When President McKinley turned down Benjamin Oliver Davis for a place at West Point due to the colour of his skin, Davis joined the army as a private. Davis soon worked his way through the ranks to receive his second lieutenant commission in 1901. It would be over 30 years before another black officer would receive his commission, and that would be Benjamin Oliver Davis's son, Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr.
In theory, black troops would be barred from combat, but Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. would lead the first Black flying squadron, the Tuskegee Airmen, to success during WWII.
For this episode, I'm joined by Doug Melville, a direct relative of Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. and Sr.
When George Lucas's film 'Red Tails' (2012), celebrating the Tuskegee Airmen, was released, Doug was shocked when he realised that Ben Jr.’s name had been omitted and replaced by the fictional Colonel A. J. Bullard. And Ben’s father, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., America’s first Black general who helped integrate the military, was left out too. The film inspired him to rediscover his family’s story, which spans five generations, and write Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America's First Black Generals.
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29 - Selling Hitler
28 - Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina
27 - Anthropoid: Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
26 - Operation Agreement
25 - MacArthur
24 - Stug Revisited and the Plasch Palatka
23 - Military Internees and the Irish Free State
22 - 1941: Fighting the Shadow War
21 - WWII Tank Hunting
20 - The Castaway’s War
19 - The Winter Fortress
18 - The Nazi Hunters
17 - Shooting Up: Drug use in WWII
16 - The De Havilland Mosquito
15 - The British Resistance: Auxiliary Units
14 - The Java Sea Campaign
13 - Gliders
12 - Assault Gun: The German StuG
11 - The Forgotten Victor: Richard O'Connor
10 - Parcels From Home: Red Cross Parcels During WWII
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