The 167th Field Artillery Brigade consisted of two regiments of Light Artillery(75mm) training at Camp Dix. These regiments were the the 349th and 350th. Also, there was one regiment of heavy artillery, the 351st, which was trained at Camp Meade. The 351st regiment used 155 howitzers. All three regiments experienced extraordinary difficulties in training. There can be no doubt that a deliberate effort was made to send up for examination in artillery not the best, but the poorest possible candidates. Difficulty was encountered in getting Black men with the required technical training transferred to the artillery service. If the Commanding Officer in this case had been as prejudiced as in the case of the Engineer and other units, there would have been no Negro artillery regiments. Colonel Moore, although a Southerner, insisted on being fair to his men.
The brigade landed in Brest june 26th, 1918 and was trained at Montmorillon (Vienne). They were favorites of the town people and were received into the social life on terms of perfect equality. There were five Black company officers and eight medical officers. The officers were sent to school at La Cortina. The Colonel in charge of the French school said that the work of the Black artillery brigade was better at the end of two weeks than that of any other American unit that had attended the school.
The brigade went into battle in the Metz drive and did its work without a hitch. These brave men worked well, dispite the fact that they had no transport facilities for their guns and the soldiers had to handle their guns largely by hand.
350 Field Artillery
350 Field Artillery
The 317th Ammunition Train, which was attached to Division Headquarters, but was under the artillery in battle, was organized at Camp Funston in December. They had 1,333 officers and men. Also, they were divided into two battalions, Motor Pool and Horse battalions, with seven companies. There were thirty-three Black and three White officers in the unit. The Battalions landed in France on June 27th and went to Montmorillion. Next, they went to the Artillery Training School at La Cortine with the 167th Field Artillery. After the training, they arrived at Marbache on October 18 and took part in the Metz drive. An additional responsibility of the unit was the Corps Ammunition dumps. During th Metz drive, all the officers were Black. Major Dean was in Command of the unit. General Sherbourne, one of the few Commanding Officers fair to Negro troops, warmly commended the work of the artillery. No general
