Seeking information on African American GIs who attended Army University Centers in Europe in 1945-46.

U.S. Army University Centers were established in Europe in 1945 in Biarritz France, Florence Italy, and Shrivenham England, for GI's to attend while awaiting redeployment home. Attendance was through unit nominations, and each active army unit could send a quota of soldiers to attend meaning that all-Black units could send the same number as their all-white counterparts. It resulted in a unique integrated campus environment where Black and White (and Japanese-American) soldier lived, ate, and attended classes together. I am interested in identifying records of African American soldiers who attended these center and understand more of their experience.

0 Rachael Salyer 3 months ago

Dear Glenn McRae,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

In addition to the information provided in response to your previous History Hub post I am seeking information on graduates of any of the three American GI Universities in Europe, 1945-1946, we searched the National Archives Catalog and located the series Unit Histories, 1943-1967 in the Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter) (Record Group 338), which includes 30 files related to "education", 275 files related to "school", and 6 files related to "university" that you may wish to review. The series Reports Received, November 1944–September 1947 in the Records of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army (Record Group 492) contains some information about the University Training Command. There may also be some relevant information in large series of subject decimal files or correspondence like the series Central Decimal Correspondence Files, 1940-1945 or Central Decimal Correspondence Files, 1946-1948 in the Records of the Adjutant General’s Office (Record Group 407), which are typically arranged according to the War Department Decimal File System. Please be aware that these records generally do not include details about individual soldiers; rather, they contain information about the administration and activities of a unit or organization as a whole. Most of these records have not been digitized. Please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RR2R) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov for more information about these and similar records.

You may also wish to search the National Archives Catalog for additional, potentially relevant resources. For example, we located several references to "Army university" that might be of interest to you. Some records may be digitized and available online using the Catalog. For access to any non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives (NARA) reference unit listed in each Catalog description.

If you are interested in specific units, you may also wish to review Morning Reports, ca. 1912-1946 for the particular Army units you are researching. For more information about these records, please contact the National Archives at St. Louis (RRPO) at stl.archives@nara.gov. Please be aware that rosters for units serving in World War II from 1944-1946 were destroyed in accordance with Army disposition authorities. For more information, please see Access to Morning Reports and Unit Rosters | National Archives.

You may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

We also searched WorldCat.org and located several resources related to "Army university centers" and African American GIs that may be useful for your research, and we located a number of Army publications available online that reference "Army university centers" as well. Finally, we suggest that you contact the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center and the U.S. Army Center of Military History for additional assistance.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!
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0 Rebecca Heindl 2 months ago

Still trying to answer the query from
Glenn McRae about Biarritz U. in France 1945=-46.
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0 History Hub Administrator 2 months ago in reply to Rebecca Heindl

Hello,

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0 Rebecca Heindl 29 days ago in reply to History Hub Administrator

My father (not Black) was at Biarritz U. Jan - Mar 1945. I have his WWII letters that mention that experience, if you are interested.
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