Hollywood promotes films that ignore the role Black soldiers played in the invasion of Europe

There are tons of stories saying that Black men didn’t fight during the D-Day Invasion. Those lies have been repeated for decades and have become a part of the culture. 

The conventional wisdom of D-Day is that there were no Black soldiers who landed on those beaches, but the truth is that there were almost 2,000 Black soldiers who landed on June 6, 1944,” wrote Linda Hervieux, author of The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War. 

The Normandy Invasion involved five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. 

The troops Hervieux is talking about served in the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion. The article was first published in the National World War II Museum.

Maj. Gen. Peter Gravett, U.S. Army (Ret.), the first African-American division commander in the Army National Guard, highlights the accomplishments of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion and three other African-American Army units in his latest release, Battling While Black: General Patton’s Heroic African American WWII Battalions.

The U.S. Army never intended to build and deploy Black battalions during World War II, but Black soldiers would go on to serve overseas. In battle after bloody battle, the military hardly recognized them as humans, let alone official combat units. 

African Americans were merely there to prove a “technical presence” in the Army – just something to quiet the loudening voices of Black leaders uniting to disrupt popular opinion that they had no right to fight for their country.

Little did the U.S. military know that the men of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion would make ignorance-shattering history by landing on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

More than 30 barrage balloon battalions were trained at Camp Tyson, Tennessee, during World War II, including four African-American units: the 318th, 319th, 320th, and 321st. White soldiers made up units 301 through 317.

War balloons were first established under the command of the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC). One of the largest battalion-size organizations in the Army, each unit boasted an average of 1,100 men and more than 50 barrage balloons.

Initially, these units were “coast artillery barrage balloon battalions.” Still, the first half of the name was dropped on July 15, 1943, after the anti-aircraft command took over the balloon program, changing them to “anti-aircraft barrage balloon battalions.”

Those selected to join one of the barrage balloon battalions underwent basic training, after which they moved on to a six-week regimen that taught them how to handle the barrage balloons in battle. This included filling them with hydrogen gas, attaching explosives to their cables, camouflaging them, and maintaining and repairing them.

Once they’d completed this portion of their training, the recruits underwent a 12-week course on weather forecasting, a necessary skill, given how vulnerable the balloons were to the effects of Mother Nature.

After training, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion received its first assignment: landing on two beaches – Utah and Omaha – on D-Day. Their job was to protect the infantry, armored, and naval assault with hydrogen-filled barrage balloons, which would be raised 200 feet into the air.

At 9:00 AM on June 6, 1944, five medics with the 320th landed on Omaha Beach, with crews of three to four men joining them shortly after. 

Cpl. Waverly Bernard Woodson, Jr. was among them. He was injured when his Landing Craft, Tank hit a sea mine and was then struck by an artillery shell.

Despite his injuries, Woodson continued to carry out his duties,

performing amputations, setting limbs, and removing bullets over 30 hours. He even revived three men via artificial respiration.

His efforts on D-Day saved 200 soldiers. He was recommended for the Medal of Honor by Gen. John C.H. Lee. Instead, he received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Whites refused to award Black men the Medal of Honor during World War 11.

“The conventional wisdom of D-Day is that there were no Black soldiers who landed on those beaches,” Hervieux says, pointing out that they’re virtually never depicted in World War II movies, such as Saving Private Ryan. “But the truth is that there were almost 2,000 Black soldiers who landed by the end of the day on June 6.”

The remainder of the 320th faced heavy enemy fire, which destroyed the majority of their barrage balloons. That being said, 20 did make it ashore at Omaha Beach, with one making it into the air by 11:15 PM that night. By the next morning, another 11 were aloft, with replacements brought in as they were shot down by enemy fire.

By August 1944, the skies over Normandy were quiet, with Allied aviation assets now controlling the skies and the Luftwaffe down to a small number of fighters.

When September rolled around, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion was redeployed for other tactical assignments throughout the country during its remaining 140 days in France.

Later that year, Battery A moved to the tip of the Cotentin Peninsula to fly a barrage at Cherbourg, the key port city captured by the Allies three weeks after D-Day. 

The remaining three batteries stayed on the beaches, their balloons soaring over Omaha and Utah until early October, when deteriorating weather prevented ships from landing.