American Valor Quarterly Issue 5 - Winter 2008/09 | Page 26

appointment. I was
recalled to active duty in
November 1948. After
a brief tour in the Signal
Corps, I attended the
infantry officer’s basic
course at Fort Benning,
GA for a refresher and
was assigned to the 2nd
Infantry Division for the
purpose
of
the
competitive tour.
My tour got interrupted
when the division was
alerted for deployment
to Korea. When we left
Ft. Louis heading to
Korea, the division had
Young Second Lieutenant
two all-black battalions.
Julius W. Becton, Jr. following graduation One was a direct
from Officer Candidate School.
support field artillery
battalion, in which Sergeant – now Congressman – Charlie Rangel
was a member. The other one was an infantry battalion – 3rd
Battalion 9th Infantry – which had a black battalion commander,
a Lt. Col. Hyman Y. Chase. That is until a couple weeks before
departing Ft. Louis when he was replaced by a white commander
who had earlier commanded the battalion, Lt. Col. D.M. McMains.

Top and bottom: Lt. General Julius W. Becton, Jr.

Chase’s departure had nothing to do with the start date of the
Korean War. He had previously been on orders for permanent
change of station for an ROTC assignment at Prairie View A&M
College, but was still on a post in command when the division
was alerted. Many of the battalion officers were hoping that since
he had trained his battalion that the orders would be changed
and Chase would be permitted to command his battalion. That
did not happen. Was it the result of the prevailing view that blacks
could not command in combat the reason it did not
happen, or was it due to the normal administrative
rotation of commanders? I don’t know; but in all
candor, I don’t know of any other battalion in the
division where a similar transfer took place at such a
critical time.
The strangest thing happened, however, as an example
there were three lieutenants in my battalion who were
on competitive tour. Competitive tour regulations
required a transfer every three months. So at the end
of June, that was the requisite transfer date, the admin
guys in the division said that we would have to comply
with the regulations even though we were heading to
combat. By following their or \