Fort breaks ground on new Buffalo Soldier plaza

Sierra Vista Herald/Review ^ | Bill Hess

[SandRat]

FORT HUACHUCA — Another step in honoring the historic presence of black soldiers was taken on this Southern Arizona post Friday as six shovels of dirt were turned over, breaking ground on the Buffalo Soldier Legacy Plaza.

The event was appropriate, as 2007 is the Year of the Buffalo Soldier on the post, so designated by Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, former commander of the Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca.

“I had no real understanding of what service they (Buffalo Soldiers) did for the country.” said James Kimo Williams, a Vietnam War veteran, a speaker at the groundbreaking ceremony talking about when he enlisted in the Army.

After his service stint was over, Williams became a composer and is now a faculty member at Columbia University in Chicago. He also is the co-founder, with actor and musician Gary Sinise, of the Lt. Dan Band, which performs around the world for the USO.

In 1997, Williams was commissioned by the U.S. Military Academy Band to compose a piece for West Point’s 200th anniversary in 2002.

The result was “Buffalo Soldiers,” which Williams said included the words of presidents Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman, as well as Gen. Collin Powell and others.

The words express the importance of blacks serving in the military, and reaching back into history the music includes bugle calls important to the cavalry, he said.

“Through music I was able to express myself,” Williams said of his composition honoring the Buffalo Soldiers, recorded parts of which were played at the ceremony.

Clarence Wilson also spoke during the ceremony. Connie Johnson, principal of Myer Elementary School on the fort, introduced Wilson, noting he once served at Fort Huachuca and during that time was one of the leaders in helping recognize the black contribution on the post.

The idea of having a statue honoring the Buffalo Soldier’s history on the fort was an idea that initially germinated with him and other black soldiers, Wilson said.

That dream was unfulfilled when he left the Army in 1972.

In 1986, he learned a statue had been erected, nine years after its dedication on March 3, 1977, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the fort.

The small group of black soldiers on the fort in the 1970s had a mission to honor those of their race who preceded them, Wilson said.

At the time, there was a lack of items of interest to the black community. Wilson said a list of eight concerns were presented to the then commanding general, seeking redress so black culture, historical and current, could be addressed.

“That was the recognition we sought,” said Wilson, who has degrees in psychology and African-American history and who works as a psychologist with the California Department of Corrections.

Nearly 400 attended the morning event, including Joseph Flipper, whose great-uncle Henry Ossian Flipper was the first black graduate from West Point.

Henry Flipper was court-martialed for embezzlement and conduct unbecoming an officer, and although found not guilty of embezzlement, he was dismissed from the Army in 1882 for conduct unbecoming an officer.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton pardoned the officer, and Henry Flipper was granted an honorable discharge and the error corrected more than a half century after his death.

After being dismissed from the Army, Henry Flipper went on to serve in other federal agencies and was a noted engineer.

While Joseph Flipper, now 88, never served in the military, he did train soldiers to become combat engineers.

The retired high school teacher and college professor now lives in Phoenix.

Of his great-uncle, he said that what happened to him “wasn’t fair, wasn’t right.”

In today’s Army, blacks can achieve the highest rank, Joseph Flipper said.

One such man who has done that is Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Ronald J. James, who was visiting the post and attending the groundbreaking.

A former artillery officer who served in the early 1960s, James said Buffalo Soldiers proved their abilities so a person like him could succeed.

“African-Americans went from slavery to freedom,” said the great-grandson of a slave. “Look at me, I’m now equivalent to a four-star general.”

HERALD/REVIEW senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.