Veteran recalls segregation

Bob Lane is a regular visitor in Bill Shirley’s American History class at Allen County Community College.
Thursday marked his annual visit to reminisce about life in pre-1950s Iola and the U.S. Army, where Lane, who is black, faced institutional discrimination.
Lane graduated from Iola High School in 1938, and from Allen County Junior College two years later, Shirley told his class of 19.
Of 118 graduating JuCo students, only five were black, Lane said.
Due to segregation, even athletic opportunities were limited, Shirley said. “Here in Iola, blacks could only participate in track,” Shirley said. Lane ran the 100 yard dash in 10 seconds. “The fastest man in Kansas,” Shirley said.
After college, Lane worked at Sleeper Furniture Store, where he was taught to lay carpet, linoleum and ceramic tile.
“I made good money off that stuff, but it wasn’t long before I had to go to the service,” Lane said.
Lane was drafted into the Army, where he quickly reached the rank of sergeant.
The vagaries of segregation were apparent from the moment he stepped aboard the troop train, Lane said.
“There was a black curtain across the aisle. All the blacks coming out of the south were on the other side of that.”
When the train arrived at Fort Leavenworth, the black men “were told to unload a boxcar of shoes,” Lane said. The men were promised three day passes for their effort.
“We separated them into sizes — it took us all night. The next morning, we asked for our passes,” Lane said. They were laughed at by the officers who told them they weren’t even soldiers yet, and were told to go to the intake tent.
There, Lane said the men underwent physical exams and target practice to determine placement. Sent to the Washington, D.C., vicinity, the men marched five miles a day in red clay to get in shape, Lane said.
Appointed sergeant, Lane was in command of about 70 men.
Over them was one officer “who did not like blacks, period,” Lane said. He had a habit of intimidating and threatening the men, Lane said.
“My men said, ‘Sergeant Lane, he scares us,’ so I said I would talk to him.”
That night, Lane took over guard duty.
Black soldiers at that time were allowed only two bullets in their clips, Lane said. He had five.
“Around midnight, here he comes,” Lane said.
“I said, ‘Halt! Who goes there?’ but he wouldn’t answer,” Lane said. “He just kept strutting.”
Lane fired a shot. Then another.
He told the officer, “You take another step and you’ll never smile again.”
Unperturbed, the man took a step.
“Boom!” Lane said, saying he took a third shot near the man’s feet. “He started shaking.”
Lane told him the derogatory behavior toward his men was unacceptable, and best be stopped. After reporting the officer’s harassment to his captain the following morning, Lane said, “they got him away from there and got another man in.”
Lane said his captain, who was from Vermont, trusted his judgment.
When Lane sent his troops home for the holidays before they were to be sent to Europe, his captain asked him what he would do if they didn’t return.
“I said, don’t worry, they’ll be back.”
And certain as rain, the week before they were to ship out, all the men returned.
His ability to read and command the men merited Lane an offer to undergo commissioned officer’s training.
At the time, all Army officers, except the chaplain, were white, Lane said.
Nonetheless, he declined the opportunity in favor of sticking with the troops he had come to know.

AFTER leading a battalion of aviation engineers in North Africa, Lane returned to Iola. It was 1946. The war had ended, but segregation still ruled Kansas.
Despite his distinguished service, “I couldn’t get into the National Guard,” Lane said. He was denied entry because he was black. Lane tired joining units in other area towns, also to no avail.
Had he been admitted, Lane would have been eligible to collect a military pension when he retired. As it is, he said, “I don’t get 15 cents.”
Lane also attempted to join the American Legion, and was again denied because of his color. Eventually, he helped found an all-black Veterans of Foreign Wars post, VFW Post 9623.
Lane again worked laying carpet, linoleum and tile for Sleeper Furniture. It was an uncommon trade for a man of color, he said.
His multiple jobs included 31 years as custodian of Presbyterian Church, 31 years at Matt Cole Oil Company, 27 years at Sleeper Furniture and nine years as a custodian for the City of Iola. Lane also freelanced as a carpet and tile layer, he said.
Lane did have some good times in his 90 years, he said. He spent 59 years with the love of his life, his wife Maribelle, who died in 2005. His only child, Stephen, retired from Goodyear and lives in Topeka.
Lane said though many changes have been made since the days of segregation, there is room for improvement.
“There’s confusion all over the world yet, because we can’t get together,” and get past the color issue, he said.