Kirby's Augusta - A Veteran's Story of Human and Civil Rights

World War II was over, and after 15 months in the Pacific, Isaac Woodard was just trying to get home to see his family. A black veteran who served with honors during the war, Woodard boarded a Greyhound bus in Augusta on Feb. 12, 1946, after receiving his honorable discharge papers at Camp Gordon. But something very bad happened. During a stop to use the "colored" bathroom, Sgt. Woodard, who was still in his uniform, was cursed by the bus driver for taking too much time. The driver had authorities remove Woodard from the bus at a stop in Batesburg, S.C., a short time later. As he stepped off, Woodard was beaten with nightsticks by several officers, including the city's police chief. According to a story in The Augusta Chronicle , the chief admitted to hitting Sgt. Woodard between the eyes with a blackjack. It permanently blinded him. The unprovoked attack on black World War II veteran Sgt. Isaac Woodard drew national attention. It particularly outraged President Harry Truman, himself a World War I artillery commander. And Harry Truman, being Harry Truman, did something about it. Randy Sowell, an archivist with the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Mo., said Truman was "disgusted" by the assault of Sgt. Woodward. The president appointed his Commission on Civil Rights that same year. The commission recommended a series of reforms to protect the rights of blacks, including anti-lynching and anti-poll tax legislation, but shortly after calling on Congress to enact the suggestions, Southern senators threatened to filibuster. Not a problem. Truman simply bypassed Congress and issue an executive order to end years of segregation in the military. By 1953, about 95 percent of the Army's black soldiers were in integrated units, according to statistics from the Truman library. President Truman's action after that cowardly assault on Sgt. Isaac Woodward has been called a "catalyst" for such civil rights milestones as the Supreme Court's Brown v. Topeka school board case and Voting Rights Act of 1965. They were rights defended and protected by all those veterans we recognize each Nov. 11. Veterans such as Sgt. Isaac Woodward.