Having grown up and lived in a Harlem neighborhood in New York City, before I shipped off to the Army in 1943, I knew what it felt like to be treated like a 2nd class citizen in America. As a young kid growing up, you knew that you were not welcomed or even allowed to be in certain neighborhoods, swim in public pools, shop in certain stores or even think of getting a paperboy job outside of your “designated area”. I remember being in a summer camp program when I was about 12

Not all of Caldwood’s encounters with Italian civilians were smooth and easy. On one occasion, he convinced his Lieutenant to allow him and two other soldier volunteers, to escort several starving Italian women to a nearby market in town to buy food.  Unbeknownst to Roy, to reach the market, they had to pass through an area known among the Buffalo Soldiers as “Purple Heart Stretch.” On Purple Heart Stretch you were either killed or seriously wounded. Shortly after they began

While serving in Italy, Caldwood treated many American servicemen, but many of the encounters that remained most memorable to him involved Italian civilians.  One such incident occurred shortly after Caldwood joined the unit. He observed a mortar crew registering their weapons—firing test rounds to adjust their aim—on terrain near a farm below their position.  After several rounds were fired, Caldwood was informed that an Italian civilian had been wounded and several farm an