For a young Black man from Maryland, all of this might as well have been happening on another planet. Hell, another solar system. He was traveling through a land and climate that looked nothing like home, fighting shoulder to shoulder with white men—the kind who would’ve paid him no mind back in Baltimore. This was the first racially integrated war. On the surface, they all shared the same mission. Everything about that was surreal. But Earth found ways to creep in around soldiers like him. After a few drinks, the N-word would start slipping out. White
