re than 50 percent
of its law infractions. The only connection the command was able to
make between the separate, unequal facilities and the high misconduct
rate was to point out that, while it had done its best to provide for
Negroes, they "had not earned a very enviable record by
themselves."[11-11]

[Footnote 11-11: AAF Transport Cmd, "History of the
Command, 1 July 1946-31 December 1946" pp. 120-26.]

In one crucial five-month period of the war, Army Air Forces (p. 274)
headquarters processed twenty-two separate staff actions involving
black troops.[11-12] To avoid the supposed danger of large-scale social
integration, the Air Forces, like the rest of the Army during World
War II, had been profligate in its use of material resources,
inefficient in its use of men, and destructive of the morale of black
troops.

[Footnote 11-12: Parrish, "Segregation of the Negro in
the Army Air Forces."]

[Illustration: COLONEL PARRISH. (_1946 photograph_).]

The Air staff was not oblivious to these facts and made some
adjustments in policy as the war progressed. Notably, it rejected
separate training of nonrated black officers and provided for
integrated training of black navigators and bombardiers. In the last
days of the war General Arnold ordered his commanders to "take
affirmative action to insure that equity in training and assignment
opportunity is provided all personnel."[11-13] And when it came to
postwar planning, the Air staff demonstrated it had learned much from
wartime experience:

The degree to which negroes can be successfully employed in the
Post-War Military Establishment largely depends on the success of
the Army in maintaining at a minimum the feeling of
discrimination and unfair treatment which basically are the
causes for irritation and disorders ... in the event of a future
emergency the arms will employ a large number of negroes and
their contribution in such an emergency will largely depend on
the training, treatment and intelligent use of negroes during the
intervening years.[11-14]

[Footnote 11-13: AAF Ltr 35-268, 11 Aug 45.]

[Footnote 11-14: Rpt, ACS/AS-1 to WDSS, 17 Sep 45,
sub: Participation of Negro Troops in the Post-War
Military Establishment, WDSS 291.2.]

But while admitting that discr