{"product_id":"two-steps-from-glory-by-maj-welton-i-taylor-9780983867715","title":"Two Steps from Glory by Maj. Welton I. Taylor","description":"\u003cp\u003eAfrican Americans enlisted by the hundreds of thousands during World War II  swelling the ranks of the U.S. military by more than a million strong. And as they had in every U.S. war from the Revolutionary War on  blacks signed up with two goals in mind: to fight for the country they loved and to earn  on the battlefield  the respect theyd been so long denied at home. Lieutenant Welton I. Taylor  a lanky kid from the South Side of Chicago  was no different. Trained as a liaison pilot for the Army Field Artillery  he longed to defend his country by directing hailstorms of 155mm howitzer shells onto enemy positions. But Taylors goals and those of the majority of black soldiers serving during World War II would remain elusive. The U.S. Army believed blacks ill-suited for combat and relegated most black units to labor battalions or the Quartermaster Corps. Even those men who eventually fought in Italy or in the jungles of Bouganville found they were fighting on two fronts--battling not just the enemy  but Jim Crow in the barracks and the mess halls  too. For these men of the Greatest Generation  World War II was just the newest war. The Civil War--long since over but never truly won--raged on. Deployed to the South Pacific with the all-black 93rd Division  Lieutenant Taylor faced the enemy and the segregated U.S. Army  too  but did as his father had taught him: he played the hand he was dealt. In the process  Taylor outsmarted both the Jim Crow Army and the enemy and proved that race is a poor yardstick by which to judge a man. Two Steps From Glory is his story and that of so many more.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67900189835317,"sku":"ByrdShop_0983867712","price":145.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780983867715.jpg?v=1793804477","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/two-steps-from-glory-by-maj-welton-i-taylor-9780983867715","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}