Dear Gail,

It is entirely possible that your uncle was mistakenly classified as white. The same thing happened to my father's first cousin during World War II. My dad's cousin did not inform the army of their mistake, and he served in a white unit.

Here's how it could have happened. On the Census he was classified as black because the Census enumerator knew that he was black, probably knew the family--both the African American and the white sides of the family. However, if he joined the army in a place other than his home town, the recruiting officer could have assumed he was white based on his appearance only. He could even have joined in his home town, and the same mistake could have occurred if the recruiting officer did not know him.

Don't let others dissuade you from what you know. It could have happened.

Regards,
Sandra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: I am still trying to verify how my uncle Herbert Samuel
: Manns,African American, was assigned to Air Co K 70 Inf. US
: Army.

: On his death certificate he is listed as White.He looked White but
: as far as I have researched, the family was always listed,by
: census, as Black. During that time did they just identify a
: recruit visually?

: I have posted to a number of forums and everyone tells me that he
: could not be African American because he would have been in a
: segregated troop. They have told me that there must be a white
: man with exactly the same name, birthdate,mother's name,
: father's name and State in the grave at the Veteran's Cemetery
: in Los Angeles.

: I have been told that he had to have been in an all black unit.Yet
: as far as I have heard so far, Co. K was not. Right? Wrong?

: On his grave marker at Veterans Cemetery in Los Angeles it states
: that he was
: PVT.HERBERT SAMUEL MANNS
: MARYLAND
: PVT. CO K 70 INFANTRY
: WORLD WAR I
: MAY 23 1890 MARCH 15 1957

: I have written for more of his records and was told that there was
: a fire and all of those records were destroyed.

: So, I really want to know more about this Co K because that may
: help me to determine where he enlisted. More importantly, I may
: have a clue about where he lived from the time he left the
: service until he died in Los Angeles in 1957.

: We are proud of him either way!

: Thanks for your help,

: gail