THE OFFICERS' GUIDE

Harrisburg, PA: The Military Service Publishing Company, 1941. Fourth edition, second printing. Very good plus.. WWII-era edition of the officer's reference manual belonging to Captain Herbert Roy Orr, commanding officer of the first African American signal aircraft warning company. Orr, a Washington DC native, joined the ROTC while studying electrical engineering at Howard University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1931 and a master of science in 1935; he subsequently taught electronics at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College. Upon the United States's entry into World War II, he was assigned to the 366th Infantry Regiment at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. His copy of the OFFICERS' GUIDE is labeled with this unit name and address. The 366th was notable in the US Army for being an all Black unit: having Black officers as well as troops. Prior to the war, the Army and Navy had only a small handful of Black officers, making Orr one of the first to earn his commission.

In 1942, Orr was assigned to the 689th Signal Aircraft Warning Company, newly activated at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama. The 689th was the first African American Signal Corps unit and the only highly specialized technical support unit commanded solely by African American officers. The included letter to Orr dates from the frustrating period when the 689th was "forced to wait" at Tuskegee, "growing stagnant and restless like many other African American units that were trained and ready" (Norman). The unit was deployed to the South Pacific to carry out operations in the Sulu Archipelago and Guadalcanal, where Captain Orr died in 1944. Florida A&M, where both Orr and his wife Ruth Bates Orr were instructors, named Orr Drive in his memory. A moving relic from a pioneering military officer. 9.5'' x 6''. Original gilt-lettered black cloth. Illustrated in black and white, some fold-out plates. 391, [1] pages. Boards lightly scuffed and rubbed. Light soil to fore-edge and top edge. Ownership stamp and signature to front pastedown: "Capt. H.R. Orr / 366th Infantry / Fort Devens, Mass." Orr's name additionally written in pen along bottom edge of text block. Letter laid in from Frank Burton of the Army and Navy Publishing Company, dated April 23, 1943, addressed to Orr at the Tuskegee Army Flying School.