In a previous post (May 23, 2011), I described the arrival of the U.S. Army in Leopoldville at the end of August 1942, with an assignment to upgrade Ndolo airport to handle heavy bombers in transit to the Middle East and the China-Burma-India Theater in Asia. Among the troops was a segregated African American unit, Company C of the 27th Quartermaster Truck Regiment. The Belgians were outraged. The Colonial administration had long sought to subvert claims by millenarian sects that black American soldiers would come to liberate the Congolese from colonial tutelage, a sentiment which the demands of the war effort helped to accentuate. On September 1, the Assistant Belgian Military Attaché in Washington delivered a formal complaint from Minister of the Colonies de Vleeschauwer.
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| US Army troops on arrival in Leopoldville (Ph. News from Belgium, Nov. 14, 1942) |
In Leopoldville, the Black soldiers were aware they were not welcome and, if they were not, didn’t understand why they were there. They had the same pass privileges as the white troops, but as their commander wrote, were disinclined to exercise this right because,
“There are no places where our troops may go to be served food, or drink, in contrast to the freedom which is enjoyed by our white troops. … they state that a general outward and bold exhibition on the part of the populace showing Colored soldiers' presence and services are not wanted makes their status very obvious.”
The unit did not want to return to the US and ultimately it was transferred to Liberia, without its white officers. On Armistice Day, the unit paraded through Leopoldville and crossed over to Brazzaville for onward transport to Liberia.
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| The 27th Quartermaster Truck unit marching through Leopoldville (Ph. author coll.) |
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| US Army troops boarding the ferry to Brazzaville (Ph. author coll.) |
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| Barracks at Camp Presnell (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA) |
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| The barracks (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA) |
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| Camp Presnell barracks (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA) |
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| Ndolo airport in the 1940s (Ph. author coll.) |
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| A member of the 38th Engineers with Congolese (Ph. author coll.) |
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| The "Roseraie" building, which later became the US Consulate (Ph. Northwestern University, digital collections) |
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| The adjacent "Villa Tropica", which also housed US War Agency offices (Ph. Northwestern University, digital collections) |
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| Camp Presnell barracks (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA) |
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| Congolese Force Publique guard at Camp Presnell (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA) |
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| Camp Presnell barracks, note thatch added to the metal roof of the building on the right (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA) |
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| Ave Kalikaki 2022 (Ph. R&N) |
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| Ave Kalikaki 2022 (Ph. R&N) |
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| Side street off Ave. Kalikaki 2022 (Ph. R&N) |
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