WWII’s fallen Black soldiers of 366th Infantry Regiment include one from Bryn Mawr

In observance of Black History Month, volunteers from the non-profit Stories Behind the Stars have written memorials about each of Pennsylvania’s fallen from the 366th Infantry Regiment.

There were twenty-one Pennsylvanians in the regiment who were killed in action.

Montgomery County was home to one of them: PFC Ellsworth E. Johnson.

Ellsworth Edward Johnson was born on October 4, 1923, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His mother was Octavia Johnson, and he had a sister, Shirley. The family relocated to Bryn Mawr by 1930.

When he registered for the draft on November 23, 1942 in Philadelphia, Johnson had completed three years of high school and was single. He stood 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighed 134 pounds.

He enlisted in the Army on November 25, 1942 at Fort Meade, Maryland. Johnson was assigned to the 366th Infantry Regiment which deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations.

Johnson was killed in action on February 9, 1945 in Italy. Private First Class Johnson was buried at Plot H, Row 10, Grave 14 at the Florence American Cemetery in Florence, Italy.

He earned the Purple Heart Medal, World War II Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal and Europe-Africa-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.

US military policy during much of WWII reflected the same racism and bigotry that existed in America’s civil society.

Blacks were denied the chance to serve in combat, were assigned to segregated units, and often were relegated to mundane or unpleasant duties, such as gravedigging.

Years of pressure from the Black community led Congress to force Army brass to rescind the ban on Blacks serving in combat.

Of the 909,000 Black patriots who joined the US Army during World War II, only one Black division saw infantry combat in Europe.

On 30 July 1944, the first wave of the 92nd Infantry “Buffalo Soldiers” Division disembarked at Naples, Italy.

Among Blacks who saw combat, nearly a quarter became casualties. They captured twice as many enemy troops as the enemy took prisoner from their own numbers.

The 366th Infantry Regiment was one of the very few World War II units that was comprised of not only Black enlistees, but also Black junior and senior officers.

The combat-trained 366th arrived in North Africa on 6 April 1944. Instead of combat duty, the regiment was assigned by the 15th Air Force Service Command to be security guards at Allied airfields in Italy.

By late November, the regiment was ordered under the control of the 92nd Infantry “Buffalo Soldiers” Division of the 5th Army at Livorno, Italy.

The 366th Infantry Regiment was part of the Allied effort to wrench Italy from the Nazis’ grip.

The Allies breached the Nazis’ vaunted Gothic Line that the enemy forfified with bunkers, tank emplacements, tunnels, anti-tank ditches and minefields.

The soldiers of the 366th were split between the Serchio River Valley and the Cinquale Canal near the coast. On 26 December 1944, Axis forces launched its Operation Wintergarden offensive to retake the Gothic Line at Sommocolonia.

Two-thirds of the 366th regiment’s troops who fought there died.

Many died during the February frontal attack against the heavily mined and artillery-fortified Cinquale Canal.

The 366th overall suffered more than 1,300 casualties, a third of the regiment, during the bitter Italian campaign.

The Army officially disbanded the 366th Infantry Regiment in March 1945 and scattered its personnel into engineering service regiments.

It was the only unit under the 92nd Division to endure the humiliation of being stripped of its infantry status.

A final insult awaited the Black troops upon their arrival back to the US. They were ordered to the rear of their transport buses because the seats in the front were reserved for German Prisoners of War.

Stories Behind the Stars memorials are accessible for free on the internet and via smart phone app at gravesites and cenotaphs.

The non-profit organization is dedicated to honoring all 421,000 fallen Americans from World War II, including 31,000 from Pennsylvania.

To volunteer or to get more information, contact Kathy Harmon at kharmon@storiesbehindthestars.org or visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org.