578th Field Artillery: Segregated Army Unit Camp Newsletters

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina

One of the most significant and overlooked set of original materials held in the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina, is a set of unit camp newsletters for the U.S. Army segregated unit 578th Field Artillery Regiment (later Battalion) from World War II. The unit was activated at Fort Bragg, N.C., in the summer of 1942, as one of the earliest-activated African American field artillery regiments during the war. It was joined to the 578th Field Artillery Group, which had been activated at Camp Livingston, Louisiana, in June 1942. The 578th was one of nine segregated field artillery units attached to Army artillery commands in the European Theater in WWII [1].

This issue of The Black Panther from August 15, 1942, notes the role of the Military Police unit of the 578th Field Artillery Regiment in rescuing flood victims in the Fayetteville, N.C., area in early August 1942. The flooding affected the homes in the Fayetteville State Teachers College area. The 578th MPs also worked with the Seabrook Road USO Club workers during the effort [from Box 2, Folder 13, North Carolina Military Camps Publications, WWII 5, WWII Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

The unit’s claim to fame would be their significant participation as one of four black artillery units in the Army’s VIII Corps providing supporting fire for the 106th Infantry Division, which was one of the main Army divisions overrun by the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge. The 578th F.A.’s observation post in Heckhuscheid, Germany, was seriously attacked by German fire during the first day of the Ardennes campaign. The 578th F.A. would bravely fight throughout the Bulge from about December 19, 1944, through January 1945. Interestingly, due to the command setup of the Army’s field artillery in Europe at the time, segregated black artillery units served together with white artillery units in combat as needs arose during the war.

Boxing was the name of the 578th Field Artillery’s game at Fort Bragg in 1942. This issue features the opening of the “Black Panther Outdoor Sport Arena” at Fort Bragg, initiated with a boxing exhibition in September 1942 [from Box 2, Folder 13, North Carolina Military Camps Publications, WWII 5, WWII Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

Photograph of the 578th Field Artillery Medical Detachment members posing outside of a barrack building at Fort Bragg, N.C., published in an October 3, 1942, issue of The Black Panther [from Box 2, Folder 13, North Carolina Military Camps Publications, WWII 5, WWII Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

Before all of this, the 578th F.A. was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., as of August 1942, and stationed in the “Spring Area” of the base. As other military units began doing around the country in WWII, the 578th published their own unit newsletter, which was entitled “The Black Panther.” On an interesting historic side note, the term “Black Panther” was used as a piece of pride by the 578th F.A., 24 years before the Black Panther Party was formed in 1966 — and 24 years before the Marvel Comics character “Black Panther” was introduced in the issue Fantastic Four No. 52 (or, for our younger readers, 76 years before Marvel’s Black Panther movie). The 578th F.A.’s motto, exhibited on the first page of their camp newsletter, was “We Fight.” After first being activated, their regimental commander was Col. John P. Ratay.

Photographs of the white commanding officers of the group and unit for the 578th Field Artillery Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C., published in the first year anniversary issue of The Black Panther newsletter, commemorating the first year of activation of the 578th Field Artillery Group in WWII. As was common from WWI to WWII, white officers commanding segragated black Army units [from Box 8, Folder 3, North Carolina Military Camps Publications, WWII 5, WWII Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

The newsletter, published at Fort Bragg weekly from at least August 1942 to August 1943, provides news on activities, sports, social activities and dances, and military news for its soldiers. Boxing matches and USO club activities are featured. The newsletter also featured detailed accounts of the 578th F.A.’s interactions with historically-black colleges and universities in North Carolina, such as Bennett College and what is now Fayetteville State Teachers College. The newsletter contains information on the 578th’s role in the Fayetteville community, as well, during their year stationed at Fort Bragg. Perhaps the most significant connection found in the newsletter is the 578th F.A.’s interactions and support of the African American Seabrook Road USO club in Fayetteville. While the Seabrook Road USO club served mostly the African-American community, they sought to bring “a better understanding, better relationship and cooperation for harmonious working regardless of race, creed, or color.” The Seabrook Road USO club attempted to unite the community regardless of religion or race during a time of war. Their activities are reported in the 578th’s newsletter.

Group photographs of activities of the 578th published in previous issues of The Black Panther newsletter [from Box 8, Folder 3, North Carolina Military Camps Publications, WWII 5, WWII Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.].

The State Archives’ issues of this newsletter begin with Volume 1, Number 2. The more than 50 issues of “The Black Panther” were collected by the State Archives during WWII as part of their World War II war records collection project, conducted from 1942 to 1947 to document life on the home front in North Carolina. These issues are what someone with the unit provided to the state, and represent the only-known set of camp newsletters for the 578th F.A. in the United States. They offer a complete look over a year at the development of a segregated U.S. Army unit, and the men who contributed their service to its excellence as a field artillery unit.

You can view all of The Black Panther Fort Bragg camp newsletters online through the North Carolina Digital Collections’ WWII collection here.

Resources

1. Ulysses Lee, The Employment of Negro Troops [United States Army in World War II: Special Studies], [Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1994], viewed online at https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/11-4/chapter21.htm.
2. Seabrook Road USO Club Records, North Carolina USO Clubs Records, WWII 6, World War II Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C., viewed online at https://bit.ly/38mvOHe.