ce indicating that racial friction had decreased in those units
since the men generally accepted any replacement willing to fight. But
in the end the board retreated into the Army's conventional wisdom:
separate units must be retained, and the number of Negroes in the Army
must be regulated.[17-36]

[Footnote 17-36: Report of Board of Officers on
Utilization of Negro Manpower (2d Chamberlin
Report), 3 Apr 51, G-1 334 (8 Nov 51).]

The board's recommendations were not approved. Budgetary limitations
precluded the creation of more segregated units and the evidence of
Korea could not be denied. Yet the board still enjoyed considerable
support in some quarters. The Vice Chief of Staff, General Haislip,
who made no secret of his opposition to integration, considered it
"premature" to rely and act solely on the experience with integration
in Korea and the training divisions, and he told Secretary Pace in May
1951 that "no action should be taken which would lead to the immediate
elimination of segregated units."[17-37] And then there was the
assessment of Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond, World War II commander of the
92d Division and later X Corps commander in Korea and MacArthur's
chief of staff. Twenty years after the Korean War Almond's attitude
toward integration had not changed.

I do not agree that integration improves military efficiency; I
believe that it weakens it. I believe that integration was and is
a political solution for the composition of our military forces
because those responsible for the procedures either do not
understand the characteristics of the two human elements (p. 441)
concerned, the white man and the Negro as individuals.
The basic characteristics of Negro and White are fundamentally
different and these basic differences must be recognized by those
responsible for integration. By trial and error we must test the
integration in its application. These persons who promulgate and
enforce such policies either have not the understanding of the
problem or they do not have the intestinal fortitude to do what
they think if they do understand it. There is no question in my
mind of the inherent difference in races. This is not racism--it
is common sense and understanding. Those who ignore these
differences merely interfere with the combat effectiveness of
battle unit