Getting a General Education : Pioneering WW II Hero Pays a Visit to Compton Middle School That Bears His Name

A sign that bears the school rules at Davis Middle School in Compton is as familiar to students as the paint on the walls and the cracks in the sidewalks. They all abide by the school’s traditional tongue-in-cheek format of the school’s namesake, Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. himself, issuing commands:

“The General says walk to the right!”

“The General says walk, do not run!”

On Thursday, the messages--and some other important ones--resonated a little more deeply than usual for the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. That’s because Davis, a spry 80-year-old World War II hero and the first black three-star general, decided to pay his school a visit.

More than 1,000 students waited patiently through a series of sincere but time-consuming presentations and commendations: two watches, a key to the city of Compton, a Compton College memorial plate, certificates enough to stuff a file drawer.

Throughout, Davis sat respectful and tall, uttering a gracious thank you on cue and freezing his smile for picture after picture.

Then it was his turn to speak. He disdained the microphone that all the other speakers had depended upon, stuck his left hand jauntily into his pocket and spoke in clear, strong tones to a hushed assembly.

“You have it within your power to do just about anything you really want to do and apply yourself to,” Davis told the 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds. “That’s a gift to you from the Tuskegee airmen.”

Davis was referring to the black pilots and other servicemen that he commanded during the war. They were trained in Tuskegee, Ala. Davis pointed out that the brave performance of his command helped pave the way for the desegregation of the military.

It was a bit of history that most of the students could have recited right back to him. For at least a week, every class had been studying Davis’ career.

They knew that Davis was the first black officer to graduate from West Point in the 20th Century and the first African-American to command a U.S. air base.

In addition to battling the nation’s enemies in the air, Davis also had to confront racism in his own ranks.

“The greatest indignity was neglect, no cadet speaking to me the entire time I was at West Point except in the line of duty,” Davis said in an interview. No other cadet would even room with Davis. To this day, Davis has no friends from his time at the military academy.

“I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to let these people make me leave,” Davis said. “I said to myself, ‘I’m a better man than they are because I’m more human.’ ”

His message to the students included a warning about prejudice: “Racism is a virulent hatred of one person for another. Racism has got to be reduced in our country if we are going to survive as a great nation.”

Davis graduated 35th in a class of 276 and wanted to enter the Army Air Corps. “I wanted to fly an airplane and I thought that was the best way to do it,” he said.

According to his biography, Davis was turned town because the Air Corps had no plans to include blacks.

That changed with the onset of World War II, and Davis became commander of the first black flying squadron. His bombers carried out 15,553 sorties on 1,578 missions, some of them led personally by Davis. His honors include the Distinguished Flying Cross and Silver Star for personal bravery. His command earned a presidential citation.

Davis needed a fair dose of that courage and endurance to survive the adulation that awaited him Thursday. His visit to Compton from his Virginia home was paid for by the Monrovia Schools Foundation, which had also arranged for him to speak to Monrovia students.

After the Compton assembly, students mobbed him in the halls with autograph pads and questions. They wanted to show him classroom doors decorated with his image and bulletin boards covered with timelines of his life: the general as a baby, the general at West Point.

“I thought, ‘Wow, a black man who was really somebody,’ ” said 11-year-old Christopher Jacquette. “He fought for what he believed in and tried to be the best he could be.

“He’s influenced my life a great bit. I’ve been thinking about being a general. Before, football was the only thing that interested me. He should visit the school twice a month.”

Martha Sims, 11, wanted to ask the general how it felt to have a school named for him. “Most schools are named after dead people or things like presidents, famous black Americans . . . “

“Or streets,” interjected sixth-grader Alfred Hull.

Davis’ arrival elevated the general’s posted rules to a new plane. After all, before this day, “you never saw the general,” Simm said.

In fact, students have long suspected the real general behind the posted rules was Principal Deloris Holmes, whose nickname is “The General” and whose maiden name was, after all, Davis.

Holmes admitted that she commissioned the sign that bears the rules as well as the adjacent portrait of the venerable Gen. Davis. As it happened, Davis’ speech included some additional directives: “Listen to your parents,” he said. “Your parents are your ally, telling you things for your own benefit. Stay away from alcohol. Stay away from drugs. Minimize your use of television. Maximize your use of the books recommended to you by your teachers and parents. Don’t continue to buy, if you are doing it already, expensive faddish clothing.”

Holmes was paying attention: “I’m going to put them up. They’re going right on the wall.”

Profile: Born: Dec. 18, 1912

Residence: Arlington, Va.

Education: Graduated from West Point ranked 35th in a class of 276, the first African-American graduate of the 20th Century.

Career highlights: Shortly after the start of World War II, Davis was selected to head the “black air force” during a time when the military was segregated. His command ultimately included more than 2,000 airmen and technicians. His bombers carried out 15,553 sorties on 1,578 missions, some of them led personally by Davis. After the war, Davis became the first African-American to command an American air base. He commanded bases in Kentucky, the Philippines, Taiwan, Germany and Korea, rising to the rank of three-star general. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Silver Star for personal bravery.