September 4, 2020 ▸ History, War & Conflict

Episode 513: The 761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers

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On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time to World War Two and look at the outstanding story of the 761^st Tank Battalion. Known as the Black Panthers (no, not those Black Panthers), they were the first ever all black tank battalion. They met with racism and even a race riot during training the states, but they won a Medal of Honor, 11 Silver Stars, and just under 300 Purple Hearts.

This group was created to help get more troops in tanks, but rules at the times said that African Americans couldn’t integrate with white troops. So, the 761^st was created to be led by white officers but have no white soldiers serving on the front lines with them. They trained Louisiana where the baseball legend Jackie Robinson got in trouble for refusing to get to the back of a bus while he was in the battalion. Their training went so well, and they had such high marks that General Patton wanted them as part of his fighting force.

He famously gave them a very inspiring speech about the need for African American troops and how important this was for their race, but then he also famously turned around and said that blacks were too slow witted to be good in a tank. But they excelled. They helped the troops of the 101^st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge. They liberated a concentration camp. They inflicted 130,000 German casualties.

The 761st had epic soldiers and tank commanders in their crew from Ruben Rivers who won the medal of honor to John Long and Roy King who helped liberate a city. And the star of the show as a man named Wayne Crecy. He won the silver star for a particular day of combat, but the group historian estimates that he killed between 300-400 Germans in their push to Berlin. So if you want to learn what earned this man the title of “the baddest man of the 761^st” or just have a love of World War Two, give this one a listen.

Visit Our Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/761st_Tank_Battalion_(United_States)

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/crecy-warren-gamaliel-harding

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/warren-crecy-baddest-man.html

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/black-panthers-761st-tank-battalion

https://www.benning.army.mil/armor/earmor/content/issues/2014/Oct_Dec/GunnersSeat.html

https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/41821/Crecy-Warren-Gamaliel-Harding.htm?c=aw

http://www.blerdsonline.com/2017/02/black-captain-america-sgt-warren-gh.html