United Kingdom, February 1944: “Plotters Sgt. Herbert Simon, St. Louis, Mo., and Pfc. Isaac Gabriel, Miami Fla., chart approaching planes for direction and location," read the original caption on this image, first published in the Northern Ireland edition of Stars and Stripes Feb. 10, 1944. The photo accompanied a feature article on an all-African American anti-aircraft battalion stationed in the United Kingdom in early 1944. Unfortunately, no original negatives or prints of the photos remain in Stars and Stripes’ archives.

The article was reported and written by Stars and Stripes’ sole African-American reporter during World War II, Allan Morrison. Read Morrison’s article and check out additional images here.

Want to find out more about Allan Morrison? Read Nancy Montgomery’s 2017 profile here.

Find additional stories by Allan Morrison in Stars and Stripes’ historic newspaper archive. We have digitized our 1948-1999 European and Pacific editions, as well as several of our WWII editions and made them available online through https://starsandstripes.newspaperarchive.com/

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• From the archives, 1944: All set for the Luftwaffe