The black veterans and their Italian hosts have more than war memories in common.

Involved in the liberation of several death camps, black veterans recall racism on a scale they couldn't even imagine.

While the new version has not pleased black veterans, it is certainly more even-handed than the previous one.

"There was never anybody telling black veterans where they could and couldn't go," he said.

This was done as a response to a number of incidents against black veterans, most notably the Woodard case.

After the war, he organized black veterans to fight for benefits they were being denied in some Southern states.

The black veteran found his grandson, who was born in the family of Philemon.

It would be the only memorial in the country dedicated to all black veterans of the Union Army, those involved say.

As the organization revived, black veterans joined in significant numbers and organized local posts.

The traditional black colleges did not have places for an estimated 70,000 black veterans in 1947.