,
Sens. Herbert Lehman and Hubert Humphrey to SecDef,
25 Jul 51; Memo, ASA for ASD (M&P), 19 Jul 51, sub:
Racial Segregation in FECOM; Telg, Elmer W.
Henderson, Dir, American Council on Human Rights,
to George C. Marshall, SecDef, 31 May 51. All in
SecDef 291.2.]

Three problems had to be solved in carrying out the integration (p. 445)
order. The first, inactivation of the 24th Infantry and the choice of
a replacement, was quickly overcome. From the replacements suggested,
Ridgway decided on the 14th Infantry, which had been recently assigned,
minus men and equipment, to the Far East Command. It was filled with
troops and equipment from the 34th Infantry, then training replacements
in Japan. On 1 October it was assigned to the 24th's zone of
responsibility in the 25th Division's line. The 24th Infantry, its men
and equipment transferred to other infantry units in Korea, was
inactivated on 1 October and "transferred to the control of the
Department of the Army."[17-56]

[Footnote 17-56: Per Ltr, TAG to CINCFE, 9 Aug 51,
AGAO-I 322 (26 Jul 51), implemented by Eighth Army
GO 717, 22 Sep 51.]

The second problem, integration of units throughout the command,
proved more difficult and time-consuming. Ridgway considered the need
most urgent in the infantry units and wanted their integration to take
precedence. The 3d Battalion of the 9th Infantry was reorganized
first, many of its black members scattered throughout other infantry
units in the 2d Division. But then things got out of phase. To speed
the process the Army staff dropped its plan for inactivating all
segregated units and decided simply to remove the designation
"segregated" and assign white soldiers to formerly all-black units.
Before this form of integration could take place in the 3d Battalion,
15th Infantry, the last major black infantry unit, the 64th Tank
Battalion and the 58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion began the
process of shifting their black troops to nearby white units. The 77th
Engineer Combat Company was the last combat unit to lose the asterisk,
the Army's way of designating a unit black.[17-57] The command was
originally committed to an Army contingency plan that would transfer
black combat troops found superfluous to the newly integrated units to
service units, but this