Black Warriors: The Return of the Buffalo Soldier

About the Book

The Italians in the towns and villages liberated by the buffalo soldiers during World War II called them Giganti Buoni, the Good Giants. They did not know that these giants would return to a country where they were still second-class citizens. In 2012, Ivan J. Houston, one of those remaining buffalo soldiers, was invited to return to Italy by the owner of a villa his battalion captured. He and his family would be guests at the fifteenth-century Villa Orsini, now a bed and breakfast renamed the Villa La Dogana. His return to Tuscany almost seventy years after the war had ended was filled with emotion. In this book, he describes how he went back to a place where African American buffalo soldiers are considered heroes and liberators. He visits battlefields where more than three thousand African American buffalo soldiers were killed or wounded as they battled Nazi and Fascist soldiers. The author and his family returned to Italy for five consecutive years, visiting the battle sites and celebrating ancient victories that will never be forgotten.

About the Author

Ivan J. Houston graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. He entered the University in 1942, left to serve in the Army from 1943 until 1945, and returned to receive his B.S. degree in 1948. From 1970 to 1990, he served as the chief executive officer of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co., one of the nation’s largest African American businesses, and was named one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans by Ebony magazine. He is also the author of Black Warriors: The Buffalo Soldiers of World War II. During his life, he sat on many corporate and community boards. A documentary film about his return to Italy titled With One Tied Hand has also been produced. His website for more information is www.blackwarriorsbook.com. He died in 2020.