Lt. Williams on the Color Front

"Lieutenant, I'm neither a member of the NAACP nor of the White Citizens' Council," said Colonel Ritter. "But I would have preferred the Department of the Army to send me a White lieutenant instead of a Colored one like you." This is the story of Lieutenant Neal Williams' struggle when, in the early 1950s, he was assigned as a platoon leader in an all-white Army Infantry Regiment in Germany. This assignment placed him "on the color front" of a racially segregated Army where it was not accepted policy to have a Colored officer in charge of White soldiers. While on the color front, though not always successful, Lieutenant Williams had to reach deep inside himself for strength and determination to meet the challenges and dilemmas that extended from his regimental commander to his company nemesis, and from his girlfriend back home to the array of women ready to comfort soldiers regardless of their race.