The Kansas Colored Troops

805 Pioneer Infantry A.E.F. 

Corporal George Strader
805^th Pioneer Infantry A.E.F., Company D, Camp Funston, KS.
27 Sep 1894 KY - 28 March 1954 CO
Buried: Ft. Logan National Cemetery, Denver Colorado 

The Colored Troops of Camp Funston, KS were not unique -  they too were patriotic, and wanted to serve their country.  They too declared their allegiance to the United States, the only country they knew; they too were Americans.  But like the other Colored Troops in America, they were waging a battle of their own:  the victory over racism, so that they could serve as American soldiers. 

Nearly 400,000 Negro Soldiers served in the United States Army in the Great World War. About 367,710 of these came into the service through the operation of the Selective Draft Law... It is a matter of pride, however, to realize that at the instant of the declaration of war, there were nearly 20,000 soldiers of the Negro race in the United States, uniformed, armed, equipped, drilled, trained and ready to take the field against the foe. Proportionately to the total Negro population of America, this was a splendid showing.[1]

In spite of the fact that the “Negro” soldiers of many troops, like Company D, 805 Pioneer Infantry, were ready to be deployed at the beginning of the war, they had to wait for acceptance.

 Finally on the 5 of Oct 1917, it was official, the Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker, was taking the Negro soldier’s interest seriously. 

"ADVISOR TO WAR DEPARTMENT"

"Secretary Newton D. Baker of the War Department announces that Emmett J. Scott, for eighteen years confidential secretary to the late Booker T. Washington, and at present secretary of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes has been assigned to duty in the War Department as confidential advisor in matters affecting the interests of the 10,000,000 Negroes of the United States, and the part they are to play in connection with the present war."  5 Oct. 1917 [1]

Shortly after this appointment of Scott, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), 805 Pioneer Infantry was engaged. 

It didn’t matter that it was the end of the war, it was the pride of the war for the Pioneer Infantry 805 and their sister troops, Pioneer Infantry 806.

 

Although they were on railroad duty, this too was an important and needed job. But they too wished to see a bit of combat, before turning home - which they did. The 805 Infantry was transported from Kansas to Europe. There they saw action.

Cpl. George Strader accompanied Company D as they traveled from Ft. Riley Camp Funston 25 August 1918 to Kansas City where they boarded the Wabash train to Detroit. They were able to stop in Moberly, Mo. for a proper military send off by the “colored citizens” of the town. From Detroit, they took passage by ferry to Canada, stopping in Niagara Falls for a short visit before reporting to Camp Upton, Long Island, 30 August 1918. On Sept. 1, they were shuffled off to Montreal Canada where they were shipped to Camp Romsey in England. Having yet to arrive in France, they crossed the English Channel for France on 28 September. The 805^th landed in France and served in Europe until July 1919.  They were engaged in 39 days of action.[2]

Kathleen Strader Brandt
a3genealogy@gmail.com

[1] The American Negro, The World War, by Emmett J. Scott, Chapter III; pg. 40 http://www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/Scott/SCh03.htm; accessed 10 May 2010

[2] Victory – History of the 805^th Pioneer Infantry American Expeditionary Forces” Major Paul S. Bliss, 1919; pgs 107-111