Robert Madison was born in Cleveland, Ohio in July 1923, one of four sons of an educated black man, who held "all sorts of small jobs" during the Great Depression, because "they didn't hire colored people at that time." His mother had to take work sewing, and the family had a difficult time making ends meet. Although they didn't have much, they never felt they were poor. Madison shined shoes, delivered newspapers and groceries, and did what he could to help out. He distinctly remembered the Sunday in December 1941when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was studying architecture on a scholarship at Howard University [Annotator's Note: in Washington, D.C.], and he and some classmates were working in the studio and listening to the radio when all of a sudden the programming cut off, and President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] said that it was "a day that shall live in infamy." Madison said, "it was the beginning of a new life." During his sophomore year, he spent the summer training in the Reserve Officer Training Corps with 25 other cadets, with the expectation of becoming a commissioned officer one day. In the fall he went into advanced training, and in February [Annotator's Note: February 1943] Madison was inducted into the Army. He went to Camp Croft, South Carolina where he remained six or eight weeks in basic training, and upon completion he was promoted to Private First Class. From there he went to Greensboro, North Carolina to wait for space in the segregated barracks of officer candidate school. His class of 25 cadets was sent back to Howard University as participants in the Army Specialized Training Program. They lived in a barracks and did the typical soldier's activities like guard duty, kitchen patrol, and "had a good time." Madison was made the cadet battalion commander. In February 1944, his group went on to Fort Benning, Georgia, but Madison had to go to the infirmary for a tonsillectomy, and when he was discharged, his class had moved on. He completed his training with a class of white candidates, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in May 1944. Madison said it was a tough time for a black soldier to be in the Deep South. He was assigned to the 92nd Infantry [Annotator's Note: 92nd Infantry Division] and sent to Fort Huachuca [Annotator's Note: in Cochise County, Arizona] where he was immediately made battalion intelligence officer.

At Fort Huachuca [Annotator's Note: in Cochise County, Arizona], Robert Madison was appointed S-2, intelligence officer, of the 1st Battalion, 370th Combat Team, 92nd Infantry [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 370th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division]. He was there for about three months, and had no idea he was going into combat, because black troops had typically gone into the Quartermaster Corps. They went on maneuvers, but never had any ammunition, and Madison said it was told, "No other state would accept many black men with guns." All the nearby cities were "off-limits." By contrast, Madison commented, when they got to Italy, the black soldiers were welcome in every city. When they finished their training, they went to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where troop ships were waiting for them. The train trip there was an "unfortunate" 24 hour ride; it was hot on the train, and no city would allow the black men to get off, even to take care of normal bodily functions or get food. Madison had been home on a three-day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] before his deployment. From Virginia, the troop ship zig-zagged [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] through the Atlantic [Annotator's Note: Atlantic Ocean], and took 14 days to reach Naples, Italy. On board, all of the officers, including Madison, were given English-Italian dictionaries, and it was the first inkling he had of where they were headed. After a few weeks, during which they were issued guns and ammunition and went through some exercises, they were loaded on trucks and headed north. The 370th Combat Team reached the south side of the Arno River, which ran between Pisa and Florence [Annotator's Note: Italy] and went into the line on 1 September [Annotator's Note: 1 September 1944].

The troops were on the line along the banks of the Arno River [Annotator's Note: Italy], and Robert Madison was at battalion headquarters [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 370th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division]. The plan was to conduct a reconnaissance mission that night, and Madison volunteered to go down and talk to the troops. He noted that all the officers below the rank of captain were black; all of the officers above the rank of captain were white. Madison explained to his friends that they had to cross the river, and if the reconnaissance mission turned up nothing, the troops were going to advance "full speed ahead." Madison reported back that the troops were ready to go, and asked when the artillery would begin. When he heard there would be no artillery, he demanded to talk to Mark Clark [Annotator's Note: US Army General Mark Wayne Clark], the commanding general. Madison said he must have been "crazy." Earlier at Pietro Santo [Annotator's Note: Madison is likely referring to San Pietro Infini, Italy], the troops had to pass in review in front of Mark Clark and he had given them a rousing speech before he did the inspection. Clark asked why the leaders of the troops only had silver bars on their shoulders; "why aren't they captains?" Then, according to Madison, there occurred the "most dramatic moment in history." Clark promoted the first lieutenants to captains on the spot. Madison said the black troops "were ready to take off, because somebody finally recognized them." When they were going to cross the Arno and it was clear they weren't going to have the cover of artillery, nobody wanted to go. Madison and the chaplain went into the chest deep water of the Arno, carrying their rifles above their heads, and when they reached the other side, they found no enemy soldiers there. Madison went back to headquarters to report, and was "immediately demoted" for insubordination. The next day he was commanding the 1st Platoon of Company B [Annotator's Note: Company B, 1st Battalion, 370th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division]. After crossing the river, the company ran into mine fields, and lost ten men. But they went on to take Luca [Annotator's Note: Luca, Italy], which was a great achievement, and when they marched through the city, the townspeople all came out to honor them. Always moving forward, they switched to central Italy, just north of Florence, and Madison was made motor officer, in charge of all the vehicles of the Combat Team. One night, the order came to move to Viareggio [Annotator's Note: Viareggio, Italy], and they had to travel without lights. Madison was attempting to take his vehicles over a bridge when he discovered it had been blown out. He said he made a mistake, and everyone thought him "incompetent." As it turned out, the Germans had moved the road signs, but by time they got to their destination, all the combat soldiers had arrived. Madison said there was no more outright combat at that point, only skirmishes at outposts, and fighting with small units that were trying to deter the troops.

When Robert Madison was commanding the motor vehicles [Annotator's Note: as motor officer for the 370th Regimental Combat Team, 92nd Infantry Division], he remembers that he was bringing ammunition trucks around to distribute their cargo to the troops. When he reached the center of a small town, he found it strangely quiet. Pretty soon, shells started raining down on the town center, their target clearly the ammunition trucks. So he "got out of there in a hurry." Another amusing incident happened when he was commanding a platoon [Annotator's Note: Madison had previously commanded the 1st Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 370th Regimental Combat Team, 92nd Infantry Division], and as they were moving up, he decided they would spend the night in a farmhouse. There was hay on the floor of the first level, and Madison and his 25 men got down on their knees and prayed for their continued safety. Within 15 minutes, they heard a loud noise, and when they investigated on the upper floor, they found a big, unexploded shell spinning around on the floor. It was another place he "left in a hurry." The next anecdote Madison related happened in the countryside, when they stopped for the night, and spotted a nearby mansion. Madison decided to ask the owner if the platoon could camp in the manicured yard. When he knocked on the door, a servant answered. Madison had a spirited encounter with the owner before he got the permission he needed. When he had leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] for rest and recuperation, Madison would go to Florence [Annotator's Note: Florence, Italy] and attend the opera performances. In the middle of November [Annotator's Note: November 1944], the rest of the 92nd [Annotator's Note: 92nd Infantry Division] arrived, to complete the division. The most "meaningful event" happened at Christmas of 1944, when Madison was in charge of vehicles. He knew a countess who agreed to have a party, and Madison collected a number of ladies in the Army trucks and brought them to the event. On the 26th, he was driving a jeep to report back to headquarters when a German shell struck the passenger side of the vehicle, wounding him in the stomach and foot. He went back to the battalion aid station, and was feeling sorry for himself until he looked around and saw men in far worse condition. Madison said he realized then that everything is comparable. After the chaplain gave him last rights and he accepted the Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy], he was flown to the regimental hospital at Civitavecchia [Annotator's Note: Civitavecchia, Italy], and underwent an operation to remove the shrapnel. While he was there, he had another attack of tonsillitis, and had to have an operation for that. By the time he was able to rejoin his unit it was April 1945, and the Germans had surrendered.

Robert Madison said his "war was basically September of 1944 until December of 1944" when he was wounded. He did not have enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to come home after the German surrender [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], so he stayed in Italy for another year. He was in camp and had a chance to do some "wonderful things." They studied warfare, in the event they would be shipped to the Pacific, but the war with the Japanese ended [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] before they moved out. He was discharged at a place in Indiana, and went back to Cleveland [Annotator's Note: Cleveland, Ohio]. "There was one wonderful thing about that war," Madison said, "and it was the G.I. Bill of Rights." He wanted to go back to college to study architecture, and went to see the dean of Western Reserve University near his home. He was told that they didn't take "colored people." Madison said he "got mad," went home and put on his uniform with all its decorations. He went back, and saw another dean who agreed to test him, and he finally got in. He went on to Harvard University [Annotator's Note: in Cambridge, Massachusetts], then went to Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] to study at the Ecole de Beaux-Arts, all under the G.I. Bill. Were it not for World War 2, Madison admits, he would not have had that education; it changed his life totally. He said the same is true of a lot of black officers. It was not easy as a black soldier as there was friction between the black and white soldiers, and there were confrontations when he was in Italy. He noted that the Nisei [Annotator's Note: first generation Japanese-American; in this case, Madison is referring to the Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team] were on their flank, fighting the enemy, and he found that "poetic." Madison goes on to relay hearsay about the massacre at the Cinquale Canal.

Since there was a war, Robert Madison said, he was grateful that he got to serve, even though there was discrimination. It was the way society was at that time. He said it was the 92nd Division [Annotator's Note: 92nd Infantry Division] that brought about the integration of the Army. President Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] sent a man named Truman Gibson [Annotator's Note: Truman Kella Gibson, Jr.; American lawyer and government advisor] to investigate what was going on with the black troops in Europe, and the Executive Order that would integrate the Army forever came out of that probe. Madison was a member of the Army Reserves when the Korean War started, and went to report when he was called, but his wounds from World War 2 disqualified him from any further combat action. When he finally retired from the armed forces, he was a first lieutenant. Asked if he thought there should be a National WWII Museum, Madison said people should be reminded of what American wars meant to the people of this country. He feels the earlier conflicts established the "character of America." The sad thing, he feels, is that the black soldiers are not represented. Madison has been interviewed on a couple of other occasions, and has been happy to tell his stories about what black soldiers accomplished in the war.