Cover Story: Black History Month - Recognizing Veterans Who Reached Fame After Their Military Service

February is Black History Month and an important time as ever to celebrate the contributions of African-Americans in military history. Today, there are over 350,000 active duty and select reserve members and over 2.4 million Black and African American veterans in the United States. 

Black and African American people have served our nation in all major military conflicts including the Revolutionary War, even during the period of slavery leading to the Civil War.

Today, we want to highlight several notable Black personalities who served long before they achieved their fame. And they all have benefited from Black soldiers before them, who paved the way for the opportunity to enlist when racial tensions were high and segregation existed. 

Peter Salem, a slave, served with the minutemen of the Continental Army in 1775 in the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Soon after the battle, Gen. George Washington announced that enslaved people could no longer be recruited for the militia. His slaveholders freed him so he could continue fighting and he is credited with having killed a crucial British officer, Maj. John Pitcairn. During the Revolutionary War, Black people primarily served in integrated units, but America’s first all-Black unit, the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, overcame three assaults by the British during the battle for Rhode Island in 1778 and later participated in the victory at Yorktown in 1781.

(Poitier being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2009)

After President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, on Jan. 1, 1863, Black Soldiers were officially allowed to participate in the Civil War. Approximately 186,000 Black Soldiers — including 94,000 former slaves from Southern states — ultimately served in the Union Army, and 38,000 were killed in action. Black Soldiers, of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments, fought in the Spanish-American War. The four regiments comprised 12 percent of the total force during the invasion of Cuba.

On Dec. 27, 1917, the 369th Infantry Regiment became the first all-Black U.S. combat unit to be shipped overseas during World War I. The 761st Tank Battalion – also known as the “Black Panthers” – was the first African American tank battalion to see combat in World War II. Jackie Robinson, who later broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, was part of the “Black Panthers.” In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the inclusion of Black women into the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) program, two years after white women were granted permission. On July 19, 1941, the U.S. Army Air Corps began training Black pilots who became known as the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.

During World War II, actor Sidney Poitier and singer Harry Belafonte enlisted in times of personal struggle. Poitier lied about his age in 1943 (he was 16) to join the Army, but after 10 months faked a mental health condition and was discharged under Section VIII of Army regulation 615–360. Belafonte dropped out of high school and joined the U.S. Navy. Each went on to have trailblazing success in their arts field, with Poitier becoming the first Black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1964, and Belafonte having the first million-selling LP by a single artist with his album Calypso in 1956.

The 1950s saw a young James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman joining the military. Jones attended the University of Michigan and was a member of its Reserve Officer Training Corps. He was commissioned in 1953 and reported to Fort Benning, where he attended the Infantry Officers Basic Course. He was assigned to the 38th Regimental Combat Team, which was responsible for establishing a cold weather training command at Camp Hale. Jones was promoted to Lieutenant prior to completing his military service.

“I took to the physical challenge, so much so that I wanted to stay there, testing myself in that awesome environment, mastering the skills of survival,” he told the Army in an interview. He went on to be the voice of Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” franchise and in 2011, he achieved “EGOT” status by winning an Emmy, Golden Globe, Oscar, and Tony award.

Morgan Freeman enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1955 after being inspired by the heroic war movies of the time. He rose to Airman 1st Class before transitioning to acting. 

(President George H. W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush present the Medal of Arts to James Earl Jones in 1992)

“When I got in and started to live that life (in the Air Force), it occurred to me that I had been functioning with my romance with movies. I had seen all these war movies, but you are thinking reality when it is all make believe,” he said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey’s “Master Class.”

Another notable celebrity, Montel Williams, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1974 and served as an intelligence officer for 15 years. Among his decorations are an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, a Naval Expeditionary Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, and two Meritorious Service Awards. He became a celebrated talk show host and was awarded a daytime Emmy as “Outstanding Talk Show Host” in 1995-96.

Basketball athlete David Robinson was drafted out of the Naval Academy with the first pick in the 1987 draft. He went on to become the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1990, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in basketball, the NBA’s individual scoring champ in 1994, and leader of the Spurs’ championship team in 1999 and 2003. In 2000, Robinson told a gathering of high school ROTC students, "Your military experience is going to serve you for the rest of your life." 

Sunny Anderson, a Food Network personality, grew up an Army brat and joined the United States Air Force in June 1993, where she earned the rank of Senior Airman and worked as a military radio host in Seoul, South Korea. She then worked for Air Force News Agency radio and television in San Antonio from 1993 to 1997. Anderson was honorably discharged from the Air Force in June 1997. She was later nominated for an Emmy award in 2017.

We thank these and all of the Black & African American veterans who have served throughout history for their dedication and sacrifices for our country.