"We as colored soldiers in Ft. Benning could not go into the main Post Exchange. We looked in [and] could see the German and Italian prisoners of war sitting down at the same table with white soldiers... So it is understandable how colored soldiers would have an inferiority complex." Audio interview transcript, page 5, 23:15

Walter Morris

Walter Morris, First Jump with the 1st Sgt. 555th Parachute Battalion and Color Portrait War: World War II, 1939-1946 Branch: Army Unit: 555 Parachute Infantry Battalion Service Location: Fort Benning, Georgia; Camp MacKall and Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Camp Pendleton, California Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant Place of Birth: Waynesboro, GA

Walter Morris played an important role in integrating American troops in World War II. Morris submitted ideas on how to run an all-black guard unit attached to the parachute school and soon he and his men were learning to make jumps. Dubbed the 555th Parachute Infantry Company - "The Triple Nickles" - Morris and his men were disappointed when VE Day cut off their chance to fight in Europe. Like many other servicemen, they expected to participate in the upcoming invasion of Japan, but the Army—and the Department of Agriculture—had something else in mind.