Love Letters from 1915 and 1916 from my maternal grandparents,
Rev. James A. Charleston (1887-1961) and Mrs. Nora Dean Branch Charleston (1893-1968). They enjoyed a five year courtship before marrying in 1916.
By Carole Copeland Thomas, MBA, CDMP, CITM
The road to Black History is paved with genius, talent, hardships, unending tragedy, amazing opportunities and everything in between. This two+-part series will examine the role of the black community in America and why Black History is integral to our past, our present and our future.
Black History IS American History in every sense of the word! Today, as a Valentine’s Day Tribute, we’ll explore the lives of Rev. James and Nora Dean Charleston, my grandparents and their 50-year love affair. Get out your pen and notebook and let’s examine the realities and dreams of black people throughout the land!
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By Carole Copeland Thomas, MBA, CDMP, CITM
The Who, What, Where, How, & Why of Black History
Part One: Dr. Carter G. Woodson and Black History Since 1619 The road to Black History is paved with genius, talent, hardships, unending tragedy, amazing opportunities and everything in between. This two-part series will examine the role of the black community in America and why Black History is integral to our past, our present and our future. Black History IS American History in every sense of the word!. Get out your pen and notebook and let’s examine the realities and dreams of black people throughout the land! Black History ResourcesArticle 1 Section 2 Clause 3 "American Caste System" Click Here To Download Dr. Carter G. Woodson Click Here To Link To His Historical Organization Black Culture Guidebook Click Here For Details March 14th Black History Breakfast www.mssconnect.com Movie: 12 Years A Slave Click Here For More Information  Carole Copeland Thomas took this photo of Dr. Height on March 1, 2009 in Washington, DC.  Dr. Dorothy Height was always a woman of action. I am so glad that I had the honor of meeting her on several occasions in Washington, DC. Quiet, action-oriented with grace and elegance. She lived through 17 US Presidents and knew/met 12 of them. One of the early leaders of the National Council of Negro Women, Dr. Height was an pioneer of equality for all people and opportunities to empower women of color across the globe.
I took the photo above (with the gold hat) of Dr. Dorothy Height on March 1, 2009, the year before she died. Now she has her own US stamp in her honor that just came in in celebration of Black History Month. I hope that you will honor and buy several sheets of her stamps at your local post office. Here's her Bio: Dr. Dorothy Height was the National President of the National Council of Negro Women AND the National President of my sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She was also on the stage with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1963 March on Washington and lived long enough to meet and congratulate America’s first black president, Barack Obama. A tireless activist, Dorothy Height (1912–2010) dedicated her life to fighting for racial and gender equality. Although rarely gaining the recognition granted her male contemporaries, she became one of the most influential civil rights leaders of the 20th century. Height received the nation’s two highest civilian honors for her work, the Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. In 2003 I stood in a long line to have her autobiography, Open Wide The Freedom Gates, signed by her. It was a proud moment for me. One of my favorite quotes by Dr. Height states, “Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition, he or she has overcome to reach his goals.” Such an apropos quote for our present political climate here in America. Dr. Height was a “fashionista!” You never saw her without her signature hats to accompany her stylish outfits. She lived during a time when the men often received the accolades. Yet, she has had the last laugh now that her smiling face is on the US stamp. It was always a great privilege to see her escorted on stage during our Delta Legislative Conference in Washington (Delta Days In The Nations Capital). Her presence was an assuring factor that Delta women like Dr. Height were always focused on public service and social action. I so admire Dr. Height and other women like her. The women featured in the new movie “Hidden Figures” remind me of Dr. Height. Stately. Trained. Talented. Working for the good of humanity. Dr. Height was aware of the diversity yet unborn in this country. She remained civically engaged her entire life. Physical illness was the only force that closed the last chapter of her long life. She remained mentally sharp to the end. As we continue to reflect on the those who have contributed to Black History Month, let’s pause and give thanks to a woman whose sacrifice and integrity made our nation and our world a better place to live. Dr. Dorothy Height. Just another reminder that... Black History IS American History. Carole's Father Tuskegee Airman Wilson Copeland Honored at The March 3, 2016 Black History Breakfast3/1/2016  His stories and expansive capacity to understand world issues were unrivaled. From an impoverished background to graduating from college and survived the bitterness of American racism and discrimination, my father, the late Wilson A. Copeland, was indeed a unique individual. I yearn to travel and understand the world just like him. I navigate the world as an entrepreneur because of him. Our relationship was sometimes topsy turvy, but he was my dad and I loved him. He was a Tuskegee Airman, and we will honor him at Thursday's Black History Breakfast. =================================== The Late Wilson Albert Copeland was born in 1917 in Clinton, South Carolina to Carrie and Bradley Copeland. When his parents divorced he moved to Bel Air, Maryland with his mother and older brother, Eugene. (His mother eventually remarried John Brown in Bel Air, Maryland. Brown was a World War I Veteran.)
Mr. Copeland was enrolled in the then segregated Bel Air/Harford County school system, a system which at that time only provided educational opportunities for Blacks through the ninth grade as further education and training were discouraged beyond that point for people of color. Because of those circumstances, his brother sought employment, soon married his sweetheart Marguerite, and had one son, Charles (now all deceased). Encouraged by his mother and driven from within, he rented a room from the Marshall family who lived in Baltimore directly across the street from Douglass High School, some thirty miles from Bel Air. Working in Baltimore during the week and hitchhiking and working back in Bel Air on the weekends, he graduated from Douglass High School in 1937 and won a scholarship to Virginia State College for Negroes. He went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the college in 1941. After a brief period working in Maryland, Wilson Copeland joined the military as America entered World War II. Mr. Copeland trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Air Corps during the war. He would later be known as one of the Tuskegee Airmen. (An ulcer prevented him from completing pilot school, although he continued on in a leadership role in the US Army Air Corps.) A bitter remembrance of racism for him was traveling with other Black soldiers on a military train in the South. Arrangements had been made with restaurants in the region to feed the soldiers. On one occasion the Black soldiers were brought cold box lunches and were forced to eat their meals onboard the trains. In another car, the German prisoners of war were escorted off the train and were allowed to eat hot meals inside of the restaurants along the route. Later he served as the Adjutant Officer assigned to the B25 Bombers at Selfridge Air Force Base in Michigan. Following his honorable discharge, he found employment and moved to Detroit, renting a room in a boarding home in the Black section of the city. The owner of the building, Rev. James A. Charleston, lived next door with his wife, Nora Dean and school teacher-daughter Gwendolyn. One thing led to another when Wilson and Gwendolyn met. They married on December 22, 1946. From this union two children are born, Wilson A Copeland II in 1949 and Carole Dean Copeland in 1953. (Carole was named after both grandmothers—changing Carrie to Carole and using “Dean” from Nora Dean. Instead of a “Junior,” the son became Wilson A. Copeland II.) Active as a Trustee at St. Paul AME Church (pastored by his father in law, Rev. Charleston), Mr. Copeland was engaged in successful business ventures in Detroit including co-ownership in Blue Flame Oil Company. Despite that success, he yearned to build a business in one of the newly independent and developing nations on the African continent. His widespread travels throughout Africa led to marginal and less than successful business projects in Ghana (West Africa) in 1959, shorty after its independence. One of his American business partners was Rev. Albert Cleage, father of the celebrated writer Pearl Cleage. Sadly his marriage failed and he divorced in the early 1960s. Although he married briefly years later, he would never lose affection for his beloved Gwendolyn. He was eventually recruited by the United States Department of State and spent twenty years working for various posts at the American Embassies in Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia. His last eight years of government service were in Nairobi, Kenya. Mr. Copeland retired in 1979, lived briefly in Pennsylvania near his daughter and her family before relocation to Los Angeles. He enjoyed telling stories of his numerous adventures, which included safaris, participating in several historical events, including the first meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Ethiopia in 1963. Mr. Copeland also rescued an American diplomatic pouch and was stranded in Accra, Ghana in the middle of a military coup. At great risk to himself, Mr. Copeland was able to get to the airport, extract the courier and the pouch, and in spite of having to get by several army road blocks and being shot at and chased by rebels, was able to safely return the courier and the pouch to the American Embassy. For this act, he was awarded a State Department Commendation and was made an honorary member of the Embassy Marine Corp Guard. Travel was second nature to Mr. Copeland and the world was his living room. Even after being diagnosed with lung cancer in the late 1980s, he continued to live life to the fullest, frequently driving cross country from California to the East Coast to visit friends and family. He enjoyed his 50th college reunion in Petersburg, Virginia in 1991 and then traveled to Detroit, where he visited with his son and his family and attended the Tuskegee Airmen Convention. His travels took him to Costa Rica in October 1991, before returning to his home in Los Angeles. Wilson A. Copeland departed this life on October 31, 1991, with his spirit, pride and dignity intact. He was buried in the family plot at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit. Years later in 1998 his first wife, Gwendolyn would be buried next to him. Wilson Copeland was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, the Masons and the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. The Black History Month Breakfast will be held on Thursday March 3, 2016 at the Boston Colonnade Hotel from 8:30 am to 11:00 am.  We will celebrate the military achievements of Rev. Dr. Carlita Baldwin Cotton at the March 3rd Black History Breakfast. Rev. Dr. Carlita Baldwin Cotton has combined her love of ministry and the military to serve others throughout her career path of achievement and excellence. An only child, Carlita was born to Rev. Carl L. (deceased) and Dr. Alexinia Y. Baldwin in Birmingham, Alabama. She was baptized, converted and joined St. John AME Church while living in Birmingham.
Carlita first heard the call to the military, joined the United States Air Force in 1980 and served a variety of positions until her retirement in 2000. She was a manager, supervisor and educator and served as a Russian linguist, a strategic debriefer and a combat interrogator during her years of service. She received numerous military awards and citations, including the Joint Service Meritorious Service Award, Joint Service Achievement Award, Air Force Achievement Award and was recognized by the Director of the National Security Agency. Since retiring from military service, Carlita has a permanent listing on the wall at The Women in Military Service Monument in Arlington, Virginia. Carlita is a lifetime member of the American Veterans (AMVETS). She is a lifetime member of Disabled American Veterans and a lifetime and founding member of the Berlin, Germany chapter of the American Legion. Carlita graduated cum laude from State University of New York at Albany in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in Russian language and literature. She received her masters of divinity degree from Howard University in 2000 and received a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Connecticut in 2008. She is a clinician/counselor and professor of psychology at Goodwin College in East Hartford, Connecticut. Carlita holds memberships in several organizations including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Women in Ministry/New England Annual Conference, Pi Lambda Theta Honors Fraternity and Altrusa International, Inc. Rev. Dr. Carlita Cotton is also an ordained itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is happily married to Rev. Hollis M. Cotton, pastor of St. James AME Church in Danbury, Connecticut. The Black History Month Breakfast will be held on Thursday March 3, 2016 at the Boston Colonnade Hotel from 8:30 am to 11:00 am. Ron Armstead: Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust--Honored at the March 3, 2016 Breakfast2/27/2016  We celebrate the achievements of Ron Armstead, who is the Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust. He will be honored at the March 3, 2016 Black History Breakfast at the Boston Colonnade Hotel. Ron E. Armstead, is the Executive Director for the Congressional Black Caucus Veterans BraIntrust (CBCVB) located in Washington, DC, and a past consultant to the late Secretary Jesse Brown’s Veterans Administration’s Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans. He has served as Executive Director of the CBCVB since its inception in 1988, first under Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), a decorated Korean War combat veteran and Dean of the New York Congressional Delegation, and currently under Reps. Corrine Brown (D-FL), new Ranking Member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Sanford Bishop, Jr. (D-GA), Ranking Democratic Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Co-Chair of the bi-partisan Congressional Military Families Caucus.
Under his leadership the Veterans Braintrust has expanded from its small core group to become one of the premiere forums for policy debate between veterans of African descent and representatives of government in the country. Lastly, Ron holds a Master Degree in City Planning (MCP) with a concentration in Affordable Housing and Community Development from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); is a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is currently on an extended leave of absence from Howard University’s Graduate School of Social Work Doctoral Program focusing on Social Policy and Planning. The Black History Month Breakfast will be held on Thursday March 3, 2016 at the Boston Colonnade Hotel from 8:30 am to 11:00 am.  We celebrate the achievements of Kenn Turner, who served in the US Navy for 26 years before retiring in 2006. He will be honored at the March 3, 2016 Black History Breakfast at the Boston Colonnade Hotel.
============= Kenneth L. Turner, Director of Diversity & Inclusion/Compliance, joined the Authority in June 2013. He oversees and manages the Authority’s multiple diversity programs, including business and supplier diversity, workforce diversity, and airport concessions, as well as all compliance initiatives associated with Massport’s Disadvantaged/Minority/Women Business Enterprise programs. Prior to joining Massport, Mr. Turner served as Deputy Secretary for Administration & Finance for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services. He also has over 20-years of general management and executive experience in various Fortune 100 companies including having served as a Senior Vice President at AOL Time Warner. A retired U.S. Navy Captain with 26-years of service, Mr. Turner began his military career as NRTOC scholarship midshipman and received his B.S. degree in Liberal Arts and a commission in the Navy from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge LA. Upon graduating college he completed the Submarine Officer Basic Course, the Torpedo Officer Course, and Tactical Weapons Officer Course at Naval Submarine Base New London; the C-3 Poseidon Missile Strategic Weapons Officer course at Naval Guided Missiles School Dam Neck; and the Trident C-4 Missile Strategic Weapons Officer course before reporting aboard USS Stonewall Jackson (SSBN 634 Blue Crew) as Assistant Weapons Officer. During his initial sea tour Capt. Turner completed the officer submarine warfare requirements to receive his gold dolphins and was certified as a Strategic Nuclear Weapons Systems Officer. He was assigned shore duty at Naval Guided Missiles School Dam Neck where he served as course supervisor for the Prospective Commanding Officer/Executive Officer Trident C-4 Nuclear Weapons System Course and received his Master Training Specialist qualification. Transferring to the Naval Reserves Capt. Turner served in nine units over the course of 20-years and was selected as Commanding Officer of three reserve units: NR AFDM-6 Competent Det. 0618 Pearl Harbor; NR SUBASE Pearl Harbor Det. 918; COMSUBGRU 2 Det. 101 New London. After 911 he transferred to The Pentagon in Washington DC where he served on the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) OPNAV staff as Deputy Chief of Staff, Programming Division, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Resources, Warfare Requirements, and Assessments). Capt. Turner retired in 2006. Over the course of his career Captain Turner received numerous awards for his service to include: the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (2 awards); the Navy Achievement Medal (4 awards); the Navy Sea Ribbon (2 awards); the Armed Forces Reserve Medal; and the National Defense Service Medal. The Black History Month Breakfast will be held on Thursday March 3, 2016 at the Boston Colonnade Hotel from 8:30 am to 11:00 am. 
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Log Onto: www.blogtalkradio.com/globalcarole Listen LIVE or Download Anytime At This Blog Post. Each broadcast can be replayed immediately following the show. ======================== The military assumption of the 1930s was that Black men didn’t have the mental or physical capacity to fly airplanes. White wisdom, widespread racism and the steady hand of Jim Crow reinforced that assumption. So when America entered World War II in 1941, where would they turn to get the military and aviation manpower to fight off the Japanese, Germans, Italians and Austrians while protecting the American home front? The answer rested in the very Black men who were maligned and mistreated and assumed unfit for aviation duty. Their ranks would grow and their dignity and courage prevailed through unending discrimination and mistrust. They started out as members of the US Army Air Corps. They would later be known as the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. Today as Black History Month comes to a close, we pay tribute to the brave men who flew the planes, repaired them, maintained them, conducted military missions overseas and supervised the soldiers…The Tuskegee Airmen. And we’ll pay special tribute to the men we’ll honor at the March 3rd Black History Breakfast, including my father the late, 2nd Lieutenant Wilson A. Copeland who served with his fellow Tuskegee Airmen with dignity, pride and excellence. Black History IS American History! =============================== History of the Tuskegee Airmen For More Information visit: www.tuskegeeairmen.org This is the official organization for the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. The term, "Tuskegee Airmen," refers to the men and women, African-Americans and Caucasians, who were involved in the socalled "Tuskegee Experience", the Army Air Corps program to train African Americans to fly and maintain combat aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen included pilots, radio operators, navigators, bombardiers, aircraft maintenance, support staff, instructors, and all the personnel who kept the planes in the air. Virtually all black military pilots during World War II received their primary flight training at Moton Field and then their basic and advanced flight training at Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF). Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. (TAI) is headquartered in Tuskegee, Alabama (about 35 miles east of Montgomery), where the training of black military pilots during World War II began. There are currently 57 active chapters of TAI located in major cities and military installations throughout the United States. ============================= The Black History Month Breakfast will be held on Thursday March 3, 2016 at the Boston Colonnade Hotel from 8:30 am to 11:00 am.  I am so excited and proud about ALL of those who will be honored at our March 3rd Black History Breakfast. However, you need to read this biographical profile of a true American hero who followed his love of airplanes and never got sidetracked because of his race. The story of Harvey Sanford is so compelling that I urge you to share it with your children, friends, grandkids, colleagues and staff members to help them understand the true grit of these men of action. Harvey Sanford was a member of the famous Tuskegee Airmen and is a current member of the New England Chapter Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Special thanks to Dr. Judith Sanford-Harris for sharing this wonderful profile about her father. It will make you proud of the outstanding achievements of African American men and women whose bravery and dedication have made our country great. Harvey Sanford is enjoying his retirement years with with his beautiful wife and family in suburban Boston. He will be honored at the March 3, 2016 Black History Breakfast at the Boston Colonnade Hotel. Come meet the heroes and sheroes and thank them for their dedicated service to America. Harvey F. Sanford Harvey was born on Hammond Street in Boston’s South End in 1926 to Oswald Sanford and Georgianna (Jones) Sanford. He was an only child and was lovingly called “Sonny” by his parents. As a boy he spent summers with his mother’s family in Annapolis, MD and is a connoisseur of crab cakes. He also went with his father each month to visit his Mashpee Wampanoag family on the Cape. His mother said that his favorite toy at a very early age was an airplane he made from popsicle sticks and his love of airplanes has continued through his lifetime. Harvey attended Boston Trade High School for Boys in the aeronautics program and played the fife in the school’s fife & drum corps. He was one of four students who completed his high school credits one year early, and the four were hired by what was then known at East Boston Airport to work as aircraft mechanics for their senior year. The airport was already familiar to him, as he had visited many times as a boy with his father to watch the trucks bring landfill to dump into the harbor to extend the runways. A year after graduation, in 1945, he was drafted and “…shipped to Tuskegee,” assigned to Squadron A, 385th Army Air Force Base Unit. He vividly remembers his train ride south to Chehaw Station, Alabama. Black passengers could sit anywhere when they got on the train in Boston but once they crossed the Mason-Dixon line in Washington, DC, they all had to get off of the train and move to the front car of the train – the one closest to the smoke and dust from the coal engine. Once at Tuskegee Army Air Field/Moton Field, they were lined up for jobs and Ralph White, who was from Boston and had been there for several months, recognized him and asked why he was there. Harvey said, “They told us we were going to build airplanes,” to which Ralph replied, “Already built.” Harvey explained what he’d been doing at East Boston Airport and Ralph took Harvey and his files to his boss, Major Boyd, second in command. Major Boyd said, “You’re just what we need. You’ll work for me and the base commander. You will have no other duties.” He than told Ralph to get Harvey a room. Harvey says, “I didn’t have stripe the first but I was with all non-coms.” Harvey was eventually promoted to the rank of sergeant. His job was to inspect all aircraft and engines after every 25 hours of flying, on the ground and during test flights with the pilots. Once per month he would fly Major Boyd and the base commander, Major Parrish, to Washington, DC for meetings and he would spend time with family in Annapolis. When he would return the next morning, his plane would have been moved and parked in a far corner of the air base, away from all of the “white” planes. Tuskegee, Alabama was a “dry” town. Now and then Harvey would have to fly to Chicago and, since he didn’t drink, the guys trusted him and would hive him money to buy liquor. Before leaving Chicago a truck would back up to the plane and load the liquor. Pat Evans, the Macon County sheriff and a notorious racist, never did figure out how liquor was getting onto the base. Evans was known for arresting black soldiers on false charges when they went into town and putting them to work on local chain gangs, so being able to bring the liquor in without Evans knowing how was a mini-victory. Harvey received an honorable discharge in October of 1946 and went to work at Fort Devens, MA as a National Guard aircraft mechanic. During the Korean Conflict, from 1950-52 he did light aviation aircraft maintenance with the 272nd Mass. National Guard Field Artillery, first in Wisconsin where it was so cold that guns didn’t fire, children got frostbite while sleeping, and water inside the barracks froze, and then in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. Part of his role during this time was to fly along the German border with Chuck Lee, also a Boston native, doing border patrol. He also served with Billy and “Lafe” Bingham, whom he knew from home. On his return home, his job was airforce research and development at Hanscom Air Base, including supervising the installation of test equipment. He was authorized to “run up” supersonic aircraft including the F101, F102, and F106, and other aircraft such as the T-39 and the KC-135. From 1974 until his retirement in 1984 he worked as an airworthiness inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at Logan Airport, specializing in accident investigation and the inspection of airline aircraft, and then as an FAA consultant. Harvey’s hobbies before retirement were building an extensive model railroad in his basement and one for his granddaughters, and building and flying radio control airplanes. Since retirement, Harvey has volunteered every Saturday with the Collings Foundation and with MayoCraft on aircraft restoration and repair. Aircraft have included a B-17, B-24, B-25, B-6, PT-17, T-6, Wright B-Flyer, two Piper Cubs, a 1911 Bleriot, and a Waco Cabin. The MayoCraft volunteers also built an airworthy P-26D from scratch. While with the Collings Foundation, Harvey and Ret. Col. John Roach flew the B-17 and B-25 to air shows around the country and took the public up for rides. As an Original Tuskegee Airman, Harvey is a member of the New England Chapter, Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. In 1996 he was recognized as “the youngest African American maintenance inspector to take part in the advanced training group at the Tuskegee Army/Air Field” and in 2007 traveled to Washington DC as one of 300 recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal, a prestigious award given by Congress for their service. He was also awarded an Honorary Citizen’s Award at the 73rd annual convention of the NAACP in Boston in 1982. As a member of the New England TAI chapter, he has received many certificates and accolades in appreciation of his and their service and their many presentations around New England to educate young people about the Tuskegee Airmen. Harvey’s first love is obviously airplanes in any shape or form, but his wife of 65 years, Alice (Taylor) Sanford and family are equally important. Harvey and Alice met when they were 12 years old and married shortly after her graduation from Wheaton College in 1950. They have one daughter, Dr. Judith Sanford-Harris, a son-in-law, Boston Police Deputy Superintendent Joseph Harris, and two granddaughters, Stacey and Stephanie Harris. Harvey was known over the years as the Mr. Fixit of his family, friends, and neighbors. He was often the go-to person for car repairs, plumbing, minor electrical repairs, and some construction and installation, skills he learned from his father, a talented auto mechanic. He never said no when asked for help. Harvey is a gentle man with a quiet, dry wit who has always played a strong, supporting role to everyone who knows him. If life were a movie, he’d win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor!  The Black History Month Breakfast will be held on Thursday March 3, 2016 at the Boston Colonnade Hotel from 8:30 am to 11:00 am.
 First Sergeant Michael Wiltz took over as Detachment Sergeant for Detachment 6, EUCOM JAC on February 21, 2013. 1SG Wiltz has held a variety of leadership positions throughout his career ranging from Team Sergeant to First Sergeant.
As First Sergeant for an Intelligence Unit, Wiltz serves as the personal adviser to the Commander on all enlisted-related matters, particularly in areas affecting Soldier training. He devotes the majority of his time training, mentoring, counseling, and sponsoring Soldiers and their families. Wiltz also oversees the daily operations of Human Intelligence, Counter Intelligence, and Signal Intelligence Teams within the company while deployed to a theater of operation. Wiltz is currently assisting partner nations in Africa in our combined efforts to counter terrorism. Wiltz was born in Los Angeles, California and also entered the Army there in January 1980. He attended initial training at Fort Dix, New Jersey and graduated as a Rotary Wing Repairman at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Wiltz continued his military education by obtaining additional skills in Aviation, Infantry, Intelligence, Medical, and Transportation Corps giving him nine military occupational skills (MOS). He has served in the 3d Infantry Division, VXIII (18th) Airborne, 10th Special Forces, 7th Transportation Group, Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), Joint Task Force-Six, U.S. Army Cadet Command, and the Military Intelligence Readiness Command. Wiltz’s military and civilian education includes all levels of the Noncommissioned Officer Education System, First Sergeant Course, Avionics Equipment Repairer Depot Maintenance Course, Technical Intelligence Analyst Course, Drug Enforcement Administration Course, Senior Reserve Officer Training Instructor Course, Senior Logistics Traffic Management Coordinator Course, Joint Special Operations Intelligence Course, Tactical Combat Tracker Course, Human Intelligence Collection Course, Reid Course on Interviewing and Interrogation, Department of Defense Military Source Handlers Course, Battlefield Forensics Course, and Africa Areas Studies Course. He is pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Endicott College, Beverly Massachusetts. Wiltz’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, and Meritorious Service Medal. Additional awards include the following: Army Commendation Medal (4th Award), Army Achievement Medal (7th Award), Good Conduct Medal, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal (7th Award), National Defense Service Medal (2nd Award), Southwest Asia Service Medal with Bronze Service Star, Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M Device (4th Award), Non Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon (3rd Award), Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (2nd Award), Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon (2nd Award), Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia), Kuwait Liberation Medal (Government of Kuwait), Joint Meritorious Unit Commendation, Meritorious Unit Commendation (3rd Award), Combat Action Badge, Basic Aviation Badge, Pathfinder Badge, Air Assault Badge, Driver and Mechanic Badge with Driver-Wheeled Vehicles Clasp. ===================== The Black History Month Breakfast will be held on Thursday March 3, 2016 at the Boston Colonnade Hotel from 8:30 am to 11:00 am. |
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