BG Benjamin O. Davis Sr.

Jul 13, 2018 | Army

On Oct. 25, 1940, Benjamin O. Davis Sr. became the first African American to hold star rank in the U.S. Army and in the armed forces. He was promoted to brigadier general, temporary — a situation with which he was all too familiar, as his promotions to major,...

MAJ Emiline Ann “Duce” Bourgeois

Jul 11, 2018 | Army

Major Emiline Ann “Duce” Bourgeois, a native of Thibodaux referred to by the National World War II Museum as the oldest living female WWII veteran in Louisiana, whose service also included the Korean and Vietnam wars, died Oct. 30, 2015. She was 103. In...

CPT Ronald Reagan

Jul 2, 2018 | Air Force, Army

Ronald Wilson Reagan enrolled in a series of home-study Army Extension Courses on 18 March 1935. After completing 14 of the courses, he enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve on 29 April 1937, as a Private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry at Des Moines, Iowa. He was...

Sgt Bob Williams

Jul 1, 2018 | Marines

In the summer of 2012—almost 70 years to the day he joined the Marines at age 17—Bob Williams presented his story to Todd DePastino’s World War II History class at the Canonsburg campus of Waynesburg University.  Bob landed at Parris Island at a hard time for the...

MSgt Catherine G. Murray

Jun 29, 2018 | Marines

The first female Marine to retire from the U.S. Marine Corps was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on [January 23, 2018]. Catherine G. Murray, who passed away last month at the age of 100, enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves in 1943 after hearing President...