A true love story

The last time Clara Gantt heard from her husband, Army Sgt. 1st Class (SFC) Joseph E. Gantt, was Christmas 1950 in a letter, according to the Los Angeles Times. What she didn’t know was that by then, he had already been wounded and captured by North Korean forces. By March of 1951, would be dead according to a report provided to Ms. Gantt. His wounds and lack of food would contribute to his death at a POW camp, but it would take six decades before his remains would be returned to her and they would be reunited.

 

Clara never remarried. She would have had to have him declared legally dead since his remains weren’t identified until this year.

Her time with Joseph was short and memorable. Telling their story with today’s perspective would be unfair. Life was different then. To understand who Clara and SFC Joseph E. Gantt were, let’s begin in 1946, just after World War II. Love was a luxury for black couples. America’s freedoms were not extended to them and simply walking into the wrong door or using the wrong bathroom could get a black man killed.

latimes2Clara told the LA Times she was one of 18 children raised on a farm in Texas. She saved up her money and decided to take the train to California in 1946. That same year, Texas executed six men for crimes ranging from rape to murder. Five of the men were black, one was Hispanic. The year before, Texas executed four men, all were black. The year after, in 1947, Texas executed 10 men, all were black. Being black in Texas wasn’t good for men; women didn’t have it easy there or anywhere in the south. Clara wanted out of Texas and headed to Los Angeles.

On her way, she met  SFC Joseph E. Gantt in the segregated black car. The all white U.S. Supreme Court would rule interstate segregated public transportation was unconstitutional in 1946, but no one was jumping to integrate. Jackie Robinson had yet to wow them on a major league field (1947) and Brown vs. the Board of Education (1954), the Civil Rights Act (1964) or even Thurgood Marshall joining the U.S. Supreme Court (1967) was yet to happen.

The soldiers in the car were traveling to Washington. World War II was over. They served and risked their lives.  At the Victory parades around the country, blacks were either separated from the other soldiers or had no part in the celebrations.

Clara and Joseph married in 1948 and moved to Fort Lewis, Washington. Two years later the Korean conflict began in June 1950. The Los Angeles Times reports that, “[he was] assigned as a field medic, Battery C, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division,” and that, “he was taken prisoner defending his unit’s position near Kunu-ri’ Korea.”

The 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division was an all black battalion. Respect for all black units was sparse and unfair and the battle at Kunu-ri’ suffered numerous causalities and captures.  Clara never stopped writing letters to Washington, attending meetings and trying to find out information about her husband. This Christmas, he came home to a hero’s welcome. There was no segregated section for the black soldiers’ caskets. His was carried by white soldiers who helped his wife up as she leaned over to speak to him one last time.

SFC Joseph E. Gantt’s story is one of the biggest stories trending, something I’m sure he could not have predicted. A black man who left our country with few freedoms, yet fought for every one of them for us, lived up to the honor he’s being given today. He probably could not have imagined that the United States of America would insist on Korea returning his remains to us so that he could be buried at home and especially that his wife of 65 years would be waiting to greet him. Better yet, the President of the U.S. and the Commander-in-Chief of the Military would be black. What a homecoming. Welcome home.

 

 

 

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