"I am an American. And when I go home [from Korea], I can't even sit and eat where I want to. Can't ride the bus. Can't get a job I'm qualified [for]. Then what the hell am I fighting for?" (Video Interview, Part 2, 22:03)
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Charles Earnest Berry |
![Image of Charles Earnest Berry](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114131330im_/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/afc2001001/service/05950/ph0001001i.jpg)
Charles Berry, 2003 | World War II, 1939-1946; Korean War, 1950-1955; Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Army
24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, I Corps
Hawaii; Japan; China; Philippines; Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands); Guam (Mariana Islands); France; Germany; also: Korea; also: Vietnam
Master Sergeant
Chattanooga, TN
![View Full Description](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114131330im_/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/afc2001001/vhp-stories/web/images/view-fulldescription.gif) |
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114131330im_/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/afc2001001/vhp-stories/web/images/ex-war-card-bottom.gif) |
Through 22 years in service and three wars--in occupied Japan, in Korea at the Chosin Reservoir, and in Vietnam around the time of the Tet Offensive-Charles Berry saw incremental racial progress. He began with a segregated unit that developed its own esprit de corps in competition with white soldiers, was falsely arrested by a white MP who was later dismissed from the service, and encountered prejudice in Germany when he married a local woman. But his persistence paid off: He was rewarded with a long-delayed promotion and earned the respect of a troubled unit whose morale and performance he turned around.
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