You make an excellent point. Perhaps my article should have taken into acount the broader cultural impact. However, the fact that the carvings began in England in the 1600s signaled to me that it was more gimmick than slander. The continued use of the cigar store Indians during the 19th century would not have been helpful. Your point is well made. Thank you for taking the time to add context.

Thank you for your interest. The men who first became the Triple Nickles were kitchen staff and maintenance workers—the work the military thought was appropriate for Black men. They came into the military under the qualifications issued in October of 1940 under the War Department Mobilization Regulations No. 1-9 (MR 1-9. These men volunteered to teach themselves to be paratroopers on their own time, and they more than proved themselves capable.
Height and Weight: Recruits had to be between 5 feet (60 inches) and 6 feet 6 inches (78 inches) tall, and weigh a minimum of 105 pounds. Weight was primarily used to screen for wasting diseases like tuberculosis.
The 12-Tooth Rule: A GI was required to have a minimum of 12 functional teeth—specifically, 6 opposing chewing teeth in the back and 6 opposing incisors in the front—so they could physically masticate tough Army field rations.
Vision and Hearing: Vision had to be at least 20/100 in each eye without glasses, provided it could be corrected with spectacles to 20/40 in the better eye. Hearing required detecting a whispered voice from 15 feet away.
General Health: The physical was essentially a mass screening to rule out organic diseases, severe mental disorders, or physical deformities (like severe flat feet or hernias) that would prevent a soldier from marching.
After the men proved themselves, all enlistees coming in to be paratroopers had more stringent physical qualifications.

Thank you! And yes Eric Sloane’s books are fabulous, aren’t they? I, too, loved the illustrations…And for you, the memories are priceless! It sounds great. Thank you for posting!

Kate

Thanks for posting.

and remembering the days of my youth growing up on a 11.5 acre farm north of Chicago, yes, we had a very legit barn, putting up hay in the haymow with the tractor assist. plenty of strange out buildings, granery, out houses, chicken coop, etc. what a magnificent life it was! my dad had a full time factory job so my brothers did a lot of the work. 7 kids.SO MANY MEMORIES> thanks for the beautiful website DG SD CA.

Thanks so much for commenting.

Here’s another story about an amazing German shepherd: https://americacomesalive.com/smart-german-shepherd-1927/

Kate