"I am an American. And when I go home [from Korea], I can't even sit and eat where I want to. Can't ride the bus. Can't get a job I'm qualified [for]. Then what the hell am I fighting for?" (Video Interview, Part 2, 22:03)

Charles Earnest Berry

Charles Berry, 2003 War: World War, 1939-1945; Korean War, 1950-1953; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Branch: Army Unit: 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, I Corps Service Location: Hawaii; Japan; China; Philippines; Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands); Guam (Mariana Islands); France; Germany; also: Korea; also: Vietnam Rank: Master Sergeant Place of Birth: TN

Through 22 years in service and three wars--in occupied Japan, in Korea at the Chosin Reservoir, and in Vietnam around the time of the Tet Offensive-Charles Berry saw incremental racial progress. He began with a segregated unit that developed its own esprit de corps in competition with white soldiers, was falsely arrested by a white MP who was later dismissed from the service, and encountered prejudice in Germany when he married a local woman. But his persistence paid off: He was rewarded with a long-delayed promotion and earned the respect of a troubled unit whose morale and performance he turned around.