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African-American Delawareans who served our country
African-American Delawareans have fought in almost every conflict the nation has endured. The
historical record, often sparse, is even spottier among slaves and freedmen of color. Below we offer
only a handful of samples and hope to add more in time. Mr. George Contant offers a thorough
exploration of the black contribution to the Civil War at his website below:
Delaware's United States Colored Troops & Sailors.
William Tillman, African-American Seaman, A Story of High Seas Heroism
Among the Union's very first black heroes during the Civil War was a black cook who took up
arms to prevent being sold into slavery. William Tillman was a 27 year old steward and cook born
to free parents in Delaware. He moved to Rhode Island with his mother as a teenager and later
settled in New York.
William Tillman faced a brutal choice: slavery or death. Seaman Tillman single-handledly
recaptured the schooner S. J. Waring from Confederate privateers while at sea on July 7, 1861. Click
here for the complete story.
---
Tuskegee Airman and NAACP Delaware Chapter President, Littleton Purnell Mitchell was born
in the 1920s in Milford, Delaware. His advocacy began at age thirteen, when he joined the
NAACP. During the late 1930s, he attended Howard High School, the state's only high school for
African Americans. Upon graduation, he spent two years at West Chester University of
Pennsylvania on a track scholarship before joining the Tuskegee Airmen during War World II.
Witnessing the building of the airfield at Tuskegee in 1941, he became an instrument flying
instructor. His duties sent him to the Link Trainer Facilities and Schools in New York, and
Chanute Field, as well as the Base Instrument Command Flying School in Texas. In February
1946, he was discharged from the U.S. Army. Encouraged by his fellow Airmen, Mitchell returned
to college, and earned his degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, after which, he
began a career in the psychiatric treatment of children and in civil rights advocacy.
---
Delaware National Guard
The Delaware Historical Society possesses a Master's History Thesis entitled, "Race and War in
Delaware, the Story of Delaware's African-American Veterans of World War I. The author, Joseph
P. Hickey wrote in 2005 in some detail of the black men who served in the various units and
organizations. He pointedly omitted the 59th Pioneer Infantry, Delaware National Guard, one
assumes, because it included no black soldiers.
Race had emerged as another major issue with the flowering of the American civil rights
movement in the 1950s and 1960s. For over a decade after the active duty military establishment
had begun to integrate its ranks during the Korean War, the National Guard had remained an
almost exclusively white organization. Discrimination varied, but ten states with large black
populations and understaffed Guard units still had no black Guardsmen in their ranks as late as
1961. Secretary of Defense McNamara had tried to encourage voluntary integration in the early
1960s, with little success. The National Guard Bureau had disputed his legal authority to force
integration while the Guard was under state control. It had also argued that integration would be
political suicide for some governors and would hurt the military capabilities of their units.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited the use of federal funds to support discriminatory
activities, dramatically altered the attitude of the Defense Department toward racial discrimination
in the National Guard. It gave federal officials the power to force integration regardless of who
controlled the Guard in peacetime. But, real progress in effectively integrating the Guard did not
come until the 1970s.
An illuminating recollection: April, 2012
"My recollection, from conversations with General Scannell, who became TAG in 1949, is that he
arranged for the first black enlistee, a talented young musician from Howard High School, to join
the 287th Army Band, probably no later than 1951, but was unable to find further recruiting
prospects for some time afterward. This was after President Truman had ended segregation in the
Army, but before National Guard Regulations were amended to eliminate racially-designated
units, which some states required by law.
Delaware never had any National Guard units designated for blacks, but General Scannell
brought the first black recruit in by leaving the racial designation blank on the enlistment papers.
Later other blacks were also enlisted without designating their race, and by the time I came into
the Guard in 1954, there were a number of African-Americans in the 141st Ordnance Company
(Ammuntion) at the New Castle County Airport. I don't recall whether there were any in other
units.
Some months after the earlier enlistments, the National Guard Bureau noted the absent racial
designations, and requested that racial information be provided. According to General Scannell's
account, his reply was that he had no idea of the race of this troops, but if it was all that
important to some bureaucrat in Washington, he would line everyone up, and they could send
someone up to make a count. Nothing more was heard on the matter, and the National Guard
Regulations were changed shortly thereafter to do away with the requirement for racially-
segregated units.
I heard later that the bandsman left to join the active Army, suggesting his experience with the
287th had been positive."
Donn Devine
BG DE ARNG (Ret,)
Another recollection
When I joined the Delaware Guard in 1956, there was a drive on to enlist new members,but Not
especially, or just African Americans. The units in the Army Guard were mostly White, all across
the state, and Not in any hurry to recruit blacks into the ranks. You will find that there were a
few African Americans, "Salt and Peppered" around in some of the units back in the early 1950's.
There are not many of us left today, but the one unit that had the most African Americans in the
ranks was the 141st Ordnance(Ammo)Company, 4th Battalion, then the 2198th...the 262nd, in the
early years. The 141st Ord(Ammo)was located on the Greater Wilmington Airport, and our
Officers were White(until later!)with(that I can recall!)about six Black N CO's. Over the years,
when the Army Guard Units were mentioned or talked about, one would think that the 4th
Battalion or the 141st did not exist!
SGM(ret)Willis Phelps, Jr.
141st Ord(Ammo)Company
'C' Company, 198th Sig.
'A' Co. 198th Sig.
Company 'A' 259th(Ranger!)Airborne
736th Supply & Service Co.
and a few others......
One More: There was an NCO in the 116th, outstanding soldier, by the name of White. Had been
a corpsman in Korea. Was a postman in Wilmington. - William Duncan, LTG DE ARNG (Ret,)
Air National Guard
In July 1967 Garnell Purcell, a prior service Air Force veteran, became the first African-American
man to enlist in the Delaware Air National Guard.
Master Sergeant Garnell Purcell was at Dover AFB in 1967 working as an engine mechanic on
C-124s, living in Wilmington. On his daily commute he saw our C-97s sitting on the ramp at New
Castle. “What was that?” he asked. He had never heard of the Air National Guard before.
Garnell had eleven years experience when he joined the DE ANG. He served in the Air Force from
1952-1956, working on B-26s and B-57s. After his active duty stint he then worked at Dover AFB
in the engine shop as a civil service employee. He came here part-time in July 1967. He is a
Wilmington native, and became a full time member in November 1967 in the Engine Shop.
"I was the first black man in the unit – so everybody says. It caused me a few problems – a couple of times,
but I handled it “one-on-one” at that level. I’m here for the job, and you’re here for the job. Off base maybe it’
s a different story. I think it’s improved - a black guy took over my old position in AGE. I haven’t talked to all
the young folks, and so I don’t know for sure. My proudest moment was when Ernie Talbert made General. It
was the highlight of my career. I’m in the Tuskegee Airmen club with Ernie Talbert. He’s the vice president and
I’m just a member, but we are working together on scholarships and other programs. I tell kids you must have
your act together before you go applying for a job. When I came up I had a talent to sell. And I tell them to get
an education. The Air Force offers lots of schools and I took advantage of them. I especially liked a psychology
of management course I took. I took every CDC course I could. I don’t want to be remembered as the first the
black man in the unit, just as a guy who did his best.”
Ernie Talbert was the first black man promoted to the rank of general in the 350-year history of
the Delaware National Guard.
As a boy, Ernest Talbert wanted to be a railroad engineer or a neurosurgeon. His grandfather
discouraged him, saying those professions were closed to black people. Then, he decided to be an
airplane pilot.
Brigadier General Ernest G. Talbert was the Vice Commander, Delaware Air National Guard.
General Talbert received his commission as a Distinguished Graduate through the Reserve Officer
Training Corps in 1972. He earned his pilot wings in 1973 from Williams Air Force Base, Arizona
and was then assigned to Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina where he few the C-141.
General Talbert began his Delaware Air National Guard career in 1979 as a C-130 pilot. He later
served as the 142nd Airlift Squadron Commander, 166th Operations Group Commander, 166th
Airlift Wing Vice Commander and 166th Airlift Wing Commander. General Talbert is a Command
Pilot with over 6500 hours in the C-130A, C-130E, C-130H, C-141A, T-37, T-38 and T-41.
---
Many think that General Talbert was the first African-American officer and pilot in the Delaware
Air Guard, but Major George S. Hackney transferred into the unit in 1975 from the active duty
Air Force and served briefly in Delaware before being re-assigned to the Air Force Reserve.
---
In 2003, the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs replaced the 48 year old Dover Port
Mortuary facility that had been in use since 1955.The center is named after Charles C. Carson, Sr.
(August 19, 1925-August 8, 2002), a civilian mortician for the U.S. Air Force.
Carson attended Alabama State High School, graduated from Tennessee State University and
earned a license in mortuary science from Atlanta College of Mortuary Science in 1950.
His federal career as a civilian mortician began with the Department of the Air Force in 1958.
Carson was the deputy mortuary officer at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Republic of Vietnam and Clark
Air Force Base in the Philippines from 1964 to 1970. Early in the Vietnam War, Carson covered
mortuary affairs in Thailand, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. He also administered mortuary contracts
in New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia. Carson supervised mortuary preparation of remains
in every major disaster involving American military and civilian personnel since 1971.
In August 1970, Carson was assigned to Dover Air Force Base a mortuary inspector and was
promoted to chief port mortuary officer a year later. Carson applied his skills in a number of
disasters, including the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and the Jonestown cult mass suicide in Guyana,
Tenerife-Canary Islands at the request of the State Department; and he served as technical advisor
to the Wing and Group Commanders for mortuary affairs. Carson also supervised the processing
of the remains of victims in the NASA Challenger mission and Operation Desert Storm as well as
the air plane disaster that claimed the life of Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.
Carson retired in 1996 and died August 8, 2002.
Dr. Hazel W. Johnson-Brown
Dr. Hazel W. Johnson-Brown, of Wilmington, DE, formerly of Chester County, First African
American Woman General, (Ret.) of the U. S. Army. Born October 10, 1927 in West Chester, PA,
she was the daughter of the late, Clarence L. Johnson Sr. and Garnett Henley Johnson.
Entering the Army Nurse Corps in 1955, General Johnson-Brown served for the first 12 years in
various positions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the 8169th Hospital, Japan; Madigan
General Hospital; 45th Surgical Hospital; and Fort Sam Houston and Valley Forge General
Hospital. From 1967 to 1973, she was assigned as the project director at the US Army Medical
Research and Development Command in the Army Medical Department field hospital system.
Upon completion of her doctoral studies, she was appointed Director of the Walter Reed Army
Institute for Nursing; the Office of the Surgeon; the 8th Army Command; and Chief, Department
of Nursing, US Army Hospital/121 Evacuation Hospital, Seoul, Korea. In these positions, she was
the senior ranking US military nurse in South Korea and the Chief Consultant for Nursing
Matters to the Senior Medical Officer, 8th Army Command. In 1979, she was selected to the
position of Chief, Army Nurse Corps, and promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. General
Johnson-Brown became: the 16th Chief of the Army Nurse Corp; the first Chief holding an earned
doctorate; the 4th chief to hold the rank of Brigadier General; and the first Black woman General
in the history of the US Military Services.
Dr. Johnson-Brown died on Friday, August 5, 2011.
African-American Delawareans have fought in almost every conflict the nation has endured. The
historical record, often sparse, is even spottier among slaves and freedmen of color. Below we offer
only a handful of samples and hope to add more in time. Mr. George Contant offers a thorough
exploration of the black contribution to the Civil War at his website below:
Delaware's United States Colored Troops & Sailors.
William Tillman, African-American Seaman, A Story of High Seas Heroism
Among the Union's very first black heroes during the Civil War was a black cook who took up
arms to prevent being sold into slavery. William Tillman was a 27 year old steward and cook born
to free parents in Delaware. He moved to Rhode Island with his mother as a teenager and later
settled in New York.
William Tillman faced a brutal choice: slavery or death. Seaman Tillman single-handledly
recaptured the schooner S. J. Waring from Confederate privateers while at sea on July 7, 1861. Click
here for the complete story.
---
Tuskegee Airman and NAACP Delaware Chapter President, Littleton Purnell Mitchell was born
in the 1920s in Milford, Delaware. His advocacy began at age thirteen, when he joined the
NAACP. During the late 1930s, he attended Howard High School, the state's only high school for
African Americans. Upon graduation, he spent two years at West Chester University of
Pennsylvania on a track scholarship before joining the Tuskegee Airmen during War World II.
Witnessing the building of the airfield at Tuskegee in 1941, he became an instrument flying
instructor. His duties sent him to the Link Trainer Facilities and Schools in New York, and
Chanute Field, as well as the Base Instrument Command Flying School in Texas. In February
1946, he was discharged from the U.S. Army. Encouraged by his fellow Airmen, Mitchell returned
to college, and earned his degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, after which, he
began a career in the psychiatric treatment of children and in civil rights advocacy.
---
Delaware National Guard
The Delaware Historical Society possesses a Master's History Thesis entitled, "Race and War in
Delaware, the Story of Delaware's African-American Veterans of World War I. The author, Joseph
P. Hickey wrote in 2005 in some detail of the black men who served in the various units and
organizations. He pointedly omitted the 59th Pioneer Infantry, Delaware National Guard, one
assumes, because it included no black soldiers.
Race had emerged as another major issue with the flowering of the American civil rights
movement in the 1950s and 1960s. For over a decade after the active duty military establishment
had begun to integrate its ranks during the Korean War, the National Guard had remained an
almost exclusively white organization. Discrimination varied, but ten states with large black
populations and understaffed Guard units still had no black Guardsmen in their ranks as late as
1961. Secretary of Defense McNamara had tried to encourage voluntary integration in the early
1960s, with little success. The National Guard Bureau had disputed his legal authority to force
integration while the Guard was under state control. It had also argued that integration would be
political suicide for some governors and would hurt the military capabilities of their units.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited the use of federal funds to support discriminatory
activities, dramatically altered the attitude of the Defense Department toward racial discrimination
in the National Guard. It gave federal officials the power to force integration regardless of who
controlled the Guard in peacetime. But, real progress in effectively integrating the Guard did not
come until the 1970s.
An illuminating recollection: April, 2012
"My recollection, from conversations with General Scannell, who became TAG in 1949, is that he
arranged for the first black enlistee, a talented young musician from Howard High School, to join
the 287th Army Band, probably no later than 1951, but was unable to find further recruiting
prospects for some time afterward. This was after President Truman had ended segregation in the
Army, but before National Guard Regulations were amended to eliminate racially-designated
units, which some states required by law.
Delaware never had any National Guard units designated for blacks, but General Scannell
brought the first black recruit in by leaving the racial designation blank on the enlistment papers.
Later other blacks were also enlisted without designating their race, and by the time I came into
the Guard in 1954, there were a number of African-Americans in the 141st Ordnance Company
(Ammuntion) at the New Castle County Airport. I don't recall whether there were any in other
units.
Some months after the earlier enlistments, the National Guard Bureau noted the absent racial
designations, and requested that racial information be provided. According to General Scannell's
account, his reply was that he had no idea of the race of this troops, but if it was all that
important to some bureaucrat in Washington, he would line everyone up, and they could send
someone up to make a count. Nothing more was heard on the matter, and the National Guard
Regulations were changed shortly thereafter to do away with the requirement for racially-
segregated units.
I heard later that the bandsman left to join the active Army, suggesting his experience with the
287th had been positive."
Donn Devine
BG DE ARNG (Ret,)
Another recollection
When I joined the Delaware Guard in 1956, there was a drive on to enlist new members,but Not
especially, or just African Americans. The units in the Army Guard were mostly White, all across
the state, and Not in any hurry to recruit blacks into the ranks. You will find that there were a
few African Americans, "Salt and Peppered" around in some of the units back in the early 1950's.
There are not many of us left today, but the one unit that had the most African Americans in the
ranks was the 141st Ordnance(Ammo)Company, 4th Battalion, then the 2198th...the 262nd, in the
early years. The 141st Ord(Ammo)was located on the Greater Wilmington Airport, and our
Officers were White(until later!)with(that I can recall!)about six Black N CO's. Over the years,
when the Army Guard Units were mentioned or talked about, one would think that the 4th
Battalion or the 141st did not exist!
SGM(ret)Willis Phelps, Jr.
141st Ord(Ammo)Company
'C' Company, 198th Sig.
'A' Co. 198th Sig.
Company 'A' 259th(Ranger!)Airborne
736th Supply & Service Co.
and a few others......
One More: There was an NCO in the 116th, outstanding soldier, by the name of White. Had been
a corpsman in Korea. Was a postman in Wilmington. - William Duncan, LTG DE ARNG (Ret,)
Air National Guard
In July 1967 Garnell Purcell, a prior service Air Force veteran, became the first African-American
man to enlist in the Delaware Air National Guard.
Master Sergeant Garnell Purcell was at Dover AFB in 1967 working as an engine mechanic on
C-124s, living in Wilmington. On his daily commute he saw our C-97s sitting on the ramp at New
Castle. “What was that?” he asked. He had never heard of the Air National Guard before.
Garnell had eleven years experience when he joined the DE ANG. He served in the Air Force from
1952-1956, working on B-26s and B-57s. After his active duty stint he then worked at Dover AFB
in the engine shop as a civil service employee. He came here part-time in July 1967. He is a
Wilmington native, and became a full time member in November 1967 in the Engine Shop.
"I was the first black man in the unit – so everybody says. It caused me a few problems – a couple of times,
but I handled it “one-on-one” at that level. I’m here for the job, and you’re here for the job. Off base maybe it’
s a different story. I think it’s improved - a black guy took over my old position in AGE. I haven’t talked to all
the young folks, and so I don’t know for sure. My proudest moment was when Ernie Talbert made General. It
was the highlight of my career. I’m in the Tuskegee Airmen club with Ernie Talbert. He’s the vice president and
I’m just a member, but we are working together on scholarships and other programs. I tell kids you must have
your act together before you go applying for a job. When I came up I had a talent to sell. And I tell them to get
an education. The Air Force offers lots of schools and I took advantage of them. I especially liked a psychology
of management course I took. I took every CDC course I could. I don’t want to be remembered as the first the
black man in the unit, just as a guy who did his best.”
Ernie Talbert was the first black man promoted to the rank of general in the 350-year history of
the Delaware National Guard.
As a boy, Ernest Talbert wanted to be a railroad engineer or a neurosurgeon. His grandfather
discouraged him, saying those professions were closed to black people. Then, he decided to be an
airplane pilot.
Brigadier General Ernest G. Talbert was the Vice Commander, Delaware Air National Guard.
General Talbert received his commission as a Distinguished Graduate through the Reserve Officer
Training Corps in 1972. He earned his pilot wings in 1973 from Williams Air Force Base, Arizona
and was then assigned to Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina where he few the C-141.
General Talbert began his Delaware Air National Guard career in 1979 as a C-130 pilot. He later
served as the 142nd Airlift Squadron Commander, 166th Operations Group Commander, 166th
Airlift Wing Vice Commander and 166th Airlift Wing Commander. General Talbert is a Command
Pilot with over 6500 hours in the C-130A, C-130E, C-130H, C-141A, T-37, T-38 and T-41.
---
Many think that General Talbert was the first African-American officer and pilot in the Delaware
Air Guard, but Major George S. Hackney transferred into the unit in 1975 from the active duty
Air Force and served briefly in Delaware before being re-assigned to the Air Force Reserve.
---
In 2003, the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs replaced the 48 year old Dover Port
Mortuary facility that had been in use since 1955.The center is named after Charles C. Carson, Sr.
(August 19, 1925-August 8, 2002), a civilian mortician for the U.S. Air Force.
Carson attended Alabama State High School, graduated from Tennessee State University and
earned a license in mortuary science from Atlanta College of Mortuary Science in 1950.
His federal career as a civilian mortician began with the Department of the Air Force in 1958.
Carson was the deputy mortuary officer at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Republic of Vietnam and Clark
Air Force Base in the Philippines from 1964 to 1970. Early in the Vietnam War, Carson covered
mortuary affairs in Thailand, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. He also administered mortuary contracts
in New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia. Carson supervised mortuary preparation of remains
in every major disaster involving American military and civilian personnel since 1971.
In August 1970, Carson was assigned to Dover Air Force Base a mortuary inspector and was
promoted to chief port mortuary officer a year later. Carson applied his skills in a number of
disasters, including the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and the Jonestown cult mass suicide in Guyana,
Tenerife-Canary Islands at the request of the State Department; and he served as technical advisor
to the Wing and Group Commanders for mortuary affairs. Carson also supervised the processing
of the remains of victims in the NASA Challenger mission and Operation Desert Storm as well as
the air plane disaster that claimed the life of Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.
Carson retired in 1996 and died August 8, 2002.
Dr. Hazel W. Johnson-Brown
Dr. Hazel W. Johnson-Brown, of Wilmington, DE, formerly of Chester County, First African
American Woman General, (Ret.) of the U. S. Army. Born October 10, 1927 in West Chester, PA,
she was the daughter of the late, Clarence L. Johnson Sr. and Garnett Henley Johnson.
Entering the Army Nurse Corps in 1955, General Johnson-Brown served for the first 12 years in
various positions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the 8169th Hospital, Japan; Madigan
General Hospital; 45th Surgical Hospital; and Fort Sam Houston and Valley Forge General
Hospital. From 1967 to 1973, she was assigned as the project director at the US Army Medical
Research and Development Command in the Army Medical Department field hospital system.
Upon completion of her doctoral studies, she was appointed Director of the Walter Reed Army
Institute for Nursing; the Office of the Surgeon; the 8th Army Command; and Chief, Department
of Nursing, US Army Hospital/121 Evacuation Hospital, Seoul, Korea. In these positions, she was
the senior ranking US military nurse in South Korea and the Chief Consultant for Nursing
Matters to the Senior Medical Officer, 8th Army Command. In 1979, she was selected to the
position of Chief, Army Nurse Corps, and promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. General
Johnson-Brown became: the 16th Chief of the Army Nurse Corp; the first Chief holding an earned
doctorate; the 4th chief to hold the rank of Brigadier General; and the first Black woman General
in the history of the US Military Services.
Dr. Johnson-Brown died on Friday, August 5, 2011.
