Freddie Stowers Heroism Restored to Defense Dept. Pages
The good guys won one.
A Defense Department page mentioning South Carolina hero Freddie Stowers has been restored after it had been removed amid the department’s efforts to eliminate content singling out contributions by women and minority groups.
Cpl. Stowers, who died in battle, was the first Black American to be awarded the Medal of Honor for “extraordinary heroism” in World War I.
Stowers apparently suffered the same fate as baseball legend Jackie Robinson and thousands of others who were removed from the Defense Department’s website because of the Trump administration’s strident, unreasoning opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Stories about the Tuskegee Airmen, the Navajo code talkers and a Native American Marine who helped raise the flag at Iwo Jima were among the webpages removed.
Photos of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, were flagged for removal, seemingly because of the word “gay” in its name.
Some of those pages are being restored following a public outcry, but many may be lost forever.
Last week, the page mentioning Stowers titled “Intrepid African American Soldiers Broke Barriers, Paved the Way,” read “404 Page Not Found.” The letters “dei” were added to the URL.
Stowers. The statue by Maria J. Kirby-Smith was dedicated in 2015. (Photo by Paul Hyde/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
Even now, Stowers merits only a few lines on the restored webpage.
The Medal of Honor is the United States’s highest military recognition for valor.
Tuesday marked the National Medal of Honor Day, which is recognized every March 25 on the USS Yorktown in Charleston Harbor, home to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
The Defense Department’s website purges are a national outrage, but for South Carolinians the case of Freddie Stowers hits close to home — literally close to my home.
Stowers, who died on the battlefield in 1918 at the age of 22, was a native of Anderson County, where I have lived the majority of my life.
There’s a fine statue of Stowers at Anderson University about a two-minute drive from my home.
There’s a moving tribute to Stowers at the Anderson County Museum.
Stowers’ elimination from the Department of Defense website was really a second erasure for Stowers, both due to his race.
Recommended for the Medal of Honor in 1918, Stowers’ recommendation languished for 73 years, until he was finally recognized in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush.
Many historians and others, including his great niece, believe Stowers’ heroism — and that of many other Black Americans — was shamefully overlooked in a segregated Army.
‘Extraordinary heroism’
Stowers, grandson of a slave, grew up in a hard-working farm family in the tiny community of Sandy Springs.
Drafted in October 1917 at the age of 21, Cpl. Stowers would serve as a squad leader in an all-Black regiment.
Stowers’ Medal of Honor citation, read to his surviving sisters Georgina and Mary in a White House ceremony, eloquently expresses his valor on the day he was killed in the line of duty:
“The president of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (posthumously) to Cpl. Freddie Stowers, United States Army, for exceptional heroism on Sept. 28, 1918, while serving as a squad leader in Company C, 371st Infantry Regiment, 93d Infantry Division. Cpl. Stowers’ company was the lead company during the attack on Hill 188, Champagne Marne Sector, France, during World War I.
“A few minutes after the attack began, the enemy ceased firing and began climbing up onto the parapets of the trenches, holding up their arms as if wishing to surrender. The enemy’s actions caused the American forces to cease-fire and to come out into the open.
“As the company started forward and when within about 100 meters of the trench line, the enemy jumped back into their trenches and greeted Cpl. Stowers’ company with interlocking bands of machine gun fire and mortar fire causing well over 50% casualties.
“Faced with incredible enemy resistance, Cpl. Stowers took charge, setting such a courageous example of personal bravery and leadership that he inspired his men to follow him in the attack. With extraordinary heroism and complete disregard of personal danger under devastating fire, he crawled forward leading his squad toward an enemy machine gun nest, which was causing heavy casualties to his company.
“After fierce fighting, the machine gun position was destroyed, and the enemy soldiers were killed. Displaying great courage and intrepidity, Cpl. Stowers continued to press the attack against a determined enemy. While crawling forward and urging his men to continue the attack on a second trench line, he was gravely wounded by machine gun fire.
“Although Cpl. Stowers was mortally wounded, he pressed forward, urging on the members of his squad, until he died. Inspired by the heroism and display of bravery of Cpl. Stowers, his company continued the attack against incredible odds, contributing to the capture of Hill 188 and causing heavy enemy casualties.
“Cpl. Stowers’ conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism and supreme devotion to his men were well above and beyond the call of duty, follow the finest traditions of military service and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.”
Stowers was the first of only two African Americans to receive the Medal of Honor for conspicuous heroism in World War I.
Lt. Col. Taylor Voorhis Beattie, in an article for the magazine Military History, compared Stowers to the World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York, immortalized in a classic 1941 film starring Gary Cooper.
Both York and Stowers were poor, devout Southern farm boys who grew up with limited educational and economic opportunities but were drafted into the U.S. Army and earned the Medal of Honor for their inspirational courage under fire.
Stowers’ life and sacrifice are an important part of our state’s and nation’s history and deserve to be amplified, not erased.
As a Pentagon spokesman said Friday in addressing what he called a mistake: “History is not DEI.”
Paul Hyde is a longtime journalist and teacher in the Upstate. He worked 18 years for the Greenville News as a columnist, editorial writer, education reporter and arts writer. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Clemson and Harvard universities.
The South Carolina Daily Gazette is a nonprofit news site providing nonpartisan reporting and thoughtful commentary. We strive to shine a light on state government and how political decisions affect people across the Palmetto State.
