The New York State Museum recently acquired a collection of documents, photographs, and ephemera relating to Private Fred Thomas, an African American Veteran of World War II. Thomas joined the All Black 369th Coast Artillery Regiment (Anti-Aircraft) of the New York National Guard. This regiment had garnered fame during World War I as the 369th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Harlem Hellfighters.
After initial training at Fort Ontario in Oswego, NY, the regiment was deployed with the rest of the New York 27th Division to Hawaii. While in Hawaii, the 369th provided air defense for airfields on Oahu and the United States Marine Corps Air Station Ewa.
In 1943, the 369th was reorganized into the 369th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion and the 870th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion. Private Fred Thomas was assigned to the newly created 870th. In February 1945, this battalion began amphibious operation training in preparation for the Invasion of Okinawa. From April through June 1945, the 870th saw more than 70 days of continuous combat and captured more than 700 Japanese prisoners.
This wonderful collection also contains nearly two dozen V-mail letters, or Victory Mail, written to Private Thomas by his wife, Josie, in New York City. V-mail was a mail service used by the US to deliver letters to soldiers overseas by using microfilm to reduce the size and weight of mail. The letters were imaged stateside and printed in the theater of operations for delivery to the troops. Josie’s letters afford a rare glimpse into life on the Home Front for an African American woman and her family during World War II.
