y hinted at the real
accomplishments of Major Dickson.

In the rigors of war and the perils of battle, men serving side by side,
forget race. They simply realize that they are sharing hardships in
common; are beset by a common foe and are the subjects of common
dangers. Under such circumstances they become comrades. They learn to
admire each other and willingly give to each other a full measure of
praise and appreciation. The Negro soldiers generally, have expressed
unstintedly, approbation and praise of their white officers; and the
officers have been equally generous. Here is an appreciation by one of
the officers of the 372nd regiment, Lieutenant Jerome Meyer of
Washington, concerning the men of that organization:

"Casualties were heavy because the colored lads fought to the last,
cheerfully accepting death in preference to captivity. Their
adeptness in mastering the throwing of hand grenades and in
operating the machine guns quickly won them the esteem of the
French. Remember, that the colored lads were quite new to warfare.
But in the Champagne they fought with a persistence and courage
that enabled them to hold permanently the ground they gained and
won for many of them their decorations. Not a few of the prisoners
taken by the regiment declared that the Germans were in positive
fear of the Negroes, who, they complained, would never quit even
under terrible fire."

One of the outstanding heroes of the 372nd regiment was Sergeant Ira
Payne, of 325 Fifteenth Street, Washington, D.C. He won the Croix de
Guerre and the Distinguished Service Cross, and according to his
comrades, "was not afraid of the devil himself." His story as related by
himself on his return home, follows:

"During the fighting at Sechault the Germans were picking off the
men of my platoon from behind a bush. They had several machine guns
and kept up a deadly fire in spite of our rifle fire directed at
the bush. We did our best to stop those machine guns, but the
German aim became so accurate that they were picking off five of my
men every minute. We couldn't stand for that.

"Well, I decided that I would get that little machine gun nest
myself, and I went after it. I left our company, detoured, and, by
a piece of luck got behind the bush. I got my rifle into action and
'knocked off' two of those German machine gunners. That ended it.