Ben Underwood (March 25, 1891–October 19, 1945)

By Gramond McPherson

Early Life

Ben Underwood was born in Quitman, Georgia, on March 25, 1891 to Aaron and Nancy Underwood.¹ According to Georgia’s property tax records in 1890, Ben’s father Aaron owned two acres of land with a personal estate worth $515. However, Aaron died some time prior to 1900, leaving Nancy to raise Ben and his siblings.² By 1910, Ben, now seventeen, and his family still resided in Quitman; he worked as a laborer in the hardware industry. According to the 1910 Census, Ben’s mother Nancy had eleven total children, with nine still surviving in 1910. Additionally, Nancy adopted a son before her death around 1912.³ Ben eventually moved to Jacksonville and before the war worked as a shoe repairman for A. H. Miles.⁴

Military Service

After the US entered World War I in April of 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act to increase the manpower of the military through conscription. The first registration took place on June 5, 1917, requiring all men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one to register. Millions of men, including Underwood in Jacksonville, registered for the draft. Overall, the military drafted one-third of black registrants compared to one-fourth of white registrants.⁵ On June 21, 1918, Underwood was drafted into the Army, eventually serving as part of Company D of the 807th Pioneer Infantry. The regiment organized at Camp Dix, New Jersey, in July of 1918, serving as one of sixteen black pioneer regiments formed to replace white units slated for conversion into infantry regiments.⁶

Pioneer infantry units were considered among the elite regiments for black troops. The unit consisted of white officers and black troops along with specialists such as mechanics and carpenters. Serving in a technical capacity, these regiments constructed and repaired roads, bridges, and railroads. While the Army did not consider pioneer infantry as combat units, their work on the front lines along with shifts in the lines of combat meant these units experienced direct action with the enemy. While many black soldiers felt slighted by having to perform these duties and face humiliation, mistreatment, and outright brutality, Underwood, as well as other black soldiers greatly contributed to the overall war effort.⁷

On September 24, 1918, Underwood, as part of the 807th Pioneer Regiment, left from New York City aboard the USS Kashmir for France, leaving his older sister Ava Williams in Jacksonville as his emergency contact as seen here. In France, Underwood and the 807th took part in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the last major engagement of the war beginning on October 26, 1918. While serving as a support unit during the offensive against the Germans, the regiment shared in the hardship on the front lines. A contemporary of Underwood, who also served in the 807th, reflected on wielding bayonets against the Germans and becoming sick from poison gas, showing the intensity of battle. The war ended on November 11, 1918 with an armistice and German defeat.⁸

Sometime before his departure from France, Underwood joined the Ninety-second Division as part of the 366th Infantry Regiment. On February 22, 1919, Underwood and the 366th left Brest, France, aboard the H.M.T. Aquitania, returning on February 28 to New York. He received an honorable discharge from the Army on March 21, 1919.⁹

Post-Service Life

After the war, he returned to Jacksonville and continued his work as a shoe repairman well into the mid-1940s as seen here. Underwood died on October 19, 1945, likely at the Veterans Affairs’ Hospital in Lake City in Columbia County, Florida, and was interred at the Saint Augustine National Cemetery in Saint Augustine, Florida on October 24, 1945. He is buried in Section D, Grave 62.¹⁰

© 2018, University of Central Florida