The West Point Military Academy is honoring one great man with an illustrious military career by naming a Barracks for him.

The man is the late Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Davis entered the West Point Academy in 1932 as the only black cadet. In a time of rife racism, Davis was ostracized in the four years he was getting his military training at West Point- but that did not deter him.

He chose to overcome the obvious obstacles. He could train alone. He roomed alone. None spoke to him except on as-needed basis.

Despite all that, the resilient Davis graduated 35th in a class of 276 and went on to lead an enviable and illustrious military career. For example, he rose to be commander of the All-black 332nd Fighter Group, popularly called the Red Tails.

He also went on to become the Air Force’s first black general. At the time of his death in 2002, Davis was a four-star general.

A little over a decade after his death, the West Point is feting the man by naming a Barracks complex for him. Such honor is usually only reserved for some of West Point’s graduates who rose to be towering historical figures, for example, MacArthur and Eisenhower.

According to Col. Ty Seidule, who heads the naming committee and West Point’s history department, Davis is an obvious choice owing to his inspirational story and illustrious career that shows the role of West Point graduates at the early stages of Air Force.

Source: