Cool Picture

Here's something interesting I found just lying around.

The gentleman in the center was my great-uncle, David Jenkins (my maternal grandmother's brother). The back of the photo reads "Toulon, France 9-44."

It isn't apparent from the photo, but Uncle David was very light-skinned; so much so that he was originally put in an all-white unit (remember that the Armed Forces were segregated back then). Legend has it that he corrected that "error" with a quickness.

It's nice not to be living in the same sort of 'interesting times' in which Uncle David lived.

UPDATE: Uncle David and friends were probably a part of Operation Dragoon.

Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France, on 15 August 1944, as part of World War II. The invasion took place between Toulon and Cannes. During the planning stages, the operation was known as Anvil, to compliment Operation Hammer, which was at that time the codename for the invasion of Normandy. Subsequently both plans were renamed, the latter becoming Operation Overlord, the former becoming Operation Dragoon; a name supposedly picked by Winston Churchill, who was opposed to the plan, and claimed to having been "dragooned" into accepting it.

Hah!

Comments

[Mike Z]

It often stuck me as odd that France (for example) seemed to be race-blind, at least in the early 1900s. Josephine Baker, for one, lived there and was treated as an equal - and more than that. Charles de Gaulle gave her a medal for her wartime work.

[skinner]

Its funny how they all wear theyre hats in a different style for the photo . Reminds me of Myself and my Knuckle headed freinds when I was that age. You
should be proud..... Im sure you are

[James M. Barber]

Juliette,
Last week, I talked to a guy with Tuskegee Airmen cap. I said you are too young, and he said it was his uncle's. At af.mil you have picture of Col Toliver from Tuskegee Airmen going to Iraq. This must be retired person, but are the veterans willing to go to Iraq, yes it seems! These WWII photos are wanted by the Pentagon. France was more liberal back then, then today. If you can learn French, great! Otherwise, forget it.
James M. Barber

[Emily]

That is a GREAT photo!

[Steven J. Kelso Sr.]

Oh the stories that those three gentlemen could tell us!

It was a different world.

[Steve Lassey]

Juliette,

One of the rules of the segregated army was that at any level of command if there was one white officer, then all officers at that level needed to be white. My late father was in command of a "colored" ammunition company in Germany after D-Day, and I remember him telling how irrational he thought the rules were. He told of one soldier who arrived at his unit whom he took to be white, and thought there must be some mistake. He looked at the man's record and saw the word "colored" stamped diagonally across the record, as was regulation then. The "one drop" rule, I suppose. It is exciting to speculate that that man could have been your Uncle David. Another story Dad told, that illustrated how poorly trained some white officers were was when the visiting chaplin told him he needed to keep his men under better control, as they were interrupting the sermons by calling out comments. Dad assured him that they were in fact being very reverent, and were affirming the words the chaplain spoke. General John "Black Jack" Pershing got his nickname by commanding a black cavalry troop as a junior officer. After the war, as the owner of a small business, my father was irritated when the government got religion and began lecturing businesses about the error of their ways, forgetting their part in perpetuating segregation. Better late than never, I guess.

[JSAllison]

Dragoon was a missed opportunity. Churchill wanted the assets instead to be used for an invasion of the balkans rather than a landing on the French Riviera. (probably an Air Corps general's idea ;) ) He had an eye on the shape of the peace following the war. We've historically not been real good at that. I've wondered how things might have gone differently the last 60 years if we'd gotten to eastern europe ahead of the Red Army.

[David Foster]

Some of the Tuskegee Airmen are still on duty:

http://photoncourier.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_photoncourier_archive.html#113025694968814505

[THIRDWAVEDAVE]

Great picture and background info. You should be proud. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[goddessoftheclassroom]

God bless all who serve our country and forgive us our sins of the past.

Besides the injustice of segregation, it was just plain STUPID from an objective, what's-the-best-solution-to-the-problem perspective. Our country needs the BEST, regardless of skin pigment or seconday sex charasteristics.

(Have you noticed that at the bottom of most sin is simple stupidity? I mean, look at Adam and Eve for the first example!).