During World War I, blacks tried to enlist in various branches of the armed services. In some cases, they were able to enlist in white battalions; in other cases, they were discouraged from signing up. So many blacks wanted to serve that in July 1916, an all-black battalion, the No. 2 Construction Battalion, was formed. Company A, which consisted of 598 men and 19 officers, was recruited in Nova Scotia and in March 1917 went overseas where it saw action in France. It was disbanded in September 1920. Two members of the battalion were Private Arthur Benson Cromwell (right), who died overseas of tuberculosis at the age of seventeen, and Private Ned Brown, who survived the war to return to Nova Scotia.
