Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes

In Forgotten, Linda Hervieux tells the story of an all-black battalion whose crucial contributions at D-Day have gone unrecognized to this day.

In the early hours of the 6th June 1944, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a unit of African-American soldiers, landed on the beaches of France. Their orders were to man a curtain of armed balloons meant to deter enemy aircraft. One member of the 320th would be nominated for the Medal of Honor, an award he would never receive. The nation's highest decoration was not given to black soldiers in the Second World War.

Drawing on newly uncovered military records and dozens of original interviews with surviving members of the 320th and their families, the author tells the story of these men. Members of the 320th came from many States and backgrounds, and were some of the thousands of other African Americans were sent abroad to fight for liberties denied to them at home. In England and Europe, these soldiers discovered freedom they had not known in their homeland - experiences they carried back to America, fueling the budding civil rights movement.

In telling the story of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, Hervieux offers a vivid account of the tension between racial politics and national service in wartime America, and a moving narrative of human bravery and perseverance in the face of injustice.

Available from:
Amberley Books