A review by afro8921
Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America's First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Stone

5.0

African American Servicemen wanted on thing during World War II,an opportunity to serve in a meaningful way. Walter Morris, a African American sergeant stationed at the Company of the Parachute School at Fort Benning, Georgia, Knew that the men in his charge needed a morale boost. Although he was a first sergeant, he and his men were assigned to guard patrol posts. African American servicemen were often given menial tasks like digging ditches, or kitchen duties. The lack of opportunity to serve wholly in the army had a demoralizing effect on many African American servicemen. After watching the training white servicemen underwent, Walter began secretly training his men in the same manner. Word of his night time training expeditions came to the attention of General Ridgely Gaither. Much to Morris’s surprise, Gaither gave him the opportunity to form and all black paratrooper battalion. As the men trained to become America’s first all African American parachute infantry battalion, they received support from some unlikely allies.
Ms. Lee does a fantastic job of chronicling the history of the triple nickels. Not only is the text factually accurate, Ms. Lee details her method of verification in the text. The other nice feature of the book is the index that lists the various quotes from different service men and on which page they appear. This would be a great common core text for students who need to read a non-fiction book. The story is well written and engaging.