To Live Together
In the 1940s the military services reflected the racial prejudice and segregation then pervading American society. Black American units were organized in each branch of the Armed Forces, but were not used in direct combat roles at first. Later in the war, this began to change as the long, slow process of improving racial relations gained momentum in the services and nation.
At Iwo Jima’s battlefield cemetery Chaplain Roland Gittelsohn, a Jewish rabbi, took a bold step for that time by addressing the issues of race and religion. He reminded the living of their eternal bonds with the fallen and one of their most important obligations to honor their memory:
We dedicate ourselves, first to live together in peace the way they fought and are buried in this war. Here lie men who loved America because their ancestors generations ago helped in her founding, and other men who loved her with equal passion because they themselves or their own fathers escaped from oppression to her blessed shores. Here lie officers and men, Negroes and Whites, rich men and poor together. Here are Protestants, Catholics and Jews together. Here no man prefers another because of his faith or despised him because of his color. Here there are no quotas of how many from each group are admitted or allowed. Among these men there is no discrimination. No prejudices. No hatred. There is the highest and purest democracy.520
This sermon was reprinted in the thousands and made its way back to the States in untold numbers of letters home. It was also picked up by newspapers, magazines, and radio broadcasts. It was one of many seeds planted during the war that would grow slowly and painfully toward a color-blind America.
Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?
—Malachi 2:10