The Black Heroes Who Protected U.S. Troops on D-Day
WWII
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast
The soldiers of the segregated 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only black combat unit at D-Day, had a critical mission: stop German planes from decimating the troops.
In a little-known chapter of World War II, thousands of African-American troops trained to fly barrage balloons, defensive weapons used to protect Allied soldiers from dive-bombing enemy planes during the D-Day invasion.