the Eighth Army, its inspector general reported, was
integration. Yet he perceived serious difficulty in integration. To
mix the troops of the eighty-four major segregated units in the Eighth
Army under wartime conditions would create an intolerable
administrative burden and would be difficult for the individuals
involved. If integration was limited to the 24th Infantry alone, on
the other hand, its members, indeed even its former members, would
share the onus of its failure. The inspector general therefore (p. 438)
again recommended retaining the 24th, assigning additional officers
and noncommissioned officers to black units with low test averages,
and continuing the integration of the Eighth Army.[17-30]

[Footnote 17-30: Ltr, EUSAK IG to CG, EUSAK, 15 Mar
51, sub: Report of Investigation Concerning 24th
Infantry Regiment and Negro Soldiers in Combat,
EUSAK IG Report.]

[Illustration: SURVIVORS OF AN INTELLIGENCE AND RECONNAISSANCE
PLATOON, _24th Infantry, Korea, May 1951_.]

The Eighth Army was not alone in investigating the 24th Infantry. The
NAACP was also concerned with reports of the regiment's performance,
in particular with figures on the large number of courts-martial.
Thirty-six of the men convicted, many for violation of Article 75 of
the Articles of War (misbehavior before the enemy), had appealed to
the association for assistance, and Thurgood Marshall, then one of its
celebrated attorneys, went to the Far East to investigate. Granted
_carte blanche_ by the Far East commander, General Douglas MacArthur,
Marshall traveled extensively in Korea and Japan reviewing the record
and interviewing the men. His conclusions: "the men were tried in an
atmosphere making justice impossible," and the NAACP had the evidence
to clear most of them.[17-31] Contrasting the Army's experiences
with those of the Navy and the Air Force, Marshall attributed (p. 439)
discrimination in the military justice system to the Army's
segregation policy. He blamed MacArthur for failing to carry out
Truman's order in the Far East and pointed out that no Negroes served
in the command's headquarters. As long as racial segregation
continued, the civil rights veteran concluded, the Army would dispense
the kind of injustice typical of the courts-martial he reviewed.

[Footnote 17-31: Thurgood Marshall, _Report on Korea:
T