No Race has a Monopoly on Courage

I've written previously on the maltreatment African American soldiers received, including the lynching of veterans before and during the Civil Rights era. But a walk around the National Mall today (especially the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War Memorials) with tributes to American servicepersons of all races, creeds, religions, and genders, served as another reminder that no race has a monopoly on courage. 

President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948. It abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces. The executive order led to the end of segregation in the services during the Korean War... almost 85 years after the Gettysburg Address and Emancipation Proclamation.

Tadias Magazine

The Emperor's Own was recently reviewed by StrategyPage in cooperation with the New York Military Affairs Symposium. The review was featured at Tadias.

Tadias is a New York-based news and profiles magazine established in 2003 catering to the Ethiopian-American and diaspora communities.

We express sincere gratitude to these institutions. Please check out the review at the following links:

Tadias - Ethiopia in the Korean War: Book Review

StrategyPage - Book Review: Emperor's Own

COVID-19

As the world is racing to contain the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, Public Health – Seattle & King County (Washington State, USA) published public health advisories in several languages, including Amharic.  Please check out the links below for more information.  Sincere gratitude to the authorities in Washington State for ensuring the information reached every community.

More information available at their website

Also, here is a direct link to the Amharic advisory

And below is a snippet of the two-page document.

 

The Emperor’s Own Book Trailer (Ethiopia’s Kagnew Battalion)

The Graybeards

Thank you to Arthur Sharp, editor of The Greybeards: Official Publication of the Korean War Veterans Association for not only including a blurb about the book in Vol. 33, No. 6 of their newsletter, but also for his tireless effort in getting recognition for Korean War veterans.

Book Review

The Emperor's Own received it's first independent book review from the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society...

After an overview of Ethiopia being ignored by the League of Nations and conquered by Italy in the 1930s, the Ethiopians responded to US President Harry Truman's call for allies to fight the North Korean invasion by sending the 1st Kagnew Battalion. Ultimately, Ethiopia rotated four Kagnew battalions into the Korean War.

The actions and activities of each battalion get covered in exquisite detail -- page after page of small-unit actions down at the patrol and platoon levels against North Korean and Chinese forces. Scenario ideas pop out in virtually every paragraph in the four main chapters.

If you never heard of this force, you'll be impressed with the detail, which seems taken mostly from official reports, but accentuated with interviews by the participants.

Contains 86 black and white photos, 8 maps, and 1 diagram through the main text. Center section contains four color uniform illustrations, three color vehicle profiles, and 21-photo (black and white and color) subsection with individual soldier photos and four color group photos of veterans' reunion in 2012.


Enjoyed this little known gem of a unit profile.

Now in Stores

The Emperor's Own is now available in stores...