Newly unearthed documents have revealed how two Black World War II soldiers were murdered by a white superior officer for defying segregation and speaking to white female Red Cross workers at a camp in France.
Newly unearth documents reveal monstrous military secret
Nearly a century after two Black soldiers died in World War II, newly uncovered documents reveal a hidden crime – a horrific double murder.
The two Black soldiers – Allen Leftridge and Frank Glenn – were speaking to white female Red Cross workers at a camp in France when they were challenged by a white sergeant for their defiance of segregation norms, the Daily Mail reported.
The incident occurred at an Allied encampment known as The Lucky Strike. Accounts of the deaths of the two Black soldiers were offered by eyewitnesses and further confirmed by unsealed Army documents.
According to eyewitnesses, the settlement was heavily segregated. Witnesses said the camp was both a “seventh heaven” as well as a center of unbridled chaos amid brewing tensions between war-weary troops.
The killing of the two Black soldiers occurred roughly two weeks after the end of the war in September 1945, when tensions at the camp were at their height.
The Red Cross had a tent in which white women were serving soldiers doughnuts and coffee. At some point, the two Black soldiers went inside to get some of the refreshments, disobeying laws established by the Army that prohibited Black soldiers from socializing with French women.
According to the documents, they were then ruthlessly gunned down by another white officer as punishment. A third soldier, a white man who had just been released from a German prison camp, was also killed in the crossfire, MSN reported.
However, despite the illegality of the action, as well as several witnesses observing the murders firsthand, the unnamed American sergeant was cleared of his actions by the US military.
Family seeks justice after being denied rightful military benefits in cover-up
While the ruthless murder of two Black American soldiers by a white superior was covered up at the time – time has caught up with the deed thanks to newly unsealed documents that have shined a light on the dark moment in US military history.
Part of the story has come forward due to slain soldier Allen Leftridge’s late widow, Sarah Leftridge, who had shared the harrowing account with a Black journalist, whom she would later marry.
Nearly a century later, descendants of the two Black soldiers are seeking justice, which includes the rightful military benefits owed to one of the spouses, who was denied and told her husband’s death was “due to his own misconduct.”
