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Buffalo Soldiers gather with pride

Men who served in all-black units held a reunion in the area this week.

By JUSTIN GEORGE
Published July 30, 2005

TAMPA - Nathan Streets Jr. came from Chicago wearing cargo pants, a purple heart pin tacked to his ball cap and a hearing aid. He is a true Buffalo Soldier, a military man who served in an all-black unit before the military integrated.

He was a radio operator in the 24th Infantry Regiment in 1951 during the Korean War. During an airstrike, shrapnel pierced his left groin, fracturing his pelvis and causing internal injuries.

Along with other Buffalo Soldiers, he visited MacDill Air Force Base. He had never eaten in an officers club before Friday.

"I think I cleaned it up once," Streets said.

He is one of many considered Buffalo Soldiers, who served in segregated units from 1866 to 1951, battling wars on two fronts: U.S. enemies and U.S. racism. They were named by Cheyenne warriors in 1867 because they fought with the ferocity of a cornered buffalo. The nickname carried through the years, and members of the 9th & 10th (Horse) Cavalry Association have accepted it proudly.

They are like a military fraternity, and are holding their 139th Anniversary Reunion at the Wyndham Harbour Island Hotel this week, with events concluding today. Between 300 and 500 members came. While there were few from the original segregated units, there were many black men attending who enlisted just after them, when the only thing really integrated were the barracks, and then not always so.

Then there are the younger members, who served in the military more recently, or are descendants of Buffalo Soldiers.

Together, they have built an alliance to hold onto the history of veterans such as the Tuskegee Airmen and other Buffalo Soldiers.

"It's a way to keep the memory alive," Streets, 72, said. "Because pretty soon we'll all be gone."

In 1898, Tampa was ground zero, where the four original Buffalo Soldier units gathered from remote outposts scattered across the United States. The all-black units joined Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders during the Spanish American War, on their way to Cuba, charging up a hill during the Battle of San Juan and victoriously into their place in history.

So, it's fitting that the reunion was held here, said Frank Bell Jr., president of the Tampa chapter that hosted the reunion, which brought members from all over the nation.

Bell, 56, was an Air Force crew chief during the Vietnam War and entered the military after integration. His father was an Army engineer who helped build the bridges during World War II that allowed America's tanks to gain ground.

Bell spoke proudly of the bittersweet lessons of persistence his father passed on. When the Germans gave him propaganda questioning why a black man fought for a racist country, he threw it away. As Bell continued, his cell phone rang. An association member needed a ride from a dialysis clinic.

His sport utility vehicle wound down Harbour Island and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards, before reaching Armenia Avenue and the American Renal Association of Tampa Bay.

There Bell found James A. Manning, 73, a tall man with glasses crooked on his nose like a professor. He was from Lakewood, Wash. His left arm was bandaged after four hours of dialysis.

Quite an ordeal, he said, yet he did not consider skipping the conference.

As Manning, a retired colonel, rode back to the hotel, he spoke about how he was a member of the first integrated ROTC summer training units in 1953.

He talked about how the nightclubs were still segregated. Fridays for whites; Saturdays for blacks.

Bell said instructors constantly questioned and tested him during aircraft technical training until he felt like giving up.

"We've got to be the best," Bell remembered saying back then. "And doggone it, we're gonna show them. It was a sense of pride."

Manning nodded, his new blue "Buffalo Soldiers" ball cap tag moving with him.

Kids these days leave their tags on too, touting the brands they have bought. But Manning said he left his on because of what it said.

THE FORGOTTEN HEROES. African Americans have served proudly in every great American war ...

"Lady asked me today, when are you going to take the tag off?" Manning said. "I said, I'm not because when I get tired of talking, there's something they can read."

Education, Bell said, was the reason the association formed in the first place.

"They figured if they didn't get the word out about the Buffalo Soldiers," he said, "that part of history wouldn't be covered."

Justin George can be reached at 813 226-3368 or jgeorge@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 30, 2005, 01:09:17]