Celebrating Black History Month: Ruth Lucas, first African American woman to become a colonel in the US Air Force

 

Ruth Lucas, born November 28, 1920 in Stamford, Connecticut, became the first African American woman in the US Air Force to be promoted to colonel.  She graduated from the Tuskegee University in Alabama in 1942.

Shorly after, she enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and was one of the first black women to attend the now Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. She transfered from the Army to the Air Force in 1947.

She was stationed at an Air Force base in Tokyo in the 1950s where she taught English to Japanese students. She received a master's degree in educational psychology from Columbia University in 1957.  

When Lucas was promoted to colonel in 1968, she was a general education and counseling services assistant in the office of the deputy assistant secretary of defense for education at the Pentagon. She retired from the Air Force in 1970. 

She passed away in March 2013 in Washington, DC.

A Tribute to Ruth Lucas

Celebrating Black History Month: Charles B. Hall, first African American to receive Distinguished Flying Cross

 

Charles "Buster" Hall, born August 25, 1920 in Brazil, Indiana, was the first African American combat pilot to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He enlisted in the US Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet in 1941, and assigned to attend Advanced Flight Cadet Training at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in 1942. 

He graduated July 3, 1942, earning his wings and being commisssioned as a 2nd Lieutenant.  Hall was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron.

During WWII, he flew 198 missions over North Africa, Italy, the Meditarranean, and Europe. On July 2, 1943, while on a riad on Castelvetrano Airfield in Sicily, Itlay, Hall shot down a German plane, making him the first African American combat fighter to shoot down an enemy aircraft.

For this action, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, making him the first black man to receive an award. He shot down two more enemy planes in January 1944 over Anzio, Italy. 

After the war, like many other African American WWII veteran pilots, he could not find a job with commercial airlines or commercial transport companies.  He moved to Oklahoma, where he became an insurance agent and in 1949, worked at Tinker Air Force Base until 1967, when he took a position at the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma City.

He died on November 22, 1971

Interview with Charles Hall's son

Celebrating Black History Month: Nancy Leftenant-Colon, first African American in US Army Nurse Corps

 Nancy Leftenant, born September 29, 1920 in Goose Creek, South Carolina, became the first African American in the regular US Army Nurse Corps in March 1948. She trained at the Lincoln School for Nurses in the Bronx and joined the US Army Nurse Corps in 1945 as a second lieutenant.

In 1946, she was promoted and assigned to the 332nd Station Medical Group on Lockbourne Army Air Base in Ohio.  Leftenant-Colon became a flight nurse in the US Air Force and served in Korea and Vietnam. 

She was promoted to major and retired from the military and her post as Chief McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.  She passed away in January 9, 2025 at 104 years old.

Nancy Leftenant-Colon at 102

Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawai'ian, Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Dr. Sammy Lee, first Asian American man to win an Olympic gold medal

Sammy Lee, born August 1, 1920 in Fresno, California to Korean parents, was the first Asian American man to win an Olympic gold medal for the US and the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in platform diving.

He received a degree in civil engineering from Occidental College, and then received his MD from the University of Southern California School of Medicine in 1947. At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Lee earned the bronze metal in the 3-meter springboard and a gold medal in the 10-meter platform events.  He became the first Asian American man to win a gold medal and the second Asian American to earn the gold, since Vicki Draves won a gold medal just two days earlier in the springboard diving event.

In 1952, he was a major in the US Army Medical Corps.  He expected to be sent to the Korean War, but was sent to the Olympic Games in Helsinki instead. He won the gold medal in the 10-meter platform, making him the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in platform diving.

Lee continued to serve in the Medical Corps in South Korea from 1953-1955, where he specialized in the diseases of the ear.  He practiced as an ear, nose, and throat doctor for 35 more years until his retirement in 1990. 

He passed away in Newport Beach, California in December 2016.

DeForest Kelly (Dr. "Bones" McCoy) born 1920

DeForest Kelly, born January 20, 1920 in Toccoa, Georgia, will always be remembered as the cantankerous Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the Star Trek universe.  He had appeared in many westerns prior to his casting on Star Trek and was more comfortable in that genre rather than science fiction.  Kelly passed away in 1999, the first of the original main cast from Star Trek.

McCoy wasn't one of my favorite characters on the series and movies but he did have some great moments.  

I love this one from Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home:

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: The Daughter Of Dawn, first silent film with all Native American cast

The Daughter of Dawn, released in October 1920, is probably the first and only silent film to feature an entirely Native American cast.  It was shown only a few times and then vanished from history in the 1920s.  

In 2005, a private investigator offered the film to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art for $35,000.  In 2007, the Oklahoma Historical Society purchased it for $5000.  They digitized the film and re-released it in 2013.

The film took place in the Wichita Mountains in southern Oklahoma, and focuses on a love triangle between a Kiowa chief's daughter, a Kiowa and a Comanche, during conflicts between the Kiowa and Comanche tribes.

Over 300 people from the Kiowa and Comanche tribes acted in the film. 

It starred Hunting Horse, Oscar Yellow Wolf, Esther LeBarre, White Parker, and Wanada Parker, both children of Quanah Parker.  

In 2013, The Daughter of Dawn was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. 

Celebrating Black History Month: Otis Boykin, African-American inventor of the resistor

Otis Boykin, born August 29, 1920 in Dallas, Texas, invented the electrical resistor, a small, unassuming piece of equipment that revolutionized electronics.  His invention vastly improved the pacemaker, which uses electrical impulses to maintain a regular heartbeat.  His mother passed away when he was one year old, and that is probably the impetus for his life's work.  

He passed away in March 1982 in Chicago, Illinois.

Happy birthday, Star Trek actors Beverly Washburn, Jeffrey Hunter, John Larroquette, and Ricardo Montalban

 

Four actors, all born on November 25, appeared in Star Trek episodes and movies.  

Beverly Washburn, born in 1943, appeared in the Star Trek episode The Deadly Years. She played Lt. Arlene Galway, who mysteriously ages rapidly, as several other members of the Enterprise crew including Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy.  But not Chekov.

Jeffrey Hunter, born in 1926, appeared in the Star Trek pilot episode The Cage as Captain Christopher Pike.  He is held prisoner by aliens with telepathic powers.  It was the first episode to the original series.

John Larroquette, born 1947, played the Klingon Maltz in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.  He was the lone Klingon left on the Bird-of-Prey when Kirk and his crew commandeer the Klingon's vessel.  

Ricardo Montalban, born 1920, appeared in the Star Trek episode Space Seed in 1967 as Khan, the leader of a group of genetically engineered humans in suspended animation.  He reprised the role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 1982.

Celebrating Black History Month: Daniel James Jr., first African-American four-star general in US Armed Forces

Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr., born February 11, 1920, was the first African-American to reach the rank of four-star general in any of the US armed forces.  He attended the Tuskegee Institute, teaching black pilots during WWII.  He flew combat missions in the Korean War and Vietnam War.  He has received the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals, two Legion of Merits, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, Meritorious Service Medal and fourteen Air Medals.

On September 1, 1975, he was promoted to the rank of four-star general and assigned as commander in chief of NORAD in Colorado.

He passed away of a heart attack February 25, 1978, only three weeks following his retirement from the Air Force.

Celebrating Black History Month: Fritz Pollard & Bobby Marshall, first African-American athletes in the NFL

Bobby Marshall, Fritz Pollard

Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard and Robert Wells "Bobby" Marshall became the first African-American athletes in what would become the National Football League in 1920.

Fritz Pollard went to Brown University and majored in chemistry(!).  He played halfback on Brown's football team (becoming the first black player for Brown), which went to the 1916 Rose Bowl.  He played pro football (running back) for the Akron Pros and became a co-head coach in 1921.  He also played for the Milwaukee Badgers, Hammond Pros, Gilberton Cadamounts, Union Club of Phoenixville and Providence Steam Rollers. 

In the 1930s, he founded his own professional football team, the Brown Bombers, but the Depression ended their run.  Pollard left football and went into other ventures.

Bobby Marshall played football for the University of Minnesota and went on to play professional for the Rock Island Independents, Minneapolis Marines and the Duluth Kelleys.

Remembering Nanette Fabray (1920-2018)

I just found out that comedienne Nanette Fabray passed away this past Thursday, February 22, 2018. She was born October 27, 1920 in San Diego. She started acting at a young age and overcame a significant hearing impairment.  She continued to advocate for rights for deaf and hearing-impaired.

She won 3 Primetime Emmys for her comedic genius.

I remember watching her on the Mary Tyler Moore Show and One Day At a Time, but my fondest memories are of her on the Carol Burnett Show. 

Ray Bradbury, science fiction author, born 1920

Ray Bradbury, born August 22, 1920, is one of the most prolific and successful science fiction authors ever.  He started writing at the age of 18, publishing stories in fanzines.  Many of his works, such as The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Fahrenheit 451, have been translated into movies and television

I remember watching The Martian Chronicles in high school, during a three-day stretch when I wasn't scheduled to work at the gas station.  It was my first exposure to Ray Bradbury and afterwards, I had to read the book.  Bradbury has been quoted as saying this production was "just boring" however, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Bradbury passed away June 5, 2012 in Los Angeles after a lengthy illness.

Here is a short clip from The Martian Chronicles with the incomparable Bernadette Peters.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury

Mystery writer P. D. James born 1920

 

Phyllis Dorothy James, better known as P.D. James, born August 3, 1920, was the author of the Adam Dalgliesh detective novels.  The first mystery of hers I read was Death of an Expert Witness, published in 1977.  The story centered around a laboratory of forensic experts involved in a murder of one of their own.  It was made into a mini-series in 1983 by the ITV network in Britain with Roy Marsden as Dalgleish and Geoffrey Palmer (As Time Goes By) as Dr. Lorrimer.  Many of her works were transferred to television and movies, but I found them to be slow because they tended to follow the novels too closely.

Death of an Expert Witness and The Black Tower were my favorites.  I read her novel Innocent Blood but had trouble staying awake while reading it.  She wrote 14 Adam Dalgliesh novels and dystopian novel The Children of Men, made into a movie starring Clive Owen and Julianne Moore.

P.D. James passed away November 27, 2014 in Oxford.

Lt. Commander Scotty born in 1920

"Beam me up, Scotty" may be one of the most misquoted lines in history but James Doohan, born March 3, 1920, will always be remembered correctly as the chief engineer on the Starship Enterprise.  I didn't realize that he was a veteran of the D-Day invasion, storming the beaches of Normandy as part of the Canadian forces, until I found this touching video on Youtube.com.

Happy birthday, Lois Lane!

Noel Neill, born November 25, 1920, is probably best known for her portrayal of Lois Lane in "The Adventures of Superman" which ran from 1952 to 1958.  She replaced Phyllis Coates who starred in the role from 1952-1953.  Both Neill and Coates starred in "Invasion USA", a wonderfully forgettable sci-fi movie about the Soviets invading the USA.  Joel and the bots conducted a battle of the Lois Lanes when they featured "Invasion" on "Mystery Science Theatre 3000".

Frank Herbert, author of "Dune", born in 1920

Frank Herbert, born on October 8, 1920, authored Dune, the top-selling science-fiction novel of all time.  He worked as a journalist for much of his earlier life and selling pulp adventure stories to magazines such as Esquire in 1945.  He took six years to research and write Dune, which was published by Sterling E. Lanier, an editor of Chilton Book Company, best known for its auto-repair manuals. 

Dune was not an immediate best seller but it was a critical success, winning the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965, and shared the Hugo Award with Roger Zelazny's ...And Call Me Conrad in 1966.  Herbert followed his novel with 5 sequels: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune.  None of them ever achieved the same critical acclaim he received for Dune and although almost all of them appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers list, none of them won any Hugo or Nebula awards.  I personally think God Emperor of Dune was one of the worst books I've read.  The last two novels in the series come the closest to reaching the same level as Dune. 

The 1984 movie version by David Lynch turned out to be a bomb, but the Sci Fi Channel produced it as a mini-series in 2000, following it with Children of Dune (the first part of which was actually from Dune Messiah) garnered its highest rating production at that time.

After Herbert's death in 1986, his son Brian and author Kevin J. Anderson have continued the Dune saga with notes discovered a decade later.