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Before achieving fame, Sammy Davis, Jr. served in the army. When he arrived for basic training he saw a PFC sitting on the steps of the barracks. He walked over to him and said, “Excuse me, buddy. I’m a little lost. Can you tell me where 202 is?” The man jerked his head back and said “Two buildings down and I’m not your buddy, you black bastard!”

A few days later, Davis was strapping on a watch his father gave him, it slipped to the floor next to a soldier’s bed. The man, Jennings, crushed the watch with his army boot. Without missing a beat, he looked at Sammy and said, “Don’t worry boy, you can always steal another one.”

Jennings was the ringleader of a group of racist soldiers who made Davis’ life hell in the Army. After a performance at the Officer’s Club, Jennings motioned for Sammy to join his table, he said he wanted to make peace and slid a pitcher of beer towards Sammy. When Sammy poured a drink and started drinking, the soldiers fell out laughing. Sammy soon discovered that he was actually drinking urine.

Sammy once said this: “Jennings and his gang jumped me on the way to a meeting with the captain. They cornered me, dragged me into a latrine, and beat the crap out of me.

“But that wasn’t the worst of it. They took a can of white paint and wrote…

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