Gen. Roscoe Robinson Jr.; 1st Black at 4-Star Rank

Gen. Roscoe Robinson Jr., a distinguished combat commander and the first black to become a four-star general in the Army, has died of leukemia. He was 64.

Robinson died Thursday at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington, the Army said in a statement.

Robinson retired from the Army in October, 1985, after serving his last assignment as a U.S. representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military committee.

In 1951 he became the 16th black to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point’s 150-year history. He was immediately assigned to an all-black unit and sent to Korea.

“It took more than a presidential proclamation” to desegregate the Army, Robinson told The Times in 1989. “That was virtually ignored for some time. It took a realization that we were not getting the maximum from all our people.”

Robinson also saw combat as a battalion commander in Vietnam. His awards and decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze Star.

Although he won rapid promotion, as late as the mid-1960s he was denied career-enhancing posts that were then open only to whites.

“I can tell you without thinking about it, there were regions of the world blacks could not go,” the retired general told The Times. “There were very few blacks assigned to visible jobs at higher headquarters. None of these opened up until the 1960s.”

Robinson’s Army posts included deputy chief of staff for logistics in Vietnam, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C., and commanding general of the IX Corps in Japan.

A St. Louis native, Robinson earned a master’s degree in international relations at the University of Pittsburgh.

He is survived by his wife, the former Mildred E. Sims of Falls Church, Va.; a son and daughter, and two grandchildren.

Robinson will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery after services Monday in Ft. Myer, Va.