I was in the MP Guard Room, Camp Hood, Texas, 6 July 1944, when the Sgt. of the Guard received a call from the Central Bus Station. Sgt. Painter, Sgt. of the Guard, then radioed Cpl. Elwood to go to the bus station and investigate the trouble there.
I was in the Guard Room later when Cpl. Elwood reported to the Sgt. of the Guard and brought in a colored Lt. whom I learned to be Lt. Robinson from the 761st Tank Battalion, and a white soldier, Pfc Mucklerath, from the IRTC, Camp Hood. Lt. Robinson seemed to be mad and he said he was in the McCloskey General Hospital, and that he would be back out here tomorrow, and said that if he saw Pfc Mucklerath again he would break him in two. Pfc Mucklerath told Sgt. Painter that he wanted that put down, and wanted the name of all the witnesses who heard the Lt. say that. The Lt’s attitude certainly was not becoming to an officer and a gentleman, and he was very disrespectful of the white soldier. Pfc. Mucklerath told Sgt. Painter that at the Bus Station, Lt. Robinson said, “You better quit fuckin’ with me,” to a white lady. The Lt. admitted saying that, but said he was saying it to the bus driver. The Lt. told Sgt. Painter that the bus driver of the bus he was riding on told him to go to the rear of the bus, and he admitted that he refused to go to the rear, and that the bus driver told him he was going to cause trouble for him, and that he told the bus driver to go ahead and cause all the trouble he wanted to.
When Captain Wigginton, the Camp OD, walked in the Guard Room the colored Lt. started telling him about what happened. He told Captain Wigginton that nobody could call him a nigger and he said to the Captain, “If you yourself, called me a nigger I would tell you the same thing.” He said that he would say that to anyone who called him a nigger. The colored Lt. was laying on the Sgt.’s of the Guard desk, he was leaning over with his head toward the Sgt., and when he said that he didn’t move his body, but just moved his head and directed his words to Captain Wigginton in an insolent manner, and said, “If you, Captain, called me a nigger I would tell you the same thing.” When the Lt. and the Pfc, were both trying to tell their story, the Lt. finally told Pfc. Mucklerath to go ahead and tell his story first, and then he started interrupting him and Captain Wigginton told him to be quiet so Pfc Mucklerath could finish his story. I left shortly after that and went back to the Stockade.