Editor’s note: Portions of the following article were taken from “George S. Patton’s Magnificent Panthers: The 761st Tank Battalion,” written by By Charles W. Sasser.

What are you laughing at man?” asked the soldier.

“They say ol’ General Patton asked them to send him the best Negro Tank Battalion in the army,” said the laughing soldier. “They say the colonel wrote him back and told him he couldn’t send him the best Negro Tank Battalion in the army but he could send him the best tank battalion in the army and they just happened to be Negroes.”

The year was 1944. America was at war, and the Black Panthers of the 761st Tank Battalion was riding high. They had just completed maneuvers in Texas, where they outclassed every other battalion. They were good and knew it.

The 761st was formed in March 1942 and activated a month later on April 1, 1942. The unit had 676 enlisted men 30 black officers and six white officers. An independent tank battalion, the unit, and its soldiers, by federal law, were not allowed to serve alongside white troops.

Among the enlisted men was Trinity High School graduate Wilmer Harris, son of Mrs. Willie Harris. Pfc. Harris was inducted into the Army June 19, 1943, and by 1944 found himself in France with the 761st assigned as a light machine gunner to Patton’s 3rd Army. Patton was generally skeptical of the abilities of black soldiers and he thought African-American tankers were intellectually incapable of handling the challenges of armored warfare. In his pivotal book, “War As I Knew It,” Patton stated that he believed “a colored soldier cannot think fast enough to fight in armor.”

Harris and the 761st would prove him wrong.

Confident in their abilities after having been told at Camp Hood, Texas, they had a superior training record, the 761st was ready to fight at Omaha Beach. Their motto was “Come out Fighting!” and fighting they did.

After landing at Normandy, the 761st raced 400 miles across France in six days and began wreaking havoc on their German enemies. Logan Nye, in an article for “We Are The Mighty,” said that the 761st “crushed Nazi Forces on the Western Front.”

During World War II, tank units rotated to the rear after three month at the front. The 761st, however, spent 183 days in continuous combat at the front and inflicted massive casualties on German combat units. In their first months of fighting, the Panthers earned three Medal of Honor nominations.

Driving toward Germany’s Saar Region, the Panthers were laying down an immense amount of fire. At some point during this maneuver Harris was wounded. A letter addressed to his mother was sent by general delivery to Athens, but by the time it arrived, he was back into the fray.

On Dec. 9, 1944, the 761st rolled onto German soil. Sgt. Willie McCall got out of his tank and looked around. Spitting contemptuously, he said, “So this is the home of Superman?”

At the time, Superman was not looking so good because the Black Panthers were clawing on his turf.

When the Battle of the Bulge began on Dec. 16, 1944, the Panthers were in the thick of things. Racing across frozen ground they landed at Bastogne and relieved the fabled 101st Airborne Division, dubbed “The Battling Bastards of Bastogne” for their heroic fight in slowing the German advance.

The town of Tillett, located 15 miles west of Bastogne, fell to the 761st on January 7, 1944. A German soldier captured by the Panthers was stunned to see black soldiers in uniform. He asked Sgt. Johnny Holmes, in English, “What are you doing here? This is a white man’s war.”

Holmes offered him a cigarette and replied, “You ain’t got no black or white when you’re over here and the nation is in trouble. You only got Americans.”

Continuing to fight, the Panthers broke the Siegfried Line in late March and crossed Germany’s main river, the Rhine, later in the same month. On May 5, 1945, they rolled into Steyr, Austria, and became one of the first American units to link up with elements of the Soviet Union’s Red Army.

By war’s end in May 1945, the 761st had participated in four major campaigns, inflicted more than 130,000 casualties and captured close to 100,000 enemy soldiers. They had earned a Medal of Honor, seven silver stars, 56 Bronze stars, 246 Purple Hearts, 391 decorations for heroism and eight enlisted men had been given battlefield commissions as army officers.

On Victory in Europe Day, the 761st lined their tanks besides a small bridge on the Enns River. Patton stood straight and tall in a jeep and with a satisfied look on his face returned the salutes of the prideful Black Panthers.

By the time Pfc. Harris departed the European Theater on March 21, 1945, former Trinity student and Tuskegee Airman Leroy Murray and the “Red Tails” had proven that Negroes could fly airplanes and former Trinity student and Montfort Point Marine Melvin Ballard and his corps compadres had proven that Negroes had what it took to be undeniably Marines. Lastly, Trinity student and 370th Regiment Combat Team Purple Heart recipient Thomas C. Malone and his regiment had proven that Negroes were not afraid to fight.

Harris arrived in the United States on March 28, 1945. His awards and decorations included the Combat Infantryman Badge, Purple Heart, World War II Victory Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.

He received an honorable discharge from the United States Army on Feb. 8, 1946.

— Walker, a retired lieutenant colonel, is the JROTC instructor at Austin High School in Decatur. He can be reached at James.Walker@dcs.edu.