THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994 TAG: 9406070313
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Medium
DATELINE: 940607 LENGTH:
How he was a welder with an engineering company and how he walked across Omaha Beach two days after the Allied invasion, stepping over bodies as he went.
{REST} Harold Duke has told his share of war stories, too.
Duke was a member of an all-black port battalion that brought supplies ashore to the fighting men two days after the Allied invasion at Normandy. His group dug foxholes, pitched pup tents and buried the dead.
Because the military was still segregated in 1944, blacks weren't allowed to be part of the infantry, and served mostly in support roles.
But Duke, 69, and Stukes, 73, each got phone calls Monday during the marathon of media coverage on the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
``Why weren't men like them included?'' callers wanted to know.
``I had been watching the coverage all week, and didn't see one black soldier,'' said Stukes' daughter Renee Caesar, of Waldorf, Md. ``My father fought in that war, and I think the black soldiers should get some attention, too.''
Caesar phoned her father Monday to tell him again how proud she is of him.
Duke got a call from his friend John Smith Sr., whose son and namesake wanted to know more about black contributions in the invasion.
``I was looking at the television coverage, and I felt betrayed,'' said Army Sgt. John Smith Jr. ``My wife asked me if there were any blacks who had participated in the invasion. I thought, `She must be kidding.'
``Then I thought that little kids must be getting that same impression when they look at the depiction (of D-Day). All they see are the white soldiers. I'm proud of them, too, but we need positive role models for our young black kids,'' he said.
Duke and Stukes both were part of the invasion, and like many other black veterans of that battle, they commemorate ``D-Day Plus 2'' - when most of the support battalions came ashore.
``I was there when the battleships were shooting,'' said Duke, ``but we didn't leave the ship until June 8th.''
Stukes was part of two units - one was the engineering company, and the other was a port battalion like the one in which Duke served.
``Two-thirds of our company was wiped out,'' Stukes said. ``It was an experience that money couldn't buy. After the Germans retreated, we guarded prisoners, and we stayed in France until the Battle of the Bulge.''
Both men are a little annoyed that more blacks aren't included in the 50th anniversary celebration, but each man is comfortable with his own contribution to the war.
``I feel sorry for the families of the ones who got killed,'' said Duke, ``but we were there, too. We weren't in the glory outfits, but we lent a helping hand.
``I would have gladly done whatever they asked me to,'' he said.
Stukes said his legacy lives not in television footage but with his 14-year-old grandson Jason Caesar.
``Blacks played as much of a role in that war as whites did, and I don't understand why they couldn't get as much footage of blacks fighting and giving their lives in the war,'' Jason said.
``But I just feel blessed to have my grandfather because of the sacrifices he made, and the love he has for his family and his country.''
{KEYWORDS} D-DAY WORLD WAR II NORMANDY
by CNB