Americans Abroad: The Magic Word

At first it seemed like another in the long series of racial incidents in the armed forces. It began one evening as a group of Negro soldiers of the 557th Quartermaster Company were returning to their barracks at the big U.S. air-base at Evreux, 62 miles west of Paris. Across the road lay another barracks, housing the 317th Supply Squadron, where the airmen were winding up a "G.I. party," that is, a cleanup before next morning's inspection.

Death at Dawn. The Negroes passing by were noisy, and someone shouted at them from a second-story window of the Supply...

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