The Pittsburgh Press (March 16, 1944)
Negro unit joins Bougainville battle
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands (UP) –
The first Negro combat unit to go into action in the South Pacific fought the Japs on Bougainville Island Sunday, it was announced today, and gave a good account of itself in jungle warfare.
The unit was the 24th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army, which had nearly a year of jungle training before taking over a sector of the Empress Augusta Bay beachhead, where the Japs attacked last weekend.
All line officers are white and the non-commissioned officers are Negroes, with the general command under Lt. Col. Julian C. Hearne of Wheeling, West Virginia.