Unnamed American Soldiers and Sailors
Text:
Character Key:
Display Name:
Unnamed American Soldiers and Sailors
Sort Name:
Unnamed American Soldiers and Sailors
Race:
White
Gender:
Male
Class:
MultiClass Group
Rank:
Minor
Vitality:
Dies
Occupation:
Armed Forces
First Mentioned:
Cause of Death:
War
Biography:
After Pete died, Res Grier would bring home the Memphis newspaper each time he returned from Jefferson. The Grier family would see the "pictures and names of soldiers and sailors from other counties and towns in Mississippi and Arkansas and Tennessee" who died in spring and summer of 1942 (102). While African American soldiers fought and died during World War II, it is unlikely that during this time of segregation in the South the Memphis paper would have published their pictures.
Note:
708 African Americans were killed in combat in World War II. The pictures that the Grier boy sees in the paper, though, or at least the ones he notices, are likely of deceased white soldiers and sailors. The Grier boy narrates that "there wasn't another [one] from our [town], and so after awhile it did look like Pete was going to be all" (102). It wold be out of character for the narrator not to point out that a character was black.
Individual or Group:
Group
Character changes class in this text:
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