Buffalo soldier honored by community for WWII service

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Reporter - Julie Collins
Photojournalist - Eric Ziglin
Web Editor - Jay Marchmon

SHARON, Tenn. - Tucked away in the small town of Sharon is the public library, a place full of great stories, including some only one man can tell.

"People think a lot of me so I'm proud of it," says Ezra Howard.

And they do because of his service during World War II. Ezra Howard was a combat soldier--an uncommon assignment for black men during WWII--with the 365th Infantry Regiment of the 92nd Division. He fought in the mountains of Italy.

Howard remembers the rough conditions: "We had to run them out of those mountains, we had to just run them out of there, but it was a hard time, it was rough."

The unit was known as the Buffalo Soldiers, and at 91 he's the only living one from Tennessee.

"Some some times I say, I don't see how I made it. I went in some tough places, let me tell you."

Eventually he moved back home, got married, raised a family and 66 years after the war he got his day in the sun.

The Patriot Riders, members of the Buffalo Soldiers Riding Club,  along with neighbors, friends and family, all gathered this afternoon to honor this man.  And inside the building, his story is etched into history through hugs, pictures and the life he's living.