Army posthumously promotes first Black colonel to one-star general
The Army has awarded a posthumous honorary promotion to the service’s first Black colonel, elevating him to brigadier general more than 100 years after his death, Army Times has learned. Col. Charles Young’s career, which stretched from his West Point graduation in 1889 to his forced medical retirement in 1917 that kept him from fighting in World War I, “broke new ground time and again,” said Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in a statement to Army Times confirming the promotion.
An experienced cavalry officer who was wounded in Liberia in 1912, Young was found medically unfit for brigade command — and promotion to brigadier general — in 1917. That’s despite having the recommendation of Gen. John J. Pershing after Young demonstrated his prowess as part of the 1916 U.S. incursion into Mexico.
Wormuth expressed her pride that “the Army redressed that wrong [recently] with a long overdue posthumous, honorary promotion.” She will preside over a promotion ceremony “at West Point this spring — where his Army career first started as the Academy’s third Black Graduate.”
After his successes in Mexico, Young was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was on Pershing’s short-list of leaders who deserved brigade command based on their performance in the expedition. He was promoted to colonel ...
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2022/02/24/army-posthumously-promotes-first-black-colonel-to-one-star-general/
