In the office of the 51st Commanding General for Fort Jackson and the U.S. Army Training Center Brig. Gen. Milford H. Beagle, Jr., speaks about his military memorabilia, awards and unit coins for leadership and excellence in military service. Beagle, who now leads the Army's Fort Jackson in South Carolina is descended from a soldier who served there in a segregated military more than a century ago. (Christina Myers, AP)
General's family: From segregation to command in 100 years
By Christina L. Myers
via the Stars and Stripes newspaper web site D
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Pvt. Walter Beagles arrived at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, in 1918, an African American draftee in a segregated Army that relegated black soldiers to labor battalions out of a prejudiced notion that they couldn't fight.
More than 100 years later, his great-grandson now serves as the base's 51st commanding general.
Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, Jr., a combat veteran who took command last June, admits that it gets to him, knowing he's serving where his ancestor served but under vastly different circumstances.
"It does become pretty surreal to know that the gates my great-grandfather came through are the same gates I come through," Beagle said. "You always reflect back to you're standing on somebody's shoulders. Somebody put that stair in place so you can move one more rung up."
Beagle hails from the same town where his great-grandfather came from: Enoree, South Carolina. The family dropped the "s'' from the end of its name during his grandfather's lifetime.
He says he felt compelled to enter the infantry as a young man at least partly because African Americans once were largely shunted aside — considered inferior and unsuited to combat.
"That was one thing I did reflect on. Somebody at some point in time said your particular race can't do that," Beagle said. "At some point our ancestors fought so we could be in those front-line units and those combat units."
Beagle has served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, among his many postings.
Read the entire article on the Stars and Stripes web site here:
External Web Site Notice: This page contains information directly presented from an external source. The terms and conditions of this page may not be the same as those of this website. Click here to read the full disclaimer notice for external web sites. Thank you.