nearly 6,000 trucks, carrying 12,342 tons. The drivers swapped places driving the vehicles to keep the mission operational uninterrupted. The sense of urgency required by the mission spread to all positions involved. This was read thanks to the considerable media coverage given to the Red Ball Express. Enjoying a level of media attention rarely afforded to combat service support, the Red Ball units were portrayed as expert drivers, tirelessly speeding to deliver their cargo and the drivers wanting to live up to the.