Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez has done extensive research on the impact of U.S. Army Sgt. Leon Bass who was one of the African American liberators of Buchenwald Concentration Camp during WWII. Leon Bass was a member of the US Army 183rd Engineer & Combat Battalion which holds a military record of building a strategic bridge in only five days during the Battle of the Bulge.
Irvin can share the childhood experiences of Leon Bass who often felt isolated in America as an African American. Upon high school graduation, he joined the US Army at age 18. He was forced to serve in a segregated battalion. He faced discrimination and the prejudicial treatment worsened for him when he joined the US Army.
Irvin has developed an interactive PowerPoint illustrating how minority groups in America who suffered from discrimination prior to military service, found the prejudice followed them. For example, Sgt. Leon Bass returned after WW II as a hero but he and other minorities were not deemed worthy to be celebrated. Dr. Bass became an educator and earned his doctorate. Dr. Leon Bass changed many lives of his students at Benjamin Franklin High School in Philadelphia.
