Bermudian Purple Heart Recipient Remembered
The prestigious Purple Heart was awarded to Bermudian Sgt Granville Burton Williams for his service during WWII with a division known as the “Buffalo Soldiers” was recently highlighted on social media.
According to the National Museum of Bermuda’s Instagram page where the photo of the medal was posted, Sgt Granville Burton Williams served with the 317th Engineering Battalion, 92nd Infantry Division.
The 317th Engineers was first constituted on 24 October 1917 as an all black unit. Of the three African-American divisions activated during World War II, only the 92nd would serve as a full division in combat.
This division was also known as the “Buffalo Soldiers,” a phrase many know through Bob Marley’s song of the same name. The 92nd Division used a buffalo patch as its insignia and adopted a live buffalo as a mascot in an effort to instill unit pride in its history as “Buffalo Soldiers.”
The medal is on display at the Commissioners House in Dockyard.
