Posted on 05/05/2005 5:02:07 PM PDT by AZHua87
FORT HUACHUCA - The World War II black officers club on this Arizona Army post is falling apart.
Windows have been boarded up. In a couple of places, beams of light shine in through deteriorating roofs to break the darkness inside.
Looking from in and out of the building, retired Army Dr. (Col.) Clotilde D. Bowen sees a patient that can be helped. She is a psychiatrist, used to working through the deep, troubling recesses of people's troubled minds.
She knows what once was bright can be made whole again.
Bowen only recently heard about the plight of the building. She read about the drive to save the building in a newspaper and decided it was something she wanted to get involved with.
"It's so historic. I'm so glad Tom (Stoney) is trying to save it," she said.
Wednesday was the first time the retired Army and VA doctor has seen the building. Bowen calls Tucson home for part of the year.
Doing a spot analysis of the future health of the building, the 82-year-old woman said, "I believe in a lot of things that people can do when they put their minds to it."
She sees no reason why the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers will not be successful in returning life to the structure.
Such actions will revive memories of those important days during World War II, which are an important part of the Army's history when the military was segregated, Bowen said.
Tom Stoney Sr., president of the association, showed her the interior.
The structure was a basic design for officers' clubs during World War II, he explained. And, he said, the Mountain View Black Officers Club Restoration program will need a lot of help, support and money.
In the early 1940s, noted black entertainers came to the fort to perform, including people such as Lena Horne, Stoney said. Two black divisions, the 92nd and 93rd, trained at the post before deploying to combat.
Once the place jumped with music of black musicians. Stoney said it will be a shame to let part of the Army's history and that of black soldiers' contribution during that conflict disappear.
"I agree," said Bowen, a forceful woman who stands ramrod straight and speaks with clear and concise words.
Bowen has a connection to the fort, having been raised by an uncle who served at the post with the 9th and 10th cavalry units. She did not live at the post in her youth.
Her uncle, Stephen Barrows, was part of the fort's punitive expedition into Mexico, under the leadership of Gen. John Joseph "Blackjack" Perishing 1916. Barrows served in World War I and was a soldier who fought in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in the late 1800s.
Barrows served more than 30 years in the Army, retiring as a first lieutenant. After retirement, he lived in 1930s in Columbus, Ohio, where she lived with him and her aunt, her mother's sister.
As her eyes glistened with tears, she fondly remembered the kindness of her uncle.
"He put me through medical school," she said, noting there was no scholarship money for her.
She entered Ohio State University Medical School, the only woman at that institution during the latter part of World War II.
With a laugh, she said she received a draft notice because the military thought she was a man because she was in medical school. The services were drafting doctors and medical students.
She entered the Army as a physician, serving from 1955 to 1959. After leaving the service, she became a psychiatrist.
In 1967 she returned to the Army, retiring in 1985.
During her second tour, she served in Vietnam. She worked with American and other troops.
Bowen eventually was assigned to the Army medical center in Denver, from where she traveled to different posts as a psychiatric consultant. Some of the trips brought her to Fort Huachuca, but she never knew about the history of the old black officers club.
Stoney told her that after World War II, the building became a service club, NCO club and a performing arts center before closing it doors in the late 1990s.
During her Army career and time as a Veterans Affairs psychiatrist, Bowen said she got to know a lot of people. Her plans are to see how many are willing to help save the structure.
Looking forward to touting the club's importance, Bowen said it will give her something to do until the renovated facility is rededicated.
"I'd drop dead if I didn't have something to do, and I'm not ready yet," she said.
Ping!
Clotilde Bowen sounds like a real firecracker L0L
Its a shame many of the bases older buildings are in such horrific shape
I certainly hope this is restored...it would be a shame not to! Thank goodness there are caring people out there.
I should remember this place, and I don't! I was out there three times before this place would have been boarded up. Where on post IS it?!?
I've lived here and worked on Ft. Huachuca since 1987 and I have no idea where this place is.
Thank you for the ping!
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