5 Black Soldiers Honored, Decades Later

WASHINGTON — The Army honored five black soldiers Thursday who jumped at the chance to fight Nazi Germany 54 years ago but waited nearly a lifetime for full recognition.

The Army awarded medals to the five men at a ceremony in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes. They were among 2,221 African Americans who answered Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s emergency call to leave their support posts to serve on the front lines. The volunteers had to give up their noncommissioned officer’s stripes and serve as privates. At the end of the war, their lost rank was not restored.

The Bronze Stars went to former 1st Sgt. Vincent Malveaux of the Bronx; former Sgt. J.C. Wade of Irving, Texas; former Pfc. Andrew W. Nix Jr. of Philadelphia; former Tech. 5 Mate Montgomery of Chapman, Ala.; and former Sgt. Marteller Pollock Jr. of Atlanta.