Early in 1918 they went into training quarters near St.Nazaire.The 371st, another Negro regiment, made up of draft selectives principally from South Carolina, was later given quarters nearby.
The black soldiers of the 369th were brigaded as a part of the 16th division of the 8th Corps of the 4th French Army.

From St.Nazaire they went to Givrey-En-Argonne, and there in three weeks the French turned them into a regulation French regiment.

They had Lebel rifles, French packs and French gas masks.

For 191 days they were in the trenches or on the field of battle.

In April, 1918, the regiment held 20 percent of all the territory held by American troops, though it comprised less than one percent of all the American soldiers in France.
Officers of the 369th reported for an entire year only six cases of drunkenness, and twenty-four of serious disease.