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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Father Was There:-(, October 23, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: What's a Commie Ever Done to Black People? A Korean War Memoir of Fighting in the U.S. Army's Last All Negro Unit (Paperback)
"Dear Mr Morrow; I can't express how Korean war memoir, made me feel. My dad was there too (Korea, 1950/51).. Often I've wondered what it was like for him. Sure, he told us all the "funny" things this or that buddy did while the whole thing went on. But he spares us all the gore. So often I've wondered WHY he would awaken in the middle of the night and just sit on the front porch polishing his guns, looking out and and rubbing, rubbing, rubbing that smelly polish over his guns. I told myself it was a "man thing" and it could have well been. But I don't think so. The older I get, the more I'm convinced he hid plenty from us, especially his only daughter, his youngest child. Me. Thank you for writing the book. I am so happy I purchase a copy, it explained so many things to me, things I could only wonder about. Again thank you for making such knowledge advailable, as painfully as I am sure it must've been for you to relive ". PS; Your wonderful book serve as is a valuable lession to all,, which is, African American's history can only be told by African Americans.. Peace & Happiness, Sir A reader in NC.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Coming of Age, July 27, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: What's a Commie Ever Done to Black People? A Korean War Memoir of Fighting in the U.S. Army's Last All Negro Unit (Paperback)
Many coming of age stories have been written, but rarely from the viewpoint of an African-American soldier, even more rarely from the viewpoint of an enlisted man with only a grade-school education. Morrow joins the US Army at 17 during the Korean War to satisfy his thirst for adventure and demonstrate his patriotism. He volunteers for front line combat in Korea and finds out on arriving that life aint like the movies. We live through his eyes and thoughts as he is forced to kill or be killed. After he is wounded and sent to for rest and recuperation, we also share his experience of wartime romance. However, this is not your usual jingoistic, gung-ho, shoot-em up war story. Morrow also allows us to experience the questions that haunt him as he trudges through the deadly countryside. This is an educational and entertaining book for any reader interested in African-American and/or military history. I would also recommend this book as a gift for a young man or woman as a Rites of Passage present. I am a woman, who does not usually read war stories, but this held my interest and provided an in depth, positive, human account of one mans war experiences. It should be made into a movie. It has all the qualifications: a quest, adventures, and love interest.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Outrgade by Racism, but not homophobia????, June 16, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: What's a Commie Ever Done to Black People? A Korean War Memoir of Fighting in the U.S. Army's Last All Negro Unit (Paperback)
When I first saw the title of this book, I was reminded of a TV interview with Muhammed Ali and his opposition to the Vietnam War. "No Viet Cong ever called me Nigger!," said Ali, challenging the cameras as he always did. Even at that young age (I was only in my early teens at the time) I was impressed with the truth of the statement, but I had an annoying voice in the back of my head that kept asking me, 'yeah, but so what.' Morrows book is a trenchant (pun intended) description of his experiences in Korea both as a soldier and as a black man. Like many soldiers, he felt a need to exorcise the bad memories. This book is his cathartic. Two parts of the book were of special relevance to me. One was the mixed feelings he had coming back to his home town and being a hero. He felt uncomfortable with being a sort-of military poster boy. He felt he was being used when he spoke to high schools about the Korean War or the War against communism. Especially bothersome was some "little ol' fat lady recruiter" who came up and told him all the publicity had doubled enlistments. The other was his incongruous remarks about faggots in the personnel department at Fort Leonard Wood. As a reviewer I will brush this aside as an off-the-cuff remark probably not indicative of Morrow's true feelings toward gays (if he has any). But, from the readers standpoint, it is most inconveniently placed smack in the middle of a section where he gets very high on the horse and very outraged about the racism at Fort Leonard Wood and elsewhere. It is awkward, to say the least, to criticize racial stereotypes on the one hand while spewing sexual stereotypes on the other, Mr. Morrow. A soapbox is a risky foundation from which preachers have swiftly fallen countless times. Nonetheless, the issue of gays in the military is a separate issue, best dealt with in other books. Morrows book is a fairly good one, and I enjoyed it.
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