Showing posts with label U.S. Army. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. Army. Show all posts

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams named West Point's first black superintendent

Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, a 1983 U.S. Military Academy graduate who has held high-ranking Army posts in Europe and Asia, will become the first black officer to command West Point in its 216-year history, academy officials announced Friday.M.O

Williams will assume command as the academy's 60th superintendent during a ceremony Monday morning in West Point's Jefferson Hall, school officials said.

The native of Alexandria, Virginia, has served as the deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Army in Europe and the deputy commanding general for support for the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea.

Most recently Williams was commander of NATO's Allied Land Command, based in Turkey.

The announcement of Williams' appointment comes less than a year after an African-American cadet and Rhodes Scholar was selected to take the top position in West Point's cadet chain of command. Simone Askew, of Fairfax, Virginia, was selected first captain of the Corps of Cadets last summer and graduated in May.

The academy recently announced that the more than 1,200-member incoming class of 2020 includes 186 African-Americans.

Williams takes over from Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., who's retiring after more than 40 years in the Army, including the last five years as West Point's superintendent.

[SOURCE: STARS AND STRIPES]


Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Thomas Ellis, a Tuskegee Airman, is dead at 97

Former Sgt. Maj. Thomas Ellis, one of six surviving Tuskegee Airmen in San Antonio, died Jan. 2 of a stroke in a local hospital. He was 97.

A draftee, he served as a top administrator with the first all-black Army Air Forces unit and was proud of the unit’s record — 15,533 sorties, 112 aerial kills, three Presidential Unit Citations and 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses.

Known as approachable and easygoing, even with strangers, Ellis also chafed at the racism African Americans endured from white officers during the war and knew the importance of proving that the 332nd Fighter Group was up to the job.

“He was very opinionated, very outspoken,” said Rick Sinkfield, national spokesman for Tuskegee Airmen Inc., which has 1,400 members across the country, around 20 of them pilots from the legendary unit. "He realized he was in the segregated military at the time and so he was very aware all eyes were on those guys to do well.

Ellis will be buried with full military honors at 9 a.m. Friday in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

Ellis entered the Army as two-thirds of all Americans did, as a draftee. His daughter, Janice Stallings, said he entered the service in 1942 and was transferred to the Army Air Forces.

Ordered to Tuskegee Army Airfield, Ellis was the only enlisted member in the newly activated in the 301st Fighter Squadron, rising to staff sergeant and becoming an integral member of the 332nd Fighter Group, serving under then-Col. Benjamin O. Davis, who eventually became an Air Force general.

They deployed to Italy, where Ellis earned seven battle stars and left the Army as a sergeant major.

[SOURCE: STARS AND STRIPES]

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Sgt. La David Johnson may have been executed

Sgt. La David Johnson, the dead U.S. soldier whose wife Donald Trump disrespected during a condolence phone call, was found with his arms bound after being killed in a Niger ambush in October. Witness testimony suggests that he was captured and executed. Johnson was one of the four U.S. soldiers killed in the suspected ISIS ambush.

Adamou Boubacar, a 23-year-old farmer and trader, said some children tending cattle found the remains of the soldier Oct. 6, two days after the attack outside the remote Niger village of Tongo Tongo, which also left five Nigerien soldiers dead. The children notified him.

When Boubacar went to the location, a bushy area roughly a mile from the ambush site, he saw Johnson’s body lying face down, he said. The back of his head had been smashed by something, possibly a bullet, said Boubacar. The soldier’s wrists were bound with rope, he said, raising the possibility that the militants — whom the Pentagon suspects were affiliated with the Islamic State — seized Johnson during the firefight and held him captive.

The villagers’ accounts come as the Niger operation is under intense scrutiny in the United States, with lawmakers expressing concern that they have received insufficient or conflicting information about what happened. The Pentagon is conducting an investigation into the attack in Niger, where the U.S. military is helping the Nigerien government confront a threat by militants associated with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

Read more: U.S. soldier in Niger ambush was bound and apparently executed, villagers say

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Congressman honors Lt. Richard Collins something Trump has yet to do

On May 24, Congressman Anthony Brown (Dem-MD) spoke on the House floor about the life and death of Lieutenant Richard Collins III. Collins' murder was a hate crime, and the latest in string of racist and hate-filled incidents across the country at college campuses. Trump has yet to honor this fallen American soldier.

Watch his comments below:

When is Pres. Trump going to honor Lt. Richard Collins

Friday, April 21, 2017

Tuskegee Airman Buford A. Johnson dead at 89

Buford A. Johnson, a Tuskegee Airman who served as a mechanic and crew chief in the Army Air Corps and U.S. Air Force and spent his retirement years introducing new generations to the history of the World War II African-American fighter corps, has died.

Johnson, of Highland, died Saturday, April 15. He was 89 and a retired master sergeant after an Air Force career that included World War II and the Korean War, according to his family obituary.

Johnson served from 1945 to 1966, starting with the famed 99th Fighter Squadron formed for African-American service members in Tuskegee, Ala.

Johnson was with the 99th from 1946 to 1948, the year President Harry S Truman issued an executive order desegregating the armed forces.

[SOURCE: http://www.pe.com]

Sunday, April 09, 2017

99 year old Tuskegee Airman to lead Memorial Day parade

One of World War II's Tuskegee Airmen will lead the township's 55th Annual Memorial Day Parade this year.

Charles Nolley, a 99-year-old Edison N.J. resident, has been named the Grand Marshall in the upcoming parade, Mayor Thomas Lankey announced Friday.

Nolley was drafted into the second World War in 1943 and served as one of the first black aviators in the history of the U.S. armed forces.

He trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama to become part of the Army Air Corps' four squadrons of all all-black servicemen. Nolley flew combat mission over Europe for three years with the 99th Pursuit Squadron.

"Not only is Mr. Nolley a witness to history, he is living history. His story is one of perseverance, dedication, service and success," Lankey said in release. "We are privileged to have Charles and his wife Martha as neighbors, and we are honored to have him as our parade Grand Marshal."

[SOURCE:NJ.COM]

Friday, February 10, 2017

Army lifts ban on dreadlocks for female soldiers

The Army released a sweeping update to grooming and appearance regulations on Tuesday that, in addition to authorizing religious beards and head coverings, also opened the door for female soldiers to wear their hair in dreadlocks.

The services have grappled with the issue of black women's hair in recent years, as some argued that the hair regulations put an undue burden on those with thick, coarse hair, forcing many women to spend time, money and discomfort on straightening or wigs if they didn't choose to chop it all off.

The Army's compromise is now to let women wear dreadlocks along the same guidelines already allowed for braids, cornrows and twists. That is, they must be of uniform size and shape, evenly spaced, and up to 1/2 inch in width.

Read more: New Army regulations OK dreadlocks for female soldiers