Charles Jackson French – Unknown Hero
By
John C Abercrombie
The story of Charles Jackson French is little known and marred by the inevitable racism that permeates our history in America. Little is known of his earliest days. He was born in Foreman, Arkansas on September 25, 1919. After the death of his parents, he lived with an older sister, Viola, in Omaha, Nebraska.
He served two stints in the Navy. The first was an enlistment was in 1937 when he served four years before receiving an honorable discharge in 1941. He re-enlisted after Pearl Harbor where he was assigned to be a mess attendant. This was one of the few assignments available to Black troops and included stevedores, stewards. These are the least desired jobs possible and beneath the White troops. This is a close as you can get to a system of slavery as it is forced on the service member.
During this time, the military followed the segregation laws that were prevalent in the nation. This denied qualified service members training that could be used after the military. The living quarters were strictly segregated as was housing for family members. This meant that if there were family members they had to live in ghettos like the general public. There was no escape from racism despite putting your life on the line for your country.
The night that propelled Charles Jackson French into the role of hero was September 5, 1942, when enemy bombs sank the U.S.S. Gregory near the Solomon Islands. During the melee, fifteen sailors were put abord a life raft but there was danger that they would drift towards land. As promising as that sounded, that was the most dangerous place to be for fear that they would be captured and executed.
French volunteered to tow the raft to another island that was safer, however, these were shark infested waters and those on board the raft attempted to talk French out of the mission, but he believed that death by shark would at least be quick and merciful. He disrobed and with assistance tied the tow rope around his waist and swam what is estimated to be six to eight hours. There are some that estimated the time at two hours but in any case, it was a tremendous physical act of courage, keeping in mind that the enemy was still searching for them with the intent of killing them.
They were spotted and rescued by friendly forces when racism reared its ugly head. American sailors attempted to separate French from the men he had rescued, but they rebelled, and the American sailors relented. This sounds horrendous and it was, but it is just one example of the horrors of war that greeted Black soldiers who had risked their lives for their country with the goal of making it an equitable society for all.
We see many examples of prisoners of war being treated with greater dignity than soldiers wearing American uniforms after suffering injuries, physical, emotional, mental, and even watched death. German prisoners of war were allowed to ride with White soldiers while the Black fighters were relegated to open, drafty, smelly cattle cars.
These sailors and soldiers were welcomed back to American soil with signs that pointed one way for Whites and the other way for Blacks. The ultimate insult!
We know of this story because of the courage demonstrated by Ensign Robert N Adrian, the only officer from the bridge of the Gregory to survive. He told the story to the Associated Press which he also did on NBC radio program “It Happened in the Service.”
Ensign Robert N. Adrian was awarded the Purple Heart and the man who rescued him got a letter “meritorious conduct in action. No medal. The wording of the letter follows
For meritorious conduct in action while serving on board of a destroyer transport which was badly damaged during the engagement with Japanese forces in the British Solomon Islands on September 5, 1942. After the engagement, a group of about fifteen men was adrift on a raft, which was being deliberately shelled by Japanese naval forces. French tied a line to himself and swam for more than two hours without rest, thus attempting to tow the raft. His conduct was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Naval Service.
French made public appearances after the rescue, including attending a Creighton University football game with his sister in 1942. He was celebrated in the Black press and was even the subject of a syndicated comic strip. French was also the only African American to appear on World War II patriotic trading cards issued by GUM, Inc. Note: when French was in the Navy, it was not permitted for there to be Blacks and Whites in the water at the same time.
French was memorialized on War gum trading cards and in a comic strip. The Chicago Defender named him Hero of the Year. Yet, history has overlooked him.
French was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his heroic actions in 1942. The award was presented on May 21, 2022, at Naval Base San Diego, at a ceremony in which the base’s rescue swimmer training pool was dedicated in his honor.
In June 2022, the President Joe Biden, signed into law (H.R.4168) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6223 Maple Street, in Omaha, Nebraska, as the Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Jackson French Post Office. While it is great to receive these honors think how much better it would have been to the generations who were denied knowledge and inspiration from a true hero!
Charles Jackson French is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California.
The above summary gives a view of Charles Jackson French, a man who deserves a place in history, but like many Blacks have been excluded. You are now armed with knowledge, but for a deeper dive, continue to scroll down and watch amazing videos of French and books to allow for greater understanding. Interspersed in these are items from partners with Amazing Black History that allow you to support our work without cost to you as we are paid a small royalty by the partner. In cases where you shop at Amazon for example you are encouraged to use our links anytime you shop there. It is not necessary to purchase the item in the link. You can use a link to tennis shoes to buy a refrigerator or anything else. We depend on your support and thank you for it!
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Charles Jackson French
Charles Jackson French: Hero Without a Medal
Charles Jackson French saved 15 men from the USS Gregory in September of 1942. This is his jaw-dropping story.
Copyrighted content researched and produced by DragonDen Productions ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. All DragonDen media is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only.
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Bonus- The Story of Charles Jackson French
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Black Men and Blue Water
This story or history was written to correct one of the many wrongs in the recording of American History. It is a fact that the victors in battle or those in power in peace write the history of past events to support their views of what should have happened versus the cold hard facts. This is the story of the Stewards, Cooks and Messboys who manned that branch of naval service. The story of the men who fought and served under trying circumstances. The story of men who served their country when to do so was to endure, or to appear to accept the humiliating admission of one’s own inferiority. In this story can be found the heretofore-unwritten chapters of one phase of the Negroes’ march toward freedom in America, written by a man who participated in it.
ABH – Black Men and Blue Water
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CHARLES JACKSON FRENCH – FORGOTTEN HERO
Charles Jackson French was an American war hero from Foreman, Arkansas. On September 5, 1942, United States Navy Petty Officer First Class Charles Jackson French, swam through the night for 6 – 8 hours pulling a raft of 15 wounded sailors with a rope around his stomach through shark infested waters after the ship on which he was serving, the USS Gregory, was hit by Japanese naval fire near Guadalcanal. Although he demonstrated extreme bravery, instead of the Medal of Honor, all French received was a nice letter from the U. S. Navy.
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The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
The New York Times best-selling story from the author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction.
Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared “light-skinned” woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her 12 Black children. James McBride, journalist, musician, and son, explores his mother’s past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother. The son of a Black minister and a woman who would not admit she was White, James McBride grew up in “orchestrated chaos” with his 11 siblings in the poor, all-Black projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn.
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You must know this HERO Charles Jackson French
Charles Jackson French survived the destruction of the USS Gregory and then swam for hours dragging a life raft full of his shipmates through Shark infested waters. Let’s get this HERO the Medal of Honor
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Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War
The injustices of 1940s Jim Crow America are brought to life in this extraordinary blend of military and social history, an account that pays tribute to the valor of an all-black battalion whose crucial contributions at D-day have gone unrecognized to this day.
In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a unit of African American soldiers, landed on the beaches of France. Their orders were to man a curtain of armed balloons meant to deter enemy aircraft. One member of the 320th would be nominated for the Medal of Honor, an award he would never receive because the nation’s highest decoration was not given to black soldiers in World War II.
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Amazing assortment
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Rep. Don Bacon Honors Navy Petty Officer First Class Charles Jackson French
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Immortal Valor: The Black Medal of Honor Winners of World War II
Bloomsbury presents Immortal Valor by Robert Child, read by Vaughn Johseph.
The remarkable story of the seven African American soldiers ultimately awarded the World War II Medal of Honor, and the 50-year campaign to deny them their recognition.
In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during World War II, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African Americans served, not a single Black soldier received the Medal of Honor. The omission remained on the record for more than four decades.
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Calls to recognize black WWII hero shed light on feat of heroism
Omaha-native Charles Jackson French is credited with saving his entire crew while serving in the U.S. Navy
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Charles Jackson French is what makes America great. A man willing to fight in defense of his country. A man who served and re-enlisted again when we entered World War II. A man discriminated against by the country that he loved, was willing to put his life on the line for. French like so many Black men believed that if they showed they were willing to fight for the country that the country would show them and people of their race some gratitude and equality only to return to the same situation they were fighting against. It is time to honor those who deserve honor!