Today we celebrate the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment! Here’s more from the US Army Corps of Engineers:

During World War II, many African-Americans served in engineer general service regiments within a segregated Army. In theory, these units were “trained and equipped to undertake all types of general engineer work,” which usually entailed the construction and repair of roads, airfields, and bridges. In practice, several black regiments were ill-trained and not given proper equipment. Unfortunately, many of the white officers assigned to the black units were hostile to the men they were supposed to lead and assumed they could not be taught to operate machinery. Accordingly, the men of many black engineer units were given duties requiring little or no skill.

Fortunately, however, there were leaders who rejected the stereotype and believed their men had great potential. Together they achieved outstanding results. The 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment, for example, compiled a record of solid achievement. Activated on 16 August 1943, its commander was Lt. Col. (later Col.) Aldo H. Bagnulo, the son of Italian immigrants and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His faith in the men under his command paid off.

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