“This is going to be the biggest fight of my life. I’m going to punch with both fists, just as I have in every fight.”
—Beau Jack
Inevitably, Beau received his notice of selection by the Augusta Draft Board in April 1944. Fortunately, the service had not interfered with his climb to the pinnacle of the lightweight ranks. His pre-induction physical exam took place on Tuesday, April 18 at Fort Benning, Georgia. After passing his physical, Beau selected the Army as his branch of military service. Speaking passionately about the opportunity to serve his country, Beau proclaimed, “This is going to be the biggest fight of my life.”1 “I’m going to punch with both fists,” Beau asserted, “just as I have in every fight.”2
As was most of society during those days, segregation ran rampant in the Army. It was common for black men to be passed over for the draft, mainly in part of racist assumptions about their abilities. Although Congress passed an amendment to the Selective Service Act of 1940 prohibiting discrimination on account of race or color in the selection and training of men, the Army held on to its strict segregation policy. For instance, all draftees, irrespective of skin color, received notice of selection on the same day. Unlike white men, black draftees often had to wait several months before being called to report for induction, hurting those who had quit their jobs after receiving selection notices. The delay was blamed on inadequate facilities to house and train black draftees, leading to many black men being passed over for service. In an attempt to alleviate the differences, in 1943 a quota was imposed to ensure the number of black Americans drafted equaled their percentage of the population, or 10.6 percent. That helped, but the quota was never met.
Beau Jack waiting for his pre-induction x-ray at Fort Benning, 1944 (U.S. Signal Corps and ACME Telephoto).
While waiting to be inducted, Beau kept fit by plowing fields. Finally, on June 2, Beau was sworn into the Army. During basic training at Fort Benning, he studied education fundamentals and assisted as a physical education and boxing instructor. Interestingly, Dick Sadler, manager for George Foreman, served as an assistant boxing instructor under Jack.
After 12 weeks at Fort Benning’s Special Training Unit (STU), Beau had obtained the equivalent of a fourth-grade education. Photographs of Beau writing and doing arithmetic at Fort Benning appeared in numerous newspapers around the country. Serving in the Second Company, First Battalion, of the STU, Beau received high praise from his commanding officer and fellow soldiers.
Jack was just one of many American athletes that served during in World War II. Heavyweight champ Joe Louis enlisted in the Army in 1942. During his three years of service, he appeared in more than 90 boxing exhibitions and military installations around the world. For his service, he was awarded the “Legion of Merit.” Allie Stolz served in the Coast Guard. Al “Bummy” Davis served in the Army. Light heavyweight champion Billy Conn, former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, lightweight champion Bob Montgomery, featherweight champion Willie Pep, and future middleweight/welterweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson, all served during World War II. Other athletes, such as Baseball Hall of Famers Warren Spahn, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams; track and field star Archie Williams; and NFL Pro Bowler Johnny LuJack, also served their country during the war.
Calling for legislation to end Jim Crow laws, Orson Welles, the great American actor, director, and producer, was vehemently outspoken against racism.
That every man has a right to his own opinion is an American boast. But race hate isn’t an opinion; it’s a phobia. It isn’t a viewpoint; race hate is a disease. In a people’s world, the incurable racist has no rights. He must be deprived of influence in a people’s government. He must be segregated as he himself would segregate the colored and Semitic peoples—as we now segregate the leprous and the insane.3
According to Welles, if hatred based on the color of a man’s skin was not destroyed, then World War II would be meaningless.
1. “Beau Jack Goes Into the Army,” Florence Morning News, April 19, 1944, 5.
2. Ibid.
3. “Wells Declares Race Hate Must Vanish If War Has Meaning,” New York Age, August 5, 1944, 2.