April 23, 2021 • 45 mins
Hey! It's us again--AJ and Pearl Hurst. We forgot to introduce ourselves on the podcast so we're doing it now. Join us as we discuss some forgotten stories from history. We're covering Medal of Honor recipient, Joe Hayashi, that crazy time the US attacked the UK on their own shores, and the 369th Infantry Regiment from WWI, otherwise known as the Harlem Hellfighters.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Harlem-Hellfighters
https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/remembering-harlem-hellfighters
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/the-harlem-hellfighters-video
Making a Difference, by Tom Reynolds
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Pearl (00:00):
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
You made it to the right placeat the right time.
Here you are.
AJ (00:07):
Anytime is the right time because this is recorded.
Pearl (00:10):
Welcome to the stories we forgot.
AJ (00:13):
Welcome to the pod.
Pearl (00:14):
This is the history podcast for
AJ (00:17):
non historians,
Pearl (00:19):
by non historians.
That would be us.
We're the Googlers.
You're the listeners.
All right.
So today on the pod, we're goingto be talking about we're going
to be doing a little bit of arecap, I think, of last week's
podcast.
(00:40):
And I'm going to give you somedetails for one of the medal of
honor, your recipients from the442nd from world war II.
And then,
AJ (00:49):
Or should I say Noyce?
Pearl (00:51):
Noise.
And then I am also going to tellyou about how jazz came to
Europe.
Yeah
AJ (01:00):
All right
Pearl (01:01):
what do you
AJ (01:02):
I was not expecting
Pearl (01:03):
I know What do you have for us
AJ (01:05):
Well first I wanted to cover what we're drinking
Pearl (01:08):
Right
AJ (01:10):
we'll pause while you open your drink Cause you're a little
behind the curve right now
Pearl (01:16):
Yeah So uh what do you have What are your drinking
We're gonna have to switchhalfway through
AJ (01:20):
Oh heck I have never had this You are going to get my
pure unfiltered reaction hereright on the pod This is Jackie
O's Okay
Pearl (01:35):
Where's this from I got this at the local co-op because
they have a lot of like craftbeers and ciders and stuff So
I'm assuming that's from
AJ (01:46):
Oh well it says brewed with Ohio wildflower honey So I guess
Ohio
Pearl (01:55):
sure it says on the can hand me the
AJ (01:56):
I don't know It doesn't
Pearl (01:58):
let me see
AJ (01:58):
No it doesn't It doesn't say it's too far of a reach can't
reach I'm going to say Ohio It'sJackie O's It's called Jomo lung
ma okay Brown ale
Pearl (02:10):
Get a stick with that pronunciation
AJ (02:11):
Sustainably crafted with purpose brewed with Ohio
wildflower honey Oh
Pearl (02:16):
Brown ale with honey
AJ (02:17):
bottoms up
Pearl (02:19):
What does it remind you
AJ (02:20):
it's fairly dark It's actually a lot darker than
Pearl (02:22):
it's way darker than I thought it was going to be Yeah
it doesn't look super thick likea stout
AJ (02:27):
yeah just just Oh it's nice Okay Passing it over to Pearl
It's rich and dark Nicesweetness No bitterness pretty
Pearl (02:39):
like ale but
AJ (02:40):
it's pretty heavy It's a definitely a fairly dark ale
Pearl (02:43):
That's really good
AJ (02:44):
Yeah Pretty dark Brown ale That's good though I liked
Pearl (02:49):
definitely tasting the Ohio so okay I just opened Charm
city Meade works elderberrydraft Mead
AJ (02:58):
Ooh Wow It's like the color of wine
Pearl (03:02):
elderberry Canned brood and bread in Baltimore we just
went to Baltimore it tastes yeahthere's not a lot of sparkle to
it Which I don't mind
AJ (03:11):
Sorry Did you say where that came from It says charm city Oh
right I just heard that aboutBaltimore being called charm
city which is kind of a funnymoniker
Pearl (03:24):
It's a little sweet and reminds me kind of like a cider
like a hard cider
AJ (03:28):
Oh I thought that's what it was
Pearl (03:30):
No it's a Mead
AJ (03:31):
Oh a Mead
Pearl (03:33):
but it reminds me I I don't really know what I was
thinking with the Mead
AJ (03:37):
funny story about Mead
Pearl (03:39):
It's draft Mead So I don't know
AJ (03:42):
Huh entirely sure what that means I thought me does like a
wa wait what is Mead
Pearl (03:50):
I don't know It's not like a warm wine or something
That's more I don't I don't know
AJ (03:56):
I thought it was with like honey and
Pearl (03:58):
Yeah I think it's I think honey is used in the
fermentation I don't know I'mnot an expert here
AJ (04:05):
I prefer my trauma lung ma did I say that right Chomo lung
Yeah
Pearl (04:11):
I mean there's a lot of there's a lot of syllables
AJ (04:13):
A few sips of that and it just rolls right off the tongue
chomo long bar
Pearl (04:18):
Well this is really good
AJ (04:18):
And it's got pretty great artwork too I must say
Pearl (04:22):
I totally was shopping by the label
AJ (04:25):
Appears to be a Sasquatch I'm guessing maybe that's a
chomo Longbow just guessing witha a hiking backpack carrying a
flag hiking in the in themountains of Ohio
Pearl (04:42):
Did any of the kids tell you about the big foot podcast I
was listening to with them
AJ (04:46):
No I don't think any of them I don't think anyone
Pearl (04:50):
was traumatized Yeah I
AJ (04:52):
not have been
Pearl (04:53):
I can't think of the name of the podcast is off the top of
my head my phone's downstairsBut I feel like it had some had
big foot in the name because youknow I love a good big foot
story So I was listening to it'sthis guy who lives up in I think
this was Montana and he wastelling the story about living
in a camper on his property andseeing a big but so what with
(05:19):
his eyes about twenty-five feetaway
AJ (05:21):
That's
Pearl (05:22):
it was pretty crazy story
AJ (05:23):
Was it a Bigfoot or was it a trauma long bar
Pearl (05:26):
well either that or Sasquatch I mean the jury is
really still out on this so butthe boys and I are firmly in the
camp of like if it could be truewe believe it aliens Bigfoot
Lochness All of that stuff andviolet is always a skeptic So
it's kind of just it's justsuper fun to
AJ (05:46):
we may have won her over to this side of aliens with that
documentary Why was that onNetflix
Pearl (05:52):
think was honestly I think it was the Mark Rober
video where he was talking aboutthe size and scale of the
universe
AJ (05:57):
Oh yeah That pushed it over the edge
Pearl (06:00):
Yeah For there not to be any other intelligent life in
the entire
AJ (06:03):
that's a great video Mark Rober did a video showing
Pearl (06:08):
Mark Rober is a YouTuber just type in Mark Rober in T
into YouTube Yeah it was great
AJ (06:14):
but he does a proportionate of how gigantic the universe is
And it's really cool with like
Pearl (06:21):
fascinating Video
AJ (06:22):
earth being a speck of pepper on a football field And
then like
Pearl (06:28):
and then taking a drone like seven miles out or
something to finish the
AJ (06:31):
yeah like Pluto or planet X was like miles away or
Pearl (06:36):
I don't even know if they had planted X
AJ (06:38):
yeah I don't remember what Oh I can't remember where he
lands on the whole Pluto as aplanet
Pearl (06:44):
This draft meeting was is really good I have a burp that's
like stuck in my chest so I'mtrying to talk and not burp at
the same time
AJ (06:53):
Yeah I'm not sure if beers during the podcast is really the
best Uh it works
Pearl (06:59):
as long as you don't get sloppy Okay Okay So um yeah so
we went to the Baltimoreaquarium
AJ (07:08):
excuse me We went to the Baltimore
Pearl (07:10):
Baltimore we went to the Baltimore aquarium and we went
with my sister and her husbandand their two kids and her
husband's brothers So it waslike this big old happy family
All of us went there and fun toget to go in and take the kids
to an aquarium We haven't beento an aquarium in ages
AJ (07:32):
Yeah I spent a long
Pearl (07:32):
Partly because aquariums are approximately a thousand
dollars per person to walk inthe door to look at fish This
AJ (07:38):
This is true We forgot to mention that Pearl sister has
Pearl (07:42):
Yeah they bought it They bought a membership so that was
amazing We can go with them
AJ (07:46):
and it's pretty cool that they allowed such a Motley crew
to all come in on one
Pearl (07:51):
Yeah I'm not sure what kind of pass they have but
anyways um uh so that was ourfirst time first time for both
of us in Baltimore and just
AJ (07:59):
Never I don't think we've ever even been through Baltimore
Pearl (08:01):
Yeah Um so I mean we just went to the waterfront Let's be
honest Yeah We didn't actuallydrive through the city we have
no idea what Baltimore is likebut we did
AJ (08:11):
saw was cool
Pearl (08:12):
we saw were cool but obviously super super developed
when we're talking like a sixstory hard rock cafe kind of
developed
AJ (08:19):
Yeah I feel like it's been a while since I've been in a city
Real high rises Yeah Cause uheven going to DC it's a big city
but there's not a lot ofskyscrapers You're really you're
really liking that meter Yeah
Pearl (08:29):
It's really good It's not as sweet as I thought it was
AJ (08:32):
Yeah no it's
Pearl (08:33):
It's a draft
AJ (08:35):
Well I'm glad
Pearl (08:36):
not a fan of sweet alcohol
AJ (08:37):
I'm glad that you clarified that It wasn't a cider I fully
thought it was a cider And if Ihad taken a drink of it thinking
the cider I would have beensorely
Pearl (08:44):
I mean I honestly have no idea what the differences
between a draft mean and a SoI'm sure charm city meatworks
could tell you if you Googled itAnd I guess we're the Google is
Googlers and your listeners butnot today I'm just not feeling
it today
AJ (08:58):
It was pretty fun we stopped at a little place to get some
food and next to it was a storecalled what was it called It's
sugar I think that's just whatit was called
Pearl (09:08):
Oh yeah I mean this is on the waterfront so it's like
straight up tourist trap right
AJ (09:13):
Yeah Everything on the waterfront
Pearl (09:15):
sense goes into the
AJ (09:16):
everything on the waterfront was twice cost twice as much as
it should
Pearl (09:19):
And of course you know we go in the store and I I was just
feeling like a softie just had amoment of extreme weakness
brought four kids into a shortstore full of sugar and food
coloring
AJ (09:32):
All of a sudden I turn around and Pearl's talking to
the lady and pull it out tongsand baggies to select
Pearl (09:39):
from
AJ (09:39):
these gigantic bins of
Pearl (09:41):
so all the bins are mix and match and there's a sign
that says a quarter of a poundis three 99 I'm like you know
what Sure We don't need a lot ofsugar Let's just let everyone
get one or two pieces
AJ (09:58):
speaking of believing in crazy things I saw Pearl moving
this way and I thought that shehad been body thought for sure
an alien had
Pearl (10:05):
taken going into the
AJ (10:07):
And
Pearl (10:08):
yeah I bet you did Yeah So speaking of aliens so we went
in there and got our three 99worth of sugar Each kid picked
up you know one or two candy Imean it turned into four candy
and by three 99 I do mean over$20 So by the time we left I
don't know what happened Therewas some sort of money spending
vortex and all the kids werejust like they were already
(10:32):
sugared up with excitement Theywere so
AJ (10:35):
I mean it was pretty fun watching them try to determine
which candy was the best Acouple of the boys went for the
Tootsie pop
Pearl (10:44):
Right I know out of all of the options in the store they
pick two of them picked Tootsiepops and Henry wanted to go back
for his second Tootsie pop And Iwas like no absolutely not You
will not be getting two Tootsiepops That's like bottom of the
barrel
AJ (11:00):
They they also all went for a chocolate covered or
Pearl (11:04):
Yeah I didn't clarify that it had to be a certain size
I was just like one item out ofany job you want And I
AJ (11:11):
to have them
Pearl (11:11):
you know giant chocolate covered Oreos are probably
quarter a pound all bythemselves
AJ (11:15):
Yeah Two of them went in for just a straight chunk of white
chocolate
Pearl (11:21):
We're talking
AJ (11:22):
Peter the youngest
Pearl (11:23):
you use for baking
AJ (11:24):
like
Pearl (11:25):
a giant triangle chunk of white chocolate
AJ (11:28):
it's like it's like half an inch thick
Pearl (11:30):
don't sit down and eat this You're meant to like mince
it up with a knife and melted orsprinkle it over your dessert
AJ (11:35):
Yeah The funny thing is that Peter the youngest was the first
one to recognize that and see itAnd he's like I want that I'm
Pearl (11:41):
It's like
AJ (11:41):
sure dude mom didn't put any stipulations on it You go for
Pearl (11:46):
while the iron's hot It was the last time we're going
into one of those
AJ (11:50):
Yeah Yeah It was fun though It was fun Special treat All
right Shall we roll with thehistory
Pearl (11:57):
Let's do it Let's do it Let's jump right in
AJ (11:59):
Well folks you know what time it is
Pearl (12:03):
What time is it
AJ (12:03):
this day in history History
Pearl (12:07):
and the crowd goes wild
AJ (12:09):
Okay
Pearl (12:10):
Enough of that
AJ (12:10):
I've got two for you On this day April 22nd, 1778 John Paul
Jones leads an American raid onwhite Haven
Pearl (12:22):
He did
AJ (12:24):
I thought this was interesting because you hear I
feel like you hear very littleabout the Naval warfare during
the American revolution And soeven just reading that the
Americans attacked England ontheir own shores
Pearl (12:42):
Right Crazy story
AJ (12:44):
I didn't even know that that I mean none of that really
happened I mean I'm sure
Pearl (12:49):
to them
AJ (12:50):
sure that I've read this at some point over my it was tiny
probably a tiny little blurb insome history book Cause this was
is this John Paul Jones He'sgreat Kind of the most
well-known Yeah They they sailedover they were going to try and
take a couple of forts but theystruggled a little bit They
(13:11):
didn't quite get the tide rightSo they one of them one of the
they they went for a North Fortand a South Fort and the North
Fort apparently they turned awaybecause a noise scared them
That's what this article sayswhich is pretty funny and the
other Fort
Pearl (13:27):
I've been scared of
AJ (13:29):
true the other Fort commander Jones one of the most
Darien and successful Navalcommanders of the American
revolution he was able toDisable the Canon on the Fort
And then I dunno they I thinkthey took some men They took a
small boat No I think they lefttheir main ship out two rowboats
(13:50):
of men I think he said therewere I think it said there were
30 30 men and I think half wentto one Fort half went to the
other Fort So they disabled thecannon when they found out that
the Northern Fort they didn'teven land and try to take it he
went ahead and just burned downthe Southern Fort to compensate
(14:11):
and it subsequently and theentire town I'm not sure if he
intended to do that but he wasborn in Scotland which is also
kind of interesting you know Imean right It's the time when
they're all everyone's trying to
Pearl (14:24):
I mean that's just like a wildlife trajectory You're born
in Scotland You immigrate to theUnited States to start from
scratch in the middle of nowhereYeah And then you come back and
burn down cities in your homecountry I'm going just crazy
AJ (14:40):
Yeah And he actually the the Fort that he burned down was the
same for was the same Fort orport or whatever you want to
call it that he left from whenhe left to head to America Yeah
So it kind of funny then heafter the raid on it was white
(15:00):
Haven England He continued up tohis home territory where they
wanted to abduct the Earl ofSelkirk
Pearl (15:09):
I mean
AJ (15:11):
him for American sailors that the British held captive
They didn't find the Earl but sothey stole all the stuff from me
Pearl (15:18):
That's amazing
AJ (15:20):
that they stole all his silver including his wife's tea
pot still containing herbreakfast tea
Pearl (15:26):
That's awesome
AJ (15:27):
button your eye Anyways then they went on and did a whole
bunch of other stuff So yeahthere you go You can read more
about John Paul Jones and Navalwarfare during the American
revolution
Pearl (15:38):
Okay Hi I am going to give you a little tiny blip
about one of the men in the forher 42nd regimental combat team
that we talked about last weekon the podcast Um this is
AJ (15:54):
gopher the gopher broke guys
Pearl (15:56):
The gopher broke guys this is private Joe Hashi and
this is this source is from thecongressional medal of honor
society It is And I'm gonna havethe link to this in the show
notes as well
AJ (16:10):
Yeah Do you remember how many medal of honor winners they
had
Pearl (16:13):
Oh I don't remember off the top of my head There was so
many though
AJ (16:17):
Well I mean considering how high of an honor it
Pearl (16:20):
I don't I don't know off the top of my head I don't
AJ (16:22):
know I thought it was like 11
Pearl (16:23):
Yeah I mean a lot so in April so I'm just gonna read
directly the little snippet thatthey have here about Joe Hayashi
For conspicuous gallantry andinteroperability at the risk of
his life above and beyond thecall of duty Private Joe Hayashi
distinguished himself byextraordinary heroism inaction
(16:45):
on the 20th and 22nd of April1945 near 10 Dolla Italy So on
the he was ordered to attack a areally strongly defended Hill
and the Hill was blocking allapproach to the village of 10
Dola and private high She ledthe men that he was with he led
(17:08):
them to a point within 75 yardsof the enemy positions before
they were detected
AJ (17:13):
Oh wow
Pearl (17:13):
And then after dragging any they were detected and then
they were fired on but after hedragged his wounded Comrades in
arms to safety he returned aloneand exposed himself to small
arms fire in order to direct andadjust mortar fire against
hostile and plump in placements
AJ (17:31):
Oh so he drew
Pearl (17:32):
he basically
AJ (17:33):
got them to shoot at him so that they could see where they
were shooting
Pearl (17:37):
then with his room the remaining men in his squad they
just kind of boldly attack theHill and they gained their
objective They neutralize threemachine guns killed 27 men and
wounded many others on the 22ndof April they attack the village
of 10 Dolla itself
AJ (17:54):
Wait and he survived all
Pearl (17:56):
he survived it Yes private high OCI Maneuvered his
squad up steep terrace tilt witha hundred yards of the enemy and
crawling under intense fire to ahostile machine gun position He
threw a grenade that grenadekilled enemy soldiers and forced
other members of the crew of thegun crew to sorry render He then
destroyed another machine gunnest and then a third machine
(18:19):
gun position And then when hewas attempting to pursue the
enemy he was mortally wounded bya burst of pistol fire it says
the dauntless courage andexemplary leadership of private
high ashy and nap enabled hismen his company to attain their
its objective private hashiesshe's extraordinary heroism and
devotion into duty are inkeeping with the highest
traditions of military serviceand reflect great credit on him
(18:42):
his unit and the United Statesso I just wanted to highlight
that story Joe who is acongressional medal of honor
recipient
AJ (18:51):
I looked it up one of 21 medal of honor recipients for
the
Pearl (18:56):
Yeah and you know just just to kind of highlight how
these Joe's parents wereactually I believe they were in
an American interment camp so tohighlight just the courage
sacrifice and perspective andforesight of Japanese Americans
during world war II who enlistedin the war through the 442nd And
(19:18):
like you said last week he wouldthey weren't just there to kind
of uh check off the days untiltheir parents could be freed and
maybe make a little bit of moneyand get some get to see the
world They were there forconspicuous gallantry and
AJ (19:31):
Yes boy I can't I just have a hard time even putting myself
in there I mean not to makelight of this but I'm just
thinking I can't even chargesomeone when we're playing pink
ball
Pearl (19:47):
What do you mean shot
AJ (19:48):
a paint ball It's not it's not actually bullets whizzing
over my head that can end mylife in an instant or you know
full on machine gun nest thatyou're charging man the bravery
of these people
Pearl (20:04):
I know Absolutely Yeah So um I'll post a picture of him in
our Instagram stories There's apicture of him with in his
uniform He just looks so youngyou know it's just crazy
AJ (20:14):
How old was he I mean I'm sure he was
Pearl (20:16):
Oh let's see He was born August 14th, 1920 And he died
April 22nd, 1945 So he was 25years almost 25 He was 24 yeah
So just a crazy story ofAmerican heroism
AJ (20:33):
Yeah Thank you for that story
Pearl (20:35):
So you want to read that
AJ (20:36):
Yeah It's another a hundred word story out of the book
making a difference by TomReynolds The title is called the
tide was rolled on September17th, 1970 Sam Cunningham
playing in his first collegiategame for the USC Trojans ran
around and over the defense ofthe Alabama Crimson tide in a
game that is considered thecatalyst for the integration of
(21:00):
collegiate football in the SouthCunningham along with fellow
black teammates Jimmy Jones andClarence Davis and Alabama
native led the Trojans in a 42to 21 route of they're all white
opponents Ironically Cunninghamwas unaware of the game social
implications He said playingwith white ballplayers was what
(21:20):
we always did as kids neighborsand friends That's what it was
Pearl (21:24):
Wow
AJ (21:25):
Just a little bit about 1970 just a few black players on a
team on a college football teamjust being very successful and
paving the way for integrationin sports
Pearl (21:41):
When was this 1970 goodness Huh
AJ (21:46):
I don't know how segregated it was at the time but the fact
that Alabama was an all whitewas all white players college
football
Pearl (21:58):
crazy
AJ (21:59):
USC I mean I don't know if there were more I don't know if
there were more black playersthan the three that they
mentioned there but You knowthere's usually a roster of I
don't know 50 50 or 60 I'm notsure on a college team Quite a
few players though
Pearl (22:17):
1970
AJ (22:18):
yeah Yeah
Pearl (22:20):
I need to look up and figure when more pro and college
level sports became desegregatedbecause I think it would I mean
like four hour Personal memoriesWe've always seen black players
on the field excelling You
AJ (22:37):
And yeah
Pearl (22:38):
to think that our parents didn't have that experience when
our parents were in high schoolwatching sports probably all
white guys
AJ (22:47):
Well by the time they were in high school it was probably
Pearl (22:52):
turning Yeah I guess
AJ (22:53):
quickly But I mean when they were in elementary school yeah
it probably was all all mostlyall white Can I just take this
moment to say that that chomolung Moe was delicious
Pearl (23:05):
Yeah I kind of wish I kind of wish I'd bought more of
this Okay
AJ (23:08):
of wish he would let me drink more of that
Pearl (23:11):
so today on the pod we're going to be talking about the
Harlem Hellfighters
AJ (23:19):
The Harlem Hellfighters
Pearl (23:21):
Hellfighters I mean how's that for a name
AJ (23:23):
what is this Is this like another infantry division in
world war II or
Pearl (23:27):
Wrong so wrong So far off world war one And you know it's
a good name when the Germansgive it to you The Germans are
like they're pros at giving outbad-ass names
AJ (23:41):
goodnight which
Pearl (23:42):
the night which is that would be world war two and the
night witches were Russians
AJ (23:46):
Although was it was it truly as as good of a name when it was
in the original German I wonder
Pearl (23:52):
was what it sounded like in German
AJ (23:53):
we're not going to
Pearl (23:53):
we're not gonna try it But they are actually the ones
who dubbed this 369th infantryregiment the Harlem Hellfighters
AJ (24:03):
that's a pretty good name
Pearl (24:04):
here's just a little bit of the story of the Harlem
Hellfighters and I will have mysources for this and the links
in the show notes for thepodcast which you can access I
think by clicking on the detailsabout the podcast on whatever
platform I don't really know Idon't know if I've actually done
it yet No No I'm kidding If youif you click on more about the
(24:25):
episode or like expand I don'tknow something you can find you
can find it on the internetClearly This isn't something
I've spent a We have shownotesit sounds official Stop judging
Gosh
AJ (24:35):
or you could probably go to the stories We
Pearl (24:40):
and type in Oh no I am not updating stories You forgot
anymore I gave up I'm like autoupdate with the feed I am not
going to go do a separate blogplus separate show Ain't nobody
got
AJ (24:53):
Right But isn't there like a link or something from the
little pod player
Pearl (24:57):
to the podcast Yeah Yeah I don't know I haven't looked
okay
AJ (25:07):
Ask your mom
Pearl (25:08):
Yeah the the 369th infantry regiment was originally
the New York colored infantryregiment the 15th New York
colored infantry It was anickname which was actually a
nickname given to the three 69thduring world war one
AJ (25:24):
Okay
Pearl (25:25):
I don't actually know why this was a nickname
AJ (25:28):
So wait a second We've been talking so much about the
segregation during world war IIand yet there were already
Pearl (25:36):
I mean let's be
AJ (25:37):
black regiments in world war Mean I guess granted when war
comes you're kind of like we
Pearl (25:42):
need also world war two You know we were talking about
like the Tuskegee airmen Therewere no airmen black airmen in
world war one 100% these men areLiterally front lines I mean and
it was their joy to do that Theythey were afraid that actually
they were going to spend most ofthe war with shovels in hands
(26:02):
instead of guns so let's see the
AJ (26:05):
just just feels progress can be really slow sometimes
Pearl (26:08):
Yeah It really I mean gosh Yeah So the French
government actually haddesegregated their military for
awhile so they had no problemrecognizing the gallantry of the
three 69th they actuallydecorated the entire unit with
the quad Goa which is thank youI have no idea if I said that
(26:32):
right That is Francis highestaward for bravery It basically
means like the battle crossFrench battle
AJ (26:40):
I believe it's pronounced de GLA
Pearl (26:43):
fill your mouth and marbles and then say
AJ (26:45):
wall They're like wall
Pearl (26:47):
Moving on I'm so sorry to hear that let's see They they
also received 170 additionalindividual medals for Valor but
AJ (26:57):
France
Pearl (26:58):
we're not there yet So we'll find out when I get there
but perhaps the most impactfulcontribution that they made was
their contribution to musicbecause the Hellfighters
regimental band is largelycredited for bringing jazz to
Europe
AJ (27:18):
You're welcome
Pearl (27:18):
You're welcome You're up
AJ (27:20):
No thanks to most of the people back home in the
Pearl (27:23):
Right No thanks to the entire us military
AJ (27:26):
way to go Harlem Hellfighters
Pearl (27:29):
okay the the Hellfighters actually originated as a
national guard unit most of theAfrican-American community in
Harlem in New York had beenadvocating for a military unit
but why politicians were youknow blocking that I mean we're
(27:49):
talking about early 19 hundredsWe're talking about early 19
hundreds we're talking about
AJ (27:56):
it's notable that these guys still came from New York which
was you know far moreprogressive than the
Pearl (28:02):
Right Right Yeah Huge difference Except that I mean in
the country lynchings are stillmob Killings are still very
commonplace for black people andthe president still has not
condemned it Woodrow Wilson in1913 the the New York state
legislature finally passed a lawsaying that they could form an
(28:25):
African American national guardregiment in 1916 then so they
did nothing really happened from1913 till 1916 but then in 19th
at 16 the governor of New Yorkstate I believe appointed
William Hayward to serve as thecommanding officer for this
(28:46):
regiment and he had been aColonel in the Nebraska national
guard And of course like mostfield grade officers he was
white Hayward however recognizedthe importance of having an
African-American soldiers andBut one of the one of the
problems that they faced earlyon was getting enough recruits
(29:07):
Uh so they had a target orrecruitment target and they
weren't hitting it but then theyenlisted a man named James Reese
Europe So James Europe is kindof a fascinating figure and he'd
be interesting to cover it onhis own in a future podcast But
he was basically a big deal inthe jazz scene of the earliest
(29:31):
20th century He was amulti-instrumentalist and a
composer and a band leader and achampion for African-American
music and musicians he hadn'tinitially been interested in the
idea of military service but herecognized the opportunity for
the African-Americans in themilitary so at the time James
(29:53):
Reese Europe actually had morethan a dozen orchestras
performing under his banner Thisis 1916 and his creative
energies were fueling thetransformation of ragtime into
jazz so this is really like thethe development of a music style
And he is a really reallyinstrumental person in changing
(30:15):
and shaping jazz music that weknew that we know today so when
he left her he enlisted hetalked to his friend and
collaborator Nobel sisal He toldthem that the he had joined Yeah
He told sisal that he had joinedAnd then Sissel said well if you
(30:36):
join then I'm going to be sobusy taking care of everything
you've left And Europe told himthat he needed to join the unit
as well so they both they bothleft They both joined
AJ (30:48):
great logic right
Pearl (30:48):
Yeah He was like Oh it's too busy You just gotta just
gotta come with me so clearlyyou know they're dealing with so
much prejudice at this Theywould play music at the
wealthiest estates in the UnitedStates but of course never be
allowed in the front door Right
AJ (31:03):
right
Pearl (31:03):
but James Reese Europe Just felt like this was a really
massive opportunity for blackmen in America to kind of I mean
this was this was the firstchance right We've had so much
happened after the civil war andthis is kind of like their first
chance to go overseas and make aname for themselves as Americans
(31:24):
and come back representing theircountry so he said he actually
said here's a quote from JamesReese Europe he saw an
opportunity to create a strongpowerful institution for the
development of the Negro manhoodof Harlem and quote so he told
his friend that basically ourrace will never amount to
anything politically oreconomically unless there are
(31:45):
strong organizations and men whostand for something in the
community so Sissel enlistedafter he heard that And so
they're still having issues atthis point getting men to sign
up but Hayward who is thecommander of the unit looks at
another command AnotherAfrican-American regiment in the
national guard which is theeighth Illinois and they have a
(32:08):
concert band that's reallyfamous and he tells Europe about
it And Europe is like if we'regoing to do this we're going to
do it my way and it's going tobe the best in the entire army
Yeah And there's no other waywe're going to do it So
AJ (32:25):
I will not put my name to this If we
Pearl (32:27):
Exactly exactly He has a reputation to uphold So he says
we're going to establish aregimental ban but it's going to
be the finest in the army SoHayward secured$10,000 to fund
the band Yeah So
AJ (32:40):
$10,000 back then How much is that worth today
Pearl (32:45):
$10,000 in so I think I think we're looking at about
$243,000
AJ (32:56):
Yeah That's what I'm seeing too
Pearl (32:58):
Yeah So if you convert that to today's dollars we're
talking about approximately$243,000
AJ (33:03):
How in the world did he get that much money
Pearl (33:06):
It honestly may have had a lot to do with his name
AJ (33:08):
James Reese Europe
Pearl (33:10):
Yeah So Europe is now the band leader Um uh sisal becomes
the drum major And at that pointEurope basically went around and
recruited the country's finestmusicians
AJ (33:26):
Crazy
Pearl (33:27):
Yeah So he actually personally led a trip to Puerto
Rico to fill the read sectionwe're talking like a curated
military band military jazz bandSo while Europe is building his
band the United States enteredworld war one So 1917 the unite
(33:48):
us declares war on Germany
AJ (33:50):
was all before world war one even started
Pearl (33:53):
Yeah clearly I have no idea I really am not up on my
world war one history but yeahso prior to the war actually
starting there was all thispreparation So by the time it
actually starts they get sentout for basic training to a camp
to camp women in outside of NewYork And After basic training
there was going to be a hugenational guard parade to March
(34:15):
down fifth Avenue in a farewellparade a rainbow division the
rainbow division which isbasically a collection of
national guard units from morethan two dozen States was going
to March down fifth Avenue in afarewell parade but Hayward was
told that the 15th would not beallowed to join them because
black is not a color in therainbow Yeah So that was you
(34:37):
know just like strikingly clearto them And then immediately
afterwards they were ordered tocamp Wadsworth in Spartanburg
South Carolina So they know thatI'm going to South Carolina is
going to be an incrediblydangerous place for them
AJ (34:55):
This is less than 20 years after the
Pearl (34:57):
Right Right Yeah So in 1906 apparently in Brownsville
Texas white men had framed agroup of African-American
soldiers for a crime They didnot commit And they were just
super nervous about going goinginto the South and Being killed
(35:19):
so Hayward is trying to avoidthis tragedy and he actually
makes a direct appeal to thesecretary of war that they just
either be relocated somewhereelse at somewhere other than the
South or that they just be sentstraight out to France
AJ (35:33):
Oh dang
Pearl (35:34):
So that's what happened They chose to go to France and
actually you know fight in thewar then then be stationed in
South Carolina so what so theyarrived in France in December of
1917 and then they were kind ofput to work doing engineering
projects and Basically laborThey were basically just having
(35:57):
them do labor but the regimentalband was doing their job So they
were essentially there's a quotehere in britannica.com where
they say that the regimentalbupropion was spreading ragtime
IDAs throughout France SoHayward then Hayward led
leveraged their fame as a ban toreassign the unit to combat duty
(36:21):
because they did not want tohave salt shovels in hand for
the entire world war one
AJ (36:26):
Right
Pearl (36:26):
So the American expeditionary force commander
general John Pershing who was incharge of the decision where
they were going to go he Kind ofwanted to have he had this ideal
of having a single body ofAmerican troops under American
command but he had told theFrench that he was going to give
them some support so he's likehere take these guys These guys
(36:49):
are ready to go So heessentially
AJ (36:51):
we don't want them
Pearl (36:52):
he essentially gives a 15th to France the following
month it was attached to the16th division of the fourth
French army under general HenryGorod the French had they had
already integrated Africancolonial troops into their army
for decades so the BlackAmerican men found so much more
acceptance in the French armythan they had found in the
(37:14):
American army because thiswasn't a crazy foreign concept
to them And so they spent sometime doing intense French
language tactics training andtens drilling with the French
military weapons and then theywere ordered to the front in the
champagne region and then fromApril, 1918 they would spend 191
(37:35):
days in combat a longer spanthan any other U S unit Yeah
AJ (37:42):
That's that's incredible
Pearl (37:45):
Yeah So during this time the three 69th developed a
fearsome reputation amongst itsenemies the Germans Called them
Hellfighters first and theirperformance on the battlefield
showed that it had been wellwell-earned although Europe
continued with his duties as aband leader he also spent time
at the front and command of hismachine gun company wondering
AJ (38:08):
were just playing music or if they were actually in combat
Pearl (38:10):
Yeah Yeah And well I think I think because he
enlisted he was I don't know ifthe men he signed up
specifically for the band whereI don't you know what I mean but
he was actually wounded in aGerman gas attack and was
evacuated to a field hospitalbehind the lines So in his
recovery he was ruled unfit forcombat but he would spend the
(38:33):
next two months leading the banat performances before enormous
crowds in Paris So he didn'tmiss a beat pun intended
AJ (38:43):
little jazz humor
Pearl (38:44):
So basically for the remainder of their time they
went from frontline to frontlineand these men fought like heroes
They showed they sh they foughtlike hell fighters they showed
gallantry in action and in 1918the badly damaged unit was
(39:07):
withdrawn to the rear And thenfor their performance they were
the entire regimen It was thenawarded the quad to Guam for
Valor november 11th theytransitioned to occupation duty
in December of 1918 they theywere done and they took trains
back to the coast to head homeSo uh this is a quote from dot
(39:30):
com the achievements of the369th imagery regiment So
they've changed names severaltimes during the course of this
they've they've been attachedwith this regimen and then moved
to this one So now they're thethree 69th they have been
heralded in the Americanoppressed and when the ships
troop shifts arrived in New Yorkbetween February 9th and 12th
the Harlem Hellfighters weretreated as returning heroes
(39:51):
Denied a place The 1917 farewellprocession the three 69th on
February 17th, 1919 paradedvictoriously up fifth Avenue
displaying its decoratedregimental colors to crowds of
hundreds of thousands Theycontinued up Linux Avenue up
through the heart of Harlem withdreams Reese Europe directing
(40:13):
the regimental band the wholeway
AJ (40:15):
Oh that's awesome
Pearl (40:16):
So after the war Europe and sisal returned to work In
music almost immediately theylaunched a tour with the
Hellfighters band and theyplayed shows in the Northeast
and Midwest And they are makingplans for world tour When in may
of 1919 James Reese Europe wasstabbed by a member of his own
band After a concert Europe diedjust hours before he was to be
(40:39):
honored by Massachusettsgovernor Calvin Coolidge and a
ceremony at the Memorial toColonel Robert gold Shaw and the
54th magic Massachusetts regimenThe wreath was in sadly on
Europe's casket as it's made asas it made its way through the
streets of Harlem and hellfighter ban accompanied the
funeral possession in silence Sothat is the story of the Harlem
(41:05):
Hellfighters The three 69th the15th and everything in between
and a little bit About a littlebit highlighting the life of
James Reese Europe
AJ (41:15):
Thank you for that
Pearl (41:16):
wasn't that incredible
AJ (41:17):
Yeah That's a story that's been forgotten never talked
Pearl (41:21):
I mean just like so much poetic so much poetry in that
picture of like being rejectedfrom the initial farewell parade
because there they apparentlyweren't one of the colors in the
rainbow to then coming back andbeing the parade you know
AJ (41:40):
Yeah Boy Yeah Yeah So so many thoughts so many thoughts
that's amazing what anincredible story And granted
world war one stories aren'ttold that much pretty
overshadowed by world war two
Pearl (42:00):
Yeah
AJ (42:00):
but still they had the most days of combat of any other
regiment and all that decorationfighting with the French this
world renowned band I mean
Pearl (42:15):
so much so much going on And that story has got it's got
a
AJ (42:19):
has this been made into a movie Cause I mean
Pearl (42:23):
Honestly every time I say that though I Google it and
there's a movie
AJ (42:26):
it Some random
Pearl (42:28):
right Yeah Or something from like the twenties I
AJ (42:31):
Yeah Well I mean I mean come on this is like The script
writes itself
Pearl (42:37):
This is over a hundred years ago Does that blow your
mind to think about this storyhappened over a hundred years
AJ (42:44):
a century
Pearl (42:45):
I can't process that right now It's too late Well if
you're still listening Weappreciate you That means it
means so much to us You tookthis time out to sit with us and
let our voices come into yourear holes So yeah your hoses man
I've just had so many nastyinteractions with ear holes
lately children little boysThey're just so nasty Their ears
(43:09):
are always
AJ (43:10):
Yeah Yeah they do It's it's just speckles of dirt It's like
someone threw a clot of dirt intheir ear and they just kind of
half-heartedly swiped most ofthe big chunks out and the rest
of it's left and you're like how
Pearl (43:22):
I know Well
AJ (43:23):
don't you feel that
Pearl (43:24):
out cleaning out some someones ears the other day and
I was showing them what was onthe queue tab I'm like and I'm
not talking about like puttingthe Q-tip into their ear canal
Calm down You guys I'm talkingabout like using the Q-tip and
scrubbing the available surfaceOn their ear And it was just it
was so disgusting but they weresuper impressed and they thought
it was hilarious yeah I dunno I
AJ (43:45):
might I feel like this might speak more to our
Pearl (43:47):
parents
AJ (43:49):
than anything else Yeah
Pearl (43:51):
know I know that I'm not alone in this If you
AJ (43:56):
I remember when when I would go to the doctor for any kind of
checkup my mom would no no Shewould soundly deny any
culpability for what the doctorfound in my
Pearl (44:08):
ears So
AJ (44:10):
You know I was like I don't know what age but You know
probably over 10 and she's likehe's old enough I do not take
any responsibility for what mayor may not come out of his year
Pearl (44:22):
That's gotta be the grossest job ever looking at
people's ears Anyways thanks forlistening
AJ (44:26):
Thanks for listening Hearing our musings and non historical
history I mean it's
Pearl (44:34):
I mean it is historical
AJ (44:35):
It's just
Pearl (44:36):
it's not thorough
AJ (44:38):
Thank you for listening to our armchair
Pearl (44:40):
right Armchair Yes I keep forgetting that race
AJ (44:43):
or armchair
Pearl (44:44):
We are the armchair historians All right You guys
have a good week don't forget tolike comment and subscribe
AJ (44:53):
and share with your mom
Pearl (44:54):
I
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
You made it to the right placeat the right time.
Here you are.
AJ (00:07):
Anytime is the right time because this is recorded.
Pearl (00:10):
Welcome to the stories we forgot.
AJ (00:13):
Welcome to the pod.
Pearl (00:14):
This is the history podcast for
AJ (00:17):
non historians,
Pearl (00:19):
by non historians.
That would be us.
We're the Googlers.
You're the listeners.
All right.
So today on the pod, we're goingto be talking about we're going
to be doing a little bit of arecap, I think, of last week's
podcast.
(00:40):
And I'm going to give you somedetails for one of the medal of
honor, your recipients from the442nd from world war II.
And then,
AJ (00:49):
Or should I say Noyce?
Pearl (00:51):
Noise.
And then I am also going to tellyou about how jazz came to
Europe.
Yeah
AJ (01:00):
All right
Pearl (01:01):
what do you
AJ (01:02):
I was not expecting
Pearl (01:03):
I know What do you have for us
AJ (01:05):
Well first I wanted to cover what we're drinking
Pearl (01:08):
Right
AJ (01:10):
we'll pause while you open your drink Cause you're a little
behind the curve right now
Pearl (01:16):
Yeah So uh what do you have What are your drinking
We're gonna have to switchhalfway through
AJ (01:20):
Oh heck I have never had this You are going to get my
pure unfiltered reaction hereright on the pod This is Jackie
O's Okay
Pearl (01:35):
Where's this from I got this at the local co-op because
they have a lot of like craftbeers and ciders and stuff So
I'm assuming that's from
AJ (01:46):
Oh well it says brewed with Ohio wildflower honey So I guess
Ohio
Pearl (01:55):
sure it says on the can hand me the
AJ (01:56):
I don't know It doesn't
Pearl (01:58):
let me see
AJ (01:58):
No it doesn't It doesn't say it's too far of a reach can't
reach I'm going to say Ohio It'sJackie O's It's called Jomo lung
ma okay Brown ale
Pearl (02:10):
Get a stick with that pronunciation
AJ (02:11):
Sustainably crafted with purpose brewed with Ohio
wildflower honey Oh
Pearl (02:16):
Brown ale with honey
AJ (02:17):
bottoms up
Pearl (02:19):
What does it remind you
AJ (02:20):
it's fairly dark It's actually a lot darker than
Pearl (02:22):
it's way darker than I thought it was going to be Yeah
it doesn't look super thick likea stout
AJ (02:27):
yeah just just Oh it's nice Okay Passing it over to Pearl
It's rich and dark Nicesweetness No bitterness pretty
Pearl (02:39):
like ale but
AJ (02:40):
it's pretty heavy It's a definitely a fairly dark ale
Pearl (02:43):
That's really good
AJ (02:44):
Yeah Pretty dark Brown ale That's good though I liked
Pearl (02:49):
definitely tasting the Ohio so okay I just opened Charm
city Meade works elderberrydraft Mead
AJ (02:58):
Ooh Wow It's like the color of wine
Pearl (03:02):
elderberry Canned brood and bread in Baltimore we just
went to Baltimore it tastes yeahthere's not a lot of sparkle to
it Which I don't mind
AJ (03:11):
Sorry Did you say where that came from It says charm city Oh
right I just heard that aboutBaltimore being called charm
city which is kind of a funnymoniker
Pearl (03:24):
It's a little sweet and reminds me kind of like a cider
like a hard cider
AJ (03:28):
Oh I thought that's what it was
Pearl (03:30):
No it's a Mead
AJ (03:31):
Oh a Mead
Pearl (03:33):
but it reminds me I I don't really know what I was
thinking with the Mead
AJ (03:37):
funny story about Mead
Pearl (03:39):
It's draft Mead So I don't know
AJ (03:42):
Huh entirely sure what that means I thought me does like a
wa wait what is Mead
Pearl (03:50):
I don't know It's not like a warm wine or something
That's more I don't I don't know
AJ (03:56):
I thought it was with like honey and
Pearl (03:58):
Yeah I think it's I think honey is used in the
fermentation I don't know I'mnot an expert here
AJ (04:05):
I prefer my trauma lung ma did I say that right Chomo lung
Yeah
Pearl (04:11):
I mean there's a lot of there's a lot of syllables
AJ (04:13):
A few sips of that and it just rolls right off the tongue
chomo long bar
Pearl (04:18):
Well this is really good
AJ (04:18):
And it's got pretty great artwork too I must say
Pearl (04:22):
I totally was shopping by the label
AJ (04:25):
Appears to be a Sasquatch I'm guessing maybe that's a
chomo Longbow just guessing witha a hiking backpack carrying a
flag hiking in the in themountains of Ohio
Pearl (04:42):
Did any of the kids tell you about the big foot podcast I
was listening to with them
AJ (04:46):
No I don't think any of them I don't think anyone
Pearl (04:50):
was traumatized Yeah I
AJ (04:52):
not have been
Pearl (04:53):
I can't think of the name of the podcast is off the top of
my head my phone's downstairsBut I feel like it had some had
big foot in the name because youknow I love a good big foot
story So I was listening to it'sthis guy who lives up in I think
this was Montana and he wastelling the story about living
in a camper on his property andseeing a big but so what with
(05:19):
his eyes about twenty-five feetaway
AJ (05:21):
That's
Pearl (05:22):
it was pretty crazy story
AJ (05:23):
Was it a Bigfoot or was it a trauma long bar
Pearl (05:26):
well either that or Sasquatch I mean the jury is
really still out on this so butthe boys and I are firmly in the
camp of like if it could be truewe believe it aliens Bigfoot
Lochness All of that stuff andviolet is always a skeptic So
it's kind of just it's justsuper fun to
AJ (05:46):
we may have won her over to this side of aliens with that
documentary Why was that onNetflix
Pearl (05:52):
think was honestly I think it was the Mark Rober
video where he was talking aboutthe size and scale of the
universe
AJ (05:57):
Oh yeah That pushed it over the edge
Pearl (06:00):
Yeah For there not to be any other intelligent life in
the entire
AJ (06:03):
that's a great video Mark Rober did a video showing
Pearl (06:08):
Mark Rober is a YouTuber just type in Mark Rober in T
into YouTube Yeah it was great
AJ (06:14):
but he does a proportionate of how gigantic the universe is
And it's really cool with like
Pearl (06:21):
fascinating Video
AJ (06:22):
earth being a speck of pepper on a football field And
then like
Pearl (06:28):
and then taking a drone like seven miles out or
something to finish the
AJ (06:31):
yeah like Pluto or planet X was like miles away or
Pearl (06:36):
I don't even know if they had planted X
AJ (06:38):
yeah I don't remember what Oh I can't remember where he
lands on the whole Pluto as aplanet
Pearl (06:44):
This draft meeting was is really good I have a burp that's
like stuck in my chest so I'mtrying to talk and not burp at
the same time
AJ (06:53):
Yeah I'm not sure if beers during the podcast is really the
best Uh it works
Pearl (06:59):
as long as you don't get sloppy Okay Okay So um yeah so
we went to the Baltimoreaquarium
AJ (07:08):
excuse me We went to the Baltimore
Pearl (07:10):
Baltimore we went to the Baltimore aquarium and we went
with my sister and her husbandand their two kids and her
husband's brothers So it waslike this big old happy family
All of us went there and fun toget to go in and take the kids
to an aquarium We haven't beento an aquarium in ages
AJ (07:32):
Yeah I spent a long
Pearl (07:32):
Partly because aquariums are approximately a thousand
dollars per person to walk inthe door to look at fish This
AJ (07:38):
This is true We forgot to mention that Pearl sister has
Pearl (07:42):
Yeah they bought it They bought a membership so that was
amazing We can go with them
AJ (07:46):
and it's pretty cool that they allowed such a Motley crew
to all come in on one
Pearl (07:51):
Yeah I'm not sure what kind of pass they have but
anyways um uh so that was ourfirst time first time for both
of us in Baltimore and just
AJ (07:59):
Never I don't think we've ever even been through Baltimore
Pearl (08:01):
Yeah Um so I mean we just went to the waterfront Let's be
honest Yeah We didn't actuallydrive through the city we have
no idea what Baltimore is likebut we did
AJ (08:11):
saw was cool
Pearl (08:12):
we saw were cool but obviously super super developed
when we're talking like a sixstory hard rock cafe kind of
developed
AJ (08:19):
Yeah I feel like it's been a while since I've been in a city
Real high rises Yeah Cause uheven going to DC it's a big city
but there's not a lot ofskyscrapers You're really you're
really liking that meter Yeah
Pearl (08:29):
It's really good It's not as sweet as I thought it was
AJ (08:32):
Yeah no it's
Pearl (08:33):
It's a draft
AJ (08:35):
Well I'm glad
Pearl (08:36):
not a fan of sweet alcohol
AJ (08:37):
I'm glad that you clarified that It wasn't a cider I fully
thought it was a cider And if Ihad taken a drink of it thinking
the cider I would have beensorely
Pearl (08:44):
I mean I honestly have no idea what the differences
between a draft mean and a SoI'm sure charm city meatworks
could tell you if you Googled itAnd I guess we're the Google is
Googlers and your listeners butnot today I'm just not feeling
it today
AJ (08:58):
It was pretty fun we stopped at a little place to get some
food and next to it was a storecalled what was it called It's
sugar I think that's just whatit was called
Pearl (09:08):
Oh yeah I mean this is on the waterfront so it's like
straight up tourist trap right
AJ (09:13):
Yeah Everything on the waterfront
Pearl (09:15):
sense goes into the
AJ (09:16):
everything on the waterfront was twice cost twice as much as
it should
Pearl (09:19):
And of course you know we go in the store and I I was just
feeling like a softie just had amoment of extreme weakness
brought four kids into a shortstore full of sugar and food
coloring
AJ (09:32):
All of a sudden I turn around and Pearl's talking to
the lady and pull it out tongsand baggies to select
Pearl (09:39):
from
AJ (09:39):
these gigantic bins of
Pearl (09:41):
so all the bins are mix and match and there's a sign
that says a quarter of a poundis three 99 I'm like you know
what Sure We don't need a lot ofsugar Let's just let everyone
get one or two pieces
AJ (09:58):
speaking of believing in crazy things I saw Pearl moving
this way and I thought that shehad been body thought for sure
an alien had
Pearl (10:05):
taken going into the
AJ (10:07):
And
Pearl (10:08):
yeah I bet you did Yeah So speaking of aliens so we went
in there and got our three 99worth of sugar Each kid picked
up you know one or two candy Imean it turned into four candy
and by three 99 I do mean over$20 So by the time we left I
don't know what happened Therewas some sort of money spending
vortex and all the kids werejust like they were already
(10:32):
sugared up with excitement Theywere so
AJ (10:35):
I mean it was pretty fun watching them try to determine
which candy was the best Acouple of the boys went for the
Tootsie pop
Pearl (10:44):
Right I know out of all of the options in the store they
pick two of them picked Tootsiepops and Henry wanted to go back
for his second Tootsie pop And Iwas like no absolutely not You
will not be getting two Tootsiepops That's like bottom of the
barrel
AJ (11:00):
They they also all went for a chocolate covered or
Pearl (11:04):
Yeah I didn't clarify that it had to be a certain size
I was just like one item out ofany job you want And I
AJ (11:11):
to have them
Pearl (11:11):
you know giant chocolate covered Oreos are probably
quarter a pound all bythemselves
AJ (11:15):
Yeah Two of them went in for just a straight chunk of white
chocolate
Pearl (11:21):
We're talking
AJ (11:22):
Peter the youngest
Pearl (11:23):
you use for baking
AJ (11:24):
like
Pearl (11:25):
a giant triangle chunk of white chocolate
AJ (11:28):
it's like it's like half an inch thick
Pearl (11:30):
don't sit down and eat this You're meant to like mince
it up with a knife and melted orsprinkle it over your dessert
AJ (11:35):
Yeah The funny thing is that Peter the youngest was the first
one to recognize that and see itAnd he's like I want that I'm
Pearl (11:41):
It's like
AJ (11:41):
sure dude mom didn't put any stipulations on it You go for
Pearl (11:46):
while the iron's hot It was the last time we're going
into one of those
AJ (11:50):
Yeah Yeah It was fun though It was fun Special treat All
right Shall we roll with thehistory
Pearl (11:57):
Let's do it Let's do it Let's jump right in
AJ (11:59):
Well folks you know what time it is
Pearl (12:03):
What time is it
AJ (12:03):
this day in history History
Pearl (12:07):
and the crowd goes wild
AJ (12:09):
Okay
Pearl (12:10):
Enough of that
AJ (12:10):
I've got two for you On this day April 22nd, 1778 John Paul
Jones leads an American raid onwhite Haven
Pearl (12:22):
He did
AJ (12:24):
I thought this was interesting because you hear I
feel like you hear very littleabout the Naval warfare during
the American revolution And soeven just reading that the
Americans attacked England ontheir own shores
Pearl (12:42):
Right Crazy story
AJ (12:44):
I didn't even know that that I mean none of that really
happened I mean I'm sure
Pearl (12:49):
to them
AJ (12:50):
sure that I've read this at some point over my it was tiny
probably a tiny little blurb insome history book Cause this was
is this John Paul Jones He'sgreat Kind of the most
well-known Yeah They they sailedover they were going to try and
take a couple of forts but theystruggled a little bit They
(13:11):
didn't quite get the tide rightSo they one of them one of the
they they went for a North Fortand a South Fort and the North
Fort apparently they turned awaybecause a noise scared them
That's what this article sayswhich is pretty funny and the
other Fort
Pearl (13:27):
I've been scared of
AJ (13:29):
true the other Fort commander Jones one of the most
Darien and successful Navalcommanders of the American
revolution he was able toDisable the Canon on the Fort
And then I dunno they I thinkthey took some men They took a
small boat No I think they lefttheir main ship out two rowboats
(13:50):
of men I think he said therewere I think it said there were
30 30 men and I think half wentto one Fort half went to the
other Fort So they disabled thecannon when they found out that
the Northern Fort they didn'teven land and try to take it he
went ahead and just burned downthe Southern Fort to compensate
(14:11):
and it subsequently and theentire town I'm not sure if he
intended to do that but he wasborn in Scotland which is also
kind of interesting you know Imean right It's the time when
they're all everyone's trying to
Pearl (14:24):
I mean that's just like a wildlife trajectory You're born
in Scotland You immigrate to theUnited States to start from
scratch in the middle of nowhereYeah And then you come back and
burn down cities in your homecountry I'm going just crazy
AJ (14:40):
Yeah And he actually the the Fort that he burned down was the
same for was the same Fort orport or whatever you want to
call it that he left from whenhe left to head to America Yeah
So it kind of funny then heafter the raid on it was white
(15:00):
Haven England He continued up tohis home territory where they
wanted to abduct the Earl ofSelkirk
Pearl (15:09):
I mean
AJ (15:11):
him for American sailors that the British held captive
They didn't find the Earl but sothey stole all the stuff from me
Pearl (15:18):
That's amazing
AJ (15:20):
that they stole all his silver including his wife's tea
pot still containing herbreakfast tea
Pearl (15:26):
That's awesome
AJ (15:27):
button your eye Anyways then they went on and did a whole
bunch of other stuff So yeahthere you go You can read more
about John Paul Jones and Navalwarfare during the American
revolution
Pearl (15:38):
Okay Hi I am going to give you a little tiny blip
about one of the men in the forher 42nd regimental combat team
that we talked about last weekon the podcast Um this is
AJ (15:54):
gopher the gopher broke guys
Pearl (15:56):
The gopher broke guys this is private Joe Hashi and
this is this source is from thecongressional medal of honor
society It is And I'm gonna havethe link to this in the show
notes as well
AJ (16:10):
Yeah Do you remember how many medal of honor winners they
had
Pearl (16:13):
Oh I don't remember off the top of my head There was so
many though
AJ (16:17):
Well I mean considering how high of an honor it
Pearl (16:20):
I don't I don't know off the top of my head I don't
AJ (16:22):
know I thought it was like 11
Pearl (16:23):
Yeah I mean a lot so in April so I'm just gonna read
directly the little snippet thatthey have here about Joe Hayashi
For conspicuous gallantry andinteroperability at the risk of
his life above and beyond thecall of duty Private Joe Hayashi
distinguished himself byextraordinary heroism inaction
(16:45):
on the 20th and 22nd of April1945 near 10 Dolla Italy So on
the he was ordered to attack a areally strongly defended Hill
and the Hill was blocking allapproach to the village of 10
Dola and private high She ledthe men that he was with he led
(17:08):
them to a point within 75 yardsof the enemy positions before
they were detected
AJ (17:13):
Oh wow
Pearl (17:13):
And then after dragging any they were detected and then
they were fired on but after hedragged his wounded Comrades in
arms to safety he returned aloneand exposed himself to small
arms fire in order to direct andadjust mortar fire against
hostile and plump in placements
AJ (17:31):
Oh so he drew
Pearl (17:32):
he basically
AJ (17:33):
got them to shoot at him so that they could see where they
were shooting
Pearl (17:37):
then with his room the remaining men in his squad they
just kind of boldly attack theHill and they gained their
objective They neutralize threemachine guns killed 27 men and
wounded many others on the 22ndof April they attack the village
of 10 Dolla itself
AJ (17:54):
Wait and he survived all
Pearl (17:56):
he survived it Yes private high OCI Maneuvered his
squad up steep terrace tilt witha hundred yards of the enemy and
crawling under intense fire to ahostile machine gun position He
threw a grenade that grenadekilled enemy soldiers and forced
other members of the crew of thegun crew to sorry render He then
destroyed another machine gunnest and then a third machine
(18:19):
gun position And then when hewas attempting to pursue the
enemy he was mortally wounded bya burst of pistol fire it says
the dauntless courage andexemplary leadership of private
high ashy and nap enabled hismen his company to attain their
its objective private hashiesshe's extraordinary heroism and
devotion into duty are inkeeping with the highest
traditions of military serviceand reflect great credit on him
(18:42):
his unit and the United Statesso I just wanted to highlight
that story Joe who is acongressional medal of honor
recipient
AJ (18:51):
I looked it up one of 21 medal of honor recipients for
the
Pearl (18:56):
Yeah and you know just just to kind of highlight how
these Joe's parents wereactually I believe they were in
an American interment camp so tohighlight just the courage
sacrifice and perspective andforesight of Japanese Americans
during world war II who enlistedin the war through the 442nd And
(19:18):
like you said last week he wouldthey weren't just there to kind
of uh check off the days untiltheir parents could be freed and
maybe make a little bit of moneyand get some get to see the
world They were there forconspicuous gallantry and
AJ (19:31):
Yes boy I can't I just have a hard time even putting myself
in there I mean not to makelight of this but I'm just
thinking I can't even chargesomeone when we're playing pink
ball
Pearl (19:47):
What do you mean shot
AJ (19:48):
a paint ball It's not it's not actually bullets whizzing
over my head that can end mylife in an instant or you know
full on machine gun nest thatyou're charging man the bravery
of these people
Pearl (20:04):
I know Absolutely Yeah So um I'll post a picture of him in
our Instagram stories There's apicture of him with in his
uniform He just looks so youngyou know it's just crazy
AJ (20:14):
How old was he I mean I'm sure he was
Pearl (20:16):
Oh let's see He was born August 14th, 1920 And he died
April 22nd, 1945 So he was 25years almost 25 He was 24 yeah
So just a crazy story ofAmerican heroism
AJ (20:33):
Yeah Thank you for that story
Pearl (20:35):
So you want to read that
AJ (20:36):
Yeah It's another a hundred word story out of the book
making a difference by TomReynolds The title is called the
tide was rolled on September17th, 1970 Sam Cunningham
playing in his first collegiategame for the USC Trojans ran
around and over the defense ofthe Alabama Crimson tide in a
game that is considered thecatalyst for the integration of
(21:00):
collegiate football in the SouthCunningham along with fellow
black teammates Jimmy Jones andClarence Davis and Alabama
native led the Trojans in a 42to 21 route of they're all white
opponents Ironically Cunninghamwas unaware of the game social
implications He said playingwith white ballplayers was what
(21:20):
we always did as kids neighborsand friends That's what it was
Pearl (21:24):
Wow
AJ (21:25):
Just a little bit about 1970 just a few black players on a
team on a college football teamjust being very successful and
paving the way for integrationin sports
Pearl (21:41):
When was this 1970 goodness Huh
AJ (21:46):
I don't know how segregated it was at the time but the fact
that Alabama was an all whitewas all white players college
football
Pearl (21:58):
crazy
AJ (21:59):
USC I mean I don't know if there were more I don't know if
there were more black playersthan the three that they
mentioned there but You knowthere's usually a roster of I
don't know 50 50 or 60 I'm notsure on a college team Quite a
few players though
Pearl (22:17):
1970
AJ (22:18):
yeah Yeah
Pearl (22:20):
I need to look up and figure when more pro and college
level sports became desegregatedbecause I think it would I mean
like four hour Personal memoriesWe've always seen black players
on the field excelling You
AJ (22:37):
And yeah
Pearl (22:38):
to think that our parents didn't have that experience when
our parents were in high schoolwatching sports probably all
white guys
AJ (22:47):
Well by the time they were in high school it was probably
Pearl (22:52):
turning Yeah I guess
AJ (22:53):
quickly But I mean when they were in elementary school yeah
it probably was all all mostlyall white Can I just take this
moment to say that that chomolung Moe was delicious
Pearl (23:05):
Yeah I kind of wish I kind of wish I'd bought more of
this Okay
AJ (23:08):
of wish he would let me drink more of that
Pearl (23:11):
so today on the pod we're going to be talking about the
Harlem Hellfighters
AJ (23:19):
The Harlem Hellfighters
Pearl (23:21):
Hellfighters I mean how's that for a name
AJ (23:23):
what is this Is this like another infantry division in
world war II or
Pearl (23:27):
Wrong so wrong So far off world war one And you know it's
a good name when the Germansgive it to you The Germans are
like they're pros at giving outbad-ass names
AJ (23:41):
goodnight which
Pearl (23:42):
the night which is that would be world war two and the
night witches were Russians
AJ (23:46):
Although was it was it truly as as good of a name when it was
in the original German I wonder
Pearl (23:52):
was what it sounded like in German
AJ (23:53):
we're not going to
Pearl (23:53):
we're not gonna try it But they are actually the ones
who dubbed this 369th infantryregiment the Harlem Hellfighters
AJ (24:03):
that's a pretty good name
Pearl (24:04):
here's just a little bit of the story of the Harlem
Hellfighters and I will have mysources for this and the links
in the show notes for thepodcast which you can access I
think by clicking on the detailsabout the podcast on whatever
platform I don't really know Idon't know if I've actually done
it yet No No I'm kidding If youif you click on more about the
(24:25):
episode or like expand I don'tknow something you can find you
can find it on the internetClearly This isn't something
I've spent a We have shownotesit sounds official Stop judging
Gosh
AJ (24:35):
or you could probably go to the stories We
Pearl (24:40):
and type in Oh no I am not updating stories You forgot
anymore I gave up I'm like autoupdate with the feed I am not
going to go do a separate blogplus separate show Ain't nobody
got
AJ (24:53):
Right But isn't there like a link or something from the
little pod player
Pearl (24:57):
to the podcast Yeah Yeah I don't know I haven't looked
okay
AJ (25:07):
Ask your mom
Pearl (25:08):
Yeah the the 369th infantry regiment was originally
the New York colored infantryregiment the 15th New York
colored infantry It was anickname which was actually a
nickname given to the three 69thduring world war one
AJ (25:24):
Okay
Pearl (25:25):
I don't actually know why this was a nickname
AJ (25:28):
So wait a second We've been talking so much about the
segregation during world war IIand yet there were already
Pearl (25:36):
I mean let's be
AJ (25:37):
black regiments in world war Mean I guess granted when war
comes you're kind of like we
Pearl (25:42):
need also world war two You know we were talking about
like the Tuskegee airmen Therewere no airmen black airmen in
world war one 100% these men areLiterally front lines I mean and
it was their joy to do that Theythey were afraid that actually
they were going to spend most ofthe war with shovels in hands
(26:02):
instead of guns so let's see the
AJ (26:05):
just just feels progress can be really slow sometimes
Pearl (26:08):
Yeah It really I mean gosh Yeah So the French
government actually haddesegregated their military for
awhile so they had no problemrecognizing the gallantry of the
three 69th they actuallydecorated the entire unit with
the quad Goa which is thank youI have no idea if I said that
(26:32):
right That is Francis highestaward for bravery It basically
means like the battle crossFrench battle
AJ (26:40):
I believe it's pronounced de GLA
Pearl (26:43):
fill your mouth and marbles and then say
AJ (26:45):
wall They're like wall
Pearl (26:47):
Moving on I'm so sorry to hear that let's see They they
also received 170 additionalindividual medals for Valor but
AJ (26:57):
France
Pearl (26:58):
we're not there yet So we'll find out when I get there
but perhaps the most impactfulcontribution that they made was
their contribution to musicbecause the Hellfighters
regimental band is largelycredited for bringing jazz to
Europe
AJ (27:18):
You're welcome
Pearl (27:18):
You're welcome You're up
AJ (27:20):
No thanks to most of the people back home in the
Pearl (27:23):
Right No thanks to the entire us military
AJ (27:26):
way to go Harlem Hellfighters
Pearl (27:29):
okay the the Hellfighters actually originated as a
national guard unit most of theAfrican-American community in
Harlem in New York had beenadvocating for a military unit
but why politicians were youknow blocking that I mean we're
(27:49):
talking about early 19 hundredsWe're talking about early 19
hundreds we're talking about
AJ (27:56):
it's notable that these guys still came from New York which
was you know far moreprogressive than the
Pearl (28:02):
Right Right Yeah Huge difference Except that I mean in
the country lynchings are stillmob Killings are still very
commonplace for black people andthe president still has not
condemned it Woodrow Wilson in1913 the the New York state
legislature finally passed a lawsaying that they could form an
(28:25):
African American national guardregiment in 1916 then so they
did nothing really happened from1913 till 1916 but then in 19th
at 16 the governor of New Yorkstate I believe appointed
William Hayward to serve as thecommanding officer for this
(28:46):
regiment and he had been aColonel in the Nebraska national
guard And of course like mostfield grade officers he was
white Hayward however recognizedthe importance of having an
African-American soldiers andBut one of the one of the
problems that they faced earlyon was getting enough recruits
(29:07):
Uh so they had a target orrecruitment target and they
weren't hitting it but then theyenlisted a man named James Reese
Europe So James Europe is kindof a fascinating figure and he'd
be interesting to cover it onhis own in a future podcast But
he was basically a big deal inthe jazz scene of the earliest
(29:31):
20th century He was amulti-instrumentalist and a
composer and a band leader and achampion for African-American
music and musicians he hadn'tinitially been interested in the
idea of military service but herecognized the opportunity for
the African-Americans in themilitary so at the time James
(29:53):
Reese Europe actually had morethan a dozen orchestras
performing under his banner Thisis 1916 and his creative
energies were fueling thetransformation of ragtime into
jazz so this is really like thethe development of a music style
And he is a really reallyinstrumental person in changing
(30:15):
and shaping jazz music that weknew that we know today so when
he left her he enlisted hetalked to his friend and
collaborator Nobel sisal He toldthem that the he had joined Yeah
He told sisal that he had joinedAnd then Sissel said well if you
(30:36):
join then I'm going to be sobusy taking care of everything
you've left And Europe told himthat he needed to join the unit
as well so they both they bothleft They both joined
AJ (30:48):
great logic right
Pearl (30:48):
Yeah He was like Oh it's too busy You just gotta just
gotta come with me so clearlyyou know they're dealing with so
much prejudice at this Theywould play music at the
wealthiest estates in the UnitedStates but of course never be
allowed in the front door Right
AJ (31:03):
right
Pearl (31:03):
but James Reese Europe Just felt like this was a really
massive opportunity for blackmen in America to kind of I mean
this was this was the firstchance right We've had so much
happened after the civil war andthis is kind of like their first
chance to go overseas and make aname for themselves as Americans
(31:24):
and come back representing theircountry so he said he actually
said here's a quote from JamesReese Europe he saw an
opportunity to create a strongpowerful institution for the
development of the Negro manhoodof Harlem and quote so he told
his friend that basically ourrace will never amount to
anything politically oreconomically unless there are
(31:45):
strong organizations and men whostand for something in the
community so Sissel enlistedafter he heard that And so
they're still having issues atthis point getting men to sign
up but Hayward who is thecommander of the unit looks at
another command AnotherAfrican-American regiment in the
national guard which is theeighth Illinois and they have a
(32:08):
concert band that's reallyfamous and he tells Europe about
it And Europe is like if we'regoing to do this we're going to
do it my way and it's going tobe the best in the entire army
Yeah And there's no other waywe're going to do it So
AJ (32:25):
I will not put my name to this If we
Pearl (32:27):
Exactly exactly He has a reputation to uphold So he says
we're going to establish aregimental ban but it's going to
be the finest in the army SoHayward secured$10,000 to fund
the band Yeah So
AJ (32:40):
$10,000 back then How much is that worth today
Pearl (32:45):
$10,000 in so I think I think we're looking at about
$243,000
AJ (32:56):
Yeah That's what I'm seeing too
Pearl (32:58):
Yeah So if you convert that to today's dollars we're
talking about approximately$243,000
AJ (33:03):
How in the world did he get that much money
Pearl (33:06):
It honestly may have had a lot to do with his name
AJ (33:08):
James Reese Europe
Pearl (33:10):
Yeah So Europe is now the band leader Um uh sisal becomes
the drum major And at that pointEurope basically went around and
recruited the country's finestmusicians
AJ (33:26):
Crazy
Pearl (33:27):
Yeah So he actually personally led a trip to Puerto
Rico to fill the read sectionwe're talking like a curated
military band military jazz bandSo while Europe is building his
band the United States enteredworld war one So 1917 the unite
(33:48):
us declares war on Germany
AJ (33:50):
was all before world war one even started
Pearl (33:53):
Yeah clearly I have no idea I really am not up on my
world war one history but yeahso prior to the war actually
starting there was all thispreparation So by the time it
actually starts they get sentout for basic training to a camp
to camp women in outside of NewYork And After basic training
there was going to be a hugenational guard parade to March
(34:15):
down fifth Avenue in a farewellparade a rainbow division the
rainbow division which isbasically a collection of
national guard units from morethan two dozen States was going
to March down fifth Avenue in afarewell parade but Hayward was
told that the 15th would not beallowed to join them because
black is not a color in therainbow Yeah So that was you
(34:37):
know just like strikingly clearto them And then immediately
afterwards they were ordered tocamp Wadsworth in Spartanburg
South Carolina So they know thatI'm going to South Carolina is
going to be an incrediblydangerous place for them
AJ (34:55):
This is less than 20 years after the
Pearl (34:57):
Right Right Yeah So in 1906 apparently in Brownsville
Texas white men had framed agroup of African-American
soldiers for a crime They didnot commit And they were just
super nervous about going goinginto the South and Being killed
(35:19):
so Hayward is trying to avoidthis tragedy and he actually
makes a direct appeal to thesecretary of war that they just
either be relocated somewhereelse at somewhere other than the
South or that they just be sentstraight out to France
AJ (35:33):
Oh dang
Pearl (35:34):
So that's what happened They chose to go to France and
actually you know fight in thewar then then be stationed in
South Carolina so what so theyarrived in France in December of
1917 and then they were kind ofput to work doing engineering
projects and Basically laborThey were basically just having
(35:57):
them do labor but the regimentalband was doing their job So they
were essentially there's a quotehere in britannica.com where
they say that the regimentalbupropion was spreading ragtime
IDAs throughout France SoHayward then Hayward led
leveraged their fame as a ban toreassign the unit to combat duty
(36:21):
because they did not want tohave salt shovels in hand for
the entire world war one
AJ (36:26):
Right
Pearl (36:26):
So the American expeditionary force commander
general John Pershing who was incharge of the decision where
they were going to go he Kind ofwanted to have he had this ideal
of having a single body ofAmerican troops under American
command but he had told theFrench that he was going to give
them some support so he's likehere take these guys These guys
(36:49):
are ready to go So heessentially
AJ (36:51):
we don't want them
Pearl (36:52):
he essentially gives a 15th to France the following
month it was attached to the16th division of the fourth
French army under general HenryGorod the French had they had
already integrated Africancolonial troops into their army
for decades so the BlackAmerican men found so much more
acceptance in the French armythan they had found in the
(37:14):
American army because thiswasn't a crazy foreign concept
to them And so they spent sometime doing intense French
language tactics training andtens drilling with the French
military weapons and then theywere ordered to the front in the
champagne region and then fromApril, 1918 they would spend 191
(37:35):
days in combat a longer spanthan any other U S unit Yeah
AJ (37:42):
That's that's incredible
Pearl (37:45):
Yeah So during this time the three 69th developed a
fearsome reputation amongst itsenemies the Germans Called them
Hellfighters first and theirperformance on the battlefield
showed that it had been wellwell-earned although Europe
continued with his duties as aband leader he also spent time
at the front and command of hismachine gun company wondering
AJ (38:08):
were just playing music or if they were actually in combat
Pearl (38:10):
Yeah Yeah And well I think I think because he
enlisted he was I don't know ifthe men he signed up
specifically for the band whereI don't you know what I mean but
he was actually wounded in aGerman gas attack and was
evacuated to a field hospitalbehind the lines So in his
recovery he was ruled unfit forcombat but he would spend the
(38:33):
next two months leading the banat performances before enormous
crowds in Paris So he didn'tmiss a beat pun intended
AJ (38:43):
little jazz humor
Pearl (38:44):
So basically for the remainder of their time they
went from frontline to frontlineand these men fought like heroes
They showed they sh they foughtlike hell fighters they showed
gallantry in action and in 1918the badly damaged unit was
(39:07):
withdrawn to the rear And thenfor their performance they were
the entire regimen It was thenawarded the quad to Guam for
Valor november 11th theytransitioned to occupation duty
in December of 1918 they theywere done and they took trains
back to the coast to head homeSo uh this is a quote from dot
(39:30):
com the achievements of the369th imagery regiment So
they've changed names severaltimes during the course of this
they've they've been attachedwith this regimen and then moved
to this one So now they're thethree 69th they have been
heralded in the Americanoppressed and when the ships
troop shifts arrived in New Yorkbetween February 9th and 12th
the Harlem Hellfighters weretreated as returning heroes
(39:51):
Denied a place The 1917 farewellprocession the three 69th on
February 17th, 1919 paradedvictoriously up fifth Avenue
displaying its decoratedregimental colors to crowds of
hundreds of thousands Theycontinued up Linux Avenue up
through the heart of Harlem withdreams Reese Europe directing
(40:13):
the regimental band the wholeway
AJ (40:15):
Oh that's awesome
Pearl (40:16):
So after the war Europe and sisal returned to work In
music almost immediately theylaunched a tour with the
Hellfighters band and theyplayed shows in the Northeast
and Midwest And they are makingplans for world tour When in may
of 1919 James Reese Europe wasstabbed by a member of his own
band After a concert Europe diedjust hours before he was to be
(40:39):
honored by Massachusettsgovernor Calvin Coolidge and a
ceremony at the Memorial toColonel Robert gold Shaw and the
54th magic Massachusetts regimenThe wreath was in sadly on
Europe's casket as it's made asas it made its way through the
streets of Harlem and hellfighter ban accompanied the
funeral possession in silence Sothat is the story of the Harlem
(41:05):
Hellfighters The three 69th the15th and everything in between
and a little bit About a littlebit highlighting the life of
James Reese Europe
AJ (41:15):
Thank you for that
Pearl (41:16):
wasn't that incredible
AJ (41:17):
Yeah That's a story that's been forgotten never talked
Pearl (41:21):
I mean just like so much poetic so much poetry in that
picture of like being rejectedfrom the initial farewell parade
because there they apparentlyweren't one of the colors in the
rainbow to then coming back andbeing the parade you know
AJ (41:40):
Yeah Boy Yeah Yeah So so many thoughts so many thoughts
that's amazing what anincredible story And granted
world war one stories aren'ttold that much pretty
overshadowed by world war two
Pearl (42:00):
Yeah
AJ (42:00):
but still they had the most days of combat of any other
regiment and all that decorationfighting with the French this
world renowned band I mean
Pearl (42:15):
so much so much going on And that story has got it's got
a
AJ (42:19):
has this been made into a movie Cause I mean
Pearl (42:23):
Honestly every time I say that though I Google it and
there's a movie
AJ (42:26):
it Some random
Pearl (42:28):
right Yeah Or something from like the twenties I
AJ (42:31):
Yeah Well I mean I mean come on this is like The script
writes itself
Pearl (42:37):
This is over a hundred years ago Does that blow your
mind to think about this storyhappened over a hundred years
AJ (42:44):
a century
Pearl (42:45):
I can't process that right now It's too late Well if
you're still listening Weappreciate you That means it
means so much to us You tookthis time out to sit with us and
let our voices come into yourear holes So yeah your hoses man
I've just had so many nastyinteractions with ear holes
lately children little boysThey're just so nasty Their ears
(43:09):
are always
AJ (43:10):
Yeah Yeah they do It's it's just speckles of dirt It's like
someone threw a clot of dirt intheir ear and they just kind of
half-heartedly swiped most ofthe big chunks out and the rest
of it's left and you're like how
Pearl (43:22):
I know Well
AJ (43:23):
don't you feel that
Pearl (43:24):
out cleaning out some someones ears the other day and
I was showing them what was onthe queue tab I'm like and I'm
not talking about like puttingthe Q-tip into their ear canal
Calm down You guys I'm talkingabout like using the Q-tip and
scrubbing the available surfaceOn their ear And it was just it
was so disgusting but they weresuper impressed and they thought
it was hilarious yeah I dunno I
AJ (43:45):
might I feel like this might speak more to our
Pearl (43:47):
parents
AJ (43:49):
than anything else Yeah
Pearl (43:51):
know I know that I'm not alone in this If you
AJ (43:56):
I remember when when I would go to the doctor for any kind of
checkup my mom would no no Shewould soundly deny any
culpability for what the doctorfound in my
Pearl (44:08):
ears So
AJ (44:10):
You know I was like I don't know what age but You know
probably over 10 and she's likehe's old enough I do not take
any responsibility for what mayor may not come out of his year
Pearl (44:22):
That's gotta be the grossest job ever looking at
people's ears Anyways thanks forlistening
AJ (44:26):
Thanks for listening Hearing our musings and non historical
history I mean it's
Pearl (44:34):
I mean it is historical
AJ (44:35):
It's just
Pearl (44:36):
it's not thorough
AJ (44:38):
Thank you for listening to our armchair
Pearl (44:40):
right Armchair Yes I keep forgetting that race
AJ (44:43):
or armchair
Pearl (44:44):
We are the armchair historians All right You guys
have a good week don't forget tolike comment and subscribe
AJ (44:53):
and share with your mom
Pearl (44:54):
I
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