Black U.S. Military Heroes Honored

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen saluted black military heroes Saturday for fighting discrimination and the enemy, as he marked the upcoming 50th anniversary of the desegregation of America’s armed forces.

Cohen told 27 graduates of the Reserve Officers Training Corps at predominantly black Norfolk State University that they have inherited the legacy of heroes such as retired Col. Lee Archer, 77, and retired Lt. Col. Charity Adams-Earley, 79.

Archer flew 169 combat missions in just over a year during World War II. As a major, Adams-Earley was World War II’s highest-ranking black woman, commanding the only all-black, all-female battalion deployed overseas, a mail battalion.

“You shattered the stereotypes and proved that patriotism has nothing to do with the color of your skin but everything to do with the content of your character,” Cohen told them during a ceremony at which the ROTC graduates received commissions.

On July 26, 1948, President Truman signed an executive order that ended segregation in the military. Today, the military is one of the most racially integrated institutions in America, Cohen told the 400 people attending the ceremony.

For the first time, the Army, Navy and Air Force each has a black four-star officer. All three attended the event: Army Gen. Johnnie Wilson, Air Force Gen. Lloyd Newton and Adm. Paul Reason, commander of the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk.

However, Cohen said, there still are too few black officers, and the military must invest in young blacks and make them leaders. He said it will take years to increase the number of black generals and admirals.

“We are right to recognize that it takes a decade or more to develop military leaders,” Cohen said. “We cannot have more African American generals and admirals simply by wishing it were so.”

Archer said promotions for blacks were restricted in his day, so he was gratified to see such high-ranking black officers at the ceremony.

“They’re out there with stars all over the place; it looks like the sky,” he said.

Cohen also acknowledged that pockets of prejudice and even racial hate groups exist in the military. But he said the Pentagon was committed to moving swiftly and decisively against bigotry.

“Those who seek to make others unwelcome because of their racial or ethnic background must know it is they who are unwelcome in America’s military,” Cohen said.