Going ‘Where No African American Had Gone Before’

Filed under African American History Month, DoD News by on February 29, 2012 at 11:29 am {no comments}

By Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Rojek, DMA
From www.af.mil

Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura on the original Star Trek did much to recruit African Americans into the NASA space program.

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) - She may never have traveled aboard an actual space shuttle, but in the 1960s Nichelle Nichols inspired a generation by boldly going where no African American had gone before.

With the debut of “Star Trek” in 1966, Nichols’ role as Lt. Uhura not only broke racial barriers for African American actresses, but it also motivated future real-world astronauts like Air Force Col. Guion Bluford Jr. and Dr. Mae Jemison.

Born Dec. 28, 1932, in Robbins, Ill., Nichols started in show business in her mid-teens, touring with musicians like Duke Ellington. She continued singing and stage acting as she got older, but also made a few on-screen appearances, including a guest spot on a television series called “The Lieutenant” in 1964. It just so happened that the creator of that show, Gene Rodenberry, remembered her when he began writing a new science-fiction series for television, asking Nichols to take a role in “Star Trek.”

Rodenberry and Nichols created the role of Uhura together and broke the stereotypes placed upon African American actresses. Up until that point, they usually played housekeepers or other subservient roles. Nichols didn’t quite understand the impact of the role until she was thinking about quitting after the first season.
(more…)

First African American Tomb Guard Recalls Journey

Filed under African American History Month, DoD News by on February 29, 2012 at 7:43 am {no comments}

By Staff Sgt. Megan Garcia, Army News Service
From www.army.mil

Spc. Fred Moore, Tomb Sentinel, 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment "The Old Guard," walks his tour more than 50 years ago in humble reverence at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery, Va. Moore became the first African American Tomb Sentinel in March 1961. (Courtesy photo)

ARLINGTON, Va.  - In honor of African American History Month, Fred Moore, the first African American Tomb Guard, recalled his journey from serving as a firing party member in Honor Guard Company in 1960, to making history a year later.

When Moore entered the Army in 1959, it was an unsettling feeling. It wasn’t because he was drafted. It wasn’t because he didn’t have a desire to serve his country. It wasn’t even the tension rising in Vietnam. Moore was an African American soldier entering the service during the Civil Rights Movement.

“I had three older brothers who had been in the service, and the advice they gave me before I left was to keep my mouth shut and don’t volunteer for anything,” Moore said jokingly.

But Moore, determined to find his own way, volunteered for service in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), a decision which catapulted him into history.

Moore admits he wasn’t very familiar with The Old Guard, but a series of good scores on the Army entry test, or more so his stature, made him a good candidate.

“The officer at the reception station said you’re 6 foot 1, 185 pounds… you’re the right size for what they’re looking for,” Moore recalled.
(more…)

Tuskegee Nurse First African American in Army Nurse Corps

Filed under African American History Month, DoD News by on February 28, 2012 at 2:33 pm {one comment}

By Tech. Sgt. Chris Powell, DMA
From www.af.mil

(U.S. Air Force graphic/Sylvia Saab)

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) - An operating room nurse in North Carolina during the early days of World War II would become the first African-American nurse commissioned as a lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps and the first nurse to become part of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.

Della H. Rainey was born in Suffolk, Virginia, on January 10, 1912. A graduate of the Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing in Durham, N.C., Rainey, in civilian life, had been the operating room supervisor at Lincoln Hospital in Durham.

She was the first African-American nurse to enter the Army Nurse Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C., and was promoted to chief nurse at Fort Bragg in 1942 before a transfer to the station hospital at Tuskegee Air Field, Ala. When a chief nurse job opened up at Fort Huachuca’s station hospital in 1943, she filled it, but soon moved on to Camp Beale, Calif. After the war she served in the occupation force in Japan and retired from the Army as a major, the highest rank to be achieved by any African-American nurse in World War II.

As a lieutenant serving at Tuskegee Army Airfield, she was appointed Chief Nurse, Army Nurse Corps in 1942, the first African American to be so appointed. She later served as Chief Nurse at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.
(more…)

Thomas N. Barnes, the First African American CMSAF

Filed under African American History Month, DoD News by on February 27, 2012 at 3:39 pm {no comments}

By Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes, DMA
From www.af.mil

CMSAF Thomas Barnes, first African American to hold top Air Force enlisted position.

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) - Chief Master Sgt. Thomas N. Barnes, appointed to the position of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force in 1973, was the first and, to-date, only African American to serve in the highest enlisted position within the U.S. Air Force.

While serving in this position, Chief Barnes provided advice on matters concerning welfare, effective utilization and progress of the enlisted members of the Air Force to two secretaries of the Air Force and two chiefs of staff of the Air Force during his tenure.

One particular health-related issue he was instrumental in bring to the attention of senior military leaders was Pseudo folliculitis Barbae, a skin condition caused by shaving that highly affected African American males.

Chief Barnes attended elementary and secondary schools in Chester, Pa., where he was born in 1930. In 1949, Chief Barnes entered the Air Force and received his technical training from the Aircraft and Engine School and Hydraulic Specialist School at Chanute Technical Training Center in Illinois after completing basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

Chief Barnes received assignments to various locations to include Massachusetts, Texas, Hawaii, Japan, and the Northeast Air Command, before arriving to George AFB, Calif., in October 1966.
(more…)

Longest Serving Airman Also Longest Serving African American in DoD

Filed under African American History Month, DoD News by on February 26, 2012 at 11:26 am {no comments}

From www.af.mil

Maj. Gen. Alfred K. Flowers, longest serving Airman and longest serving African-American service member in DoD.

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) - The Air Force’s longest serving airman, who retired this past January after nearly 47 years of service, is also the longest serving African-American service member within the Department of Defense.

Maj. Gen. Alfred K. Flowers recently retired from the Pentagon where he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget for Headquarters, U.S. Air Force.

Originally from rural Jones County, North Carolina, Flowers enlisted in the Air Force shortly after graduation from high school in 1965. He began his career as a supply warehouseman at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., and after two years, transferred to the air transportation career field and was sent to Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam. It was there he had the unenviable task of collecting casualties, taking both wounded and deceased soldiers out of the jungles during the middle of the night.

After his tour to Vietnam, Flowers was reassigned briefly to Norton Air Force Base where he met his future wife. Shortly after they were married, his wife, who was also in the Air Force, was reassigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines. He followed several months later.

When Flowers returned to the U.S., he continued to work towards his degree, as well as retrain into the accounting field with stints in San Antonio, Texas; Charleston, S.C. and Iraklion, Greece.
(more…)

Page 1 of 81234567»...Last »

DoDLive on Tumblr

  • photo from Tumblr

    German soldiers of 2nd Company, 1st Battalion, 40th Mechanized Infantry Regiment pull security during an Operational Mentor Liaison Team (OMLT) training exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany.  OMLT XXIII and Police Operational Mentor Liaison Team VII training are designed to prepare teams for deployment to Afghanistan with the ability to train, advise, and enable the Afghan National Security Force in areas such as counter-insurgency, combat advisory, and force enabling support operations. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ian Schell  (DVIDS)


  • photo from Tumblr

    While flying over Colorado a B-2 Stealth Bomber from Whiteman Air Force Base, MO, moves into position for a mid-air refueling via the boom of a KC-135R Stratotanker from the 128th Air Refueling Wing, Milwaukee on 09 May, 2012. The B-2 Stealth bomber and the KC-135 crews conducted the aerial refueling to maintain mission readiness standards.

    U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt Jeremy M. Wilson (DVIDS)


  • photo from Tumblr

    Royal Canadian Mounted Police assigned to a Marine Security Emergency Response Team debark from the HMCS Ville de Quebec (FFH 332) to conduct boarding operations during Exercise Frontier Sentinel 2012 May 8, 2012 at sea off Sydney, Nova Scotia. Exercise Frontier Sentinel is a combined interagency exercise involving Joint Task Force Atlantic, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy Fleet Forces Command. The exercise is designed to continue to develop and validate the existing plans, treaties and standard operation procedures for a bilateral response to maritime homeland defense and security threats.

    (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ernesto Hernandez Fonte / Released) (DVIDS)