Rollins Edwards-World War II Service and Beyond

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July 14, 2015 – This week our club was privileged to host as our speaker Rollins Edwards, a member of the “Greatest Generation” and a Charleston native.  Edwards served in both the European and the Pacific theatres during World War II. In addition to serving in both theatres during the war, Edwards was one of a number of black soldiers who were subjected to mustard gas experiments without their consent.  Despite having been burned terribly in such experiments and losing much of his skin as a result, this 93-year-old is still spry and provided our club with amazing stories of his service during the war. 

Edwards relayed how both his grandfather and his father served our country as soldiers. He told how he headed to Europe aboard the Booker T. Washington, a troop transport christened in 1942 by Marian Anderson, the famous opera singer who was denied an opportunity to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall because of her race.

Edwards served in a construction battalion with George Patton’s army in Europe. He actually witnessed the scene made famous in the movie about Patton where General Patton shot a mule that was blocking traffic on a bridge. While in Paris he and some buddies went to see the Eiffel Tower and while he was there he heard a voice boom out from beside him, “You soldiers don’t salute a superior officer?” He and his buddies turned to find General Patton standing there and immediately came to attention and smartly saluted.

In the Pacific he served in the Philippines and was there when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. The worst thing they feared in the Philippines were boa constrictors he said. Edwards relayed how one evening they heard screaming coming from a tent and found that one of the soldiers there had felt a boa constrictor in the tent and accidentally shot his tent mate when he tried to dispatch the snake.

The stories Edwards relayed regarding his service in the war were at times humorous and at times tragic, but the most horrific tale was of his being used as a guinea pig in mustard gas experiments. He and several other black soldiers were ordered to get in a truck and were taken they knew not where for they knew not what.  Once at their destination they were ordered to strip and were ushered into In a room with nozzles on the ceiling.  They were issued gas masks but were otherwise afforded no protection when when mustard gas was released into the room from those nozzles on the ceiling.  He said the sensation was like having fire ants all over your body stinging you constantly. His records showed that he and those other soldiers subjected to these experiments were volunteers, but there was nothing voluntary about these experiments upon unsuspecting subjects.. Edwards lost 85% of his skin as a result of the mustard gas burns he suffered. He and his fellow soldiers who are subjected to this harsh experiment received no compensation for decades after the war.  It was not until many years later when many of the subjects of these experiments had passed away that, through the efforts of Governor Sanford, Senator Thurmond and Senator Hollings, Edwards was able to obtain compensation.  Such compensation, however, could in no way bring whole the suffering that he and the others had incurred.

One would think that someone who had suffered so grievously from their country because of their race would hold great bitterness toward our country, but Edwards went on to serve his community and his country in many ways. Edwards showed us the newspaper headline from when he defeated the son of the then Dorchester County Sheriff running for the town Council of Summerville.  He also relayed how when he won a seat on the Dorchester County Council he was the first black to serve in such a position.

In closing Edwards provided one lesson he asked that we not forget.  He set the scene for us this way: it was a bitter cold night and there were six people who were on the verge of freezing to death.  Each person held a piece of wood.  Each of those people had some prejudice against one or more of the other members of that group.  As a result of that prejudice each withheld his or her piece of wood and would not offer it to be used to build a fire.  The lesson he relayed thusly: “Each of those people died from not from the cold without – they died from the cold within.”  In these days when we have seen how prejudice can strike violently at the heart of even our community, let us hope we will each remember and pass along to others the lesson Rollins Edwards has brought to us this week.

Alex Dallis, Keyway Committee