Gregg, Arthur J Lieutenant General Honored as Ft Gregg
By
John C Abercrombie
America has made progress, but it has been hard fought, exceedingly slow and half-hearted. We are at the point where we should have following the end of the American Civil War and the reconstruction period, which was abandoned after President Andrew Johnson succeeded President Abraham Lincoln.
Many soldiers were faced with Jim Crow signs as they returned from foreign wars only to be greeted by signs which pointed one way for “White” and another “Colored”. A horrible reminder that they had fought, returned with permanent injuries both physical and emotional. These brave soldiers are then denied benefits, have often been physically attacked and even lynched for wearing the uniform they so proudly earned in battle. America has nothing to be proud of, but it is all too frequently accepted.
As you read this post, you may miss the value of land. Gregg was able in part to succeed because of the rare ownership of land by his parents.
As you read this post, you will see many instances that are taken for granted by Whites that have been an albatross around the neck. From education to not being able to pursue his dream in the laboratory for no other reason than skin color.
We should all be willing to allow people the opportunity to succeed as we ALL benefit from such actions and fulfill the American Dream.
We have finally reached a point where we are not honoring people who fought and died to ensure riches for people who owned other people, treated them harshly and profited handsomely from these practices. We are finding many Americans who never took up arms against us to be honored. The question that should linger is why did it take so long?
Gregg was born in Florence, South Carolina in May 1928. He attended grade school near Florence. There were no high schools open to Blacks closer than 10 miles to Gregg’s home, so an older brother arranged for Gregg to stay with him in Newport News, Virginia to attend high school there.
The absence of schools is a frequent problem for Blacks during this time and before. Often when there were schools, they were miles away requiring students to walk even in the worse weather while White students were bused. The schools for Blacks were often uncomfortable, either too hot or cold or leaking roofs and drafty.
Gregg was eleven years old when his mother died of cancer. She had surgery and survived for six months. He survived the Jim Crow South, which is difficult as many have found out.
Gregg’s work ethic comes from his upbringing in Florence County, South Carolina. He was born the year before the Great Depression and was the youngest of nine children born to his father and mother Robert and Ethel Gregg.
The family was extremely fortunate in that they owned almost 100 acres of land where they grew cotton and tobacco for the market and raised cattle, chickens, and hogs. Fortunate because few Blacks were able to own property. Most had worked hard under “share cropping”, which was no better than slavery in so many ways.
“It was a reasonably good life,” recalled Gregg. “I felt I was loved and supported, but economically, it was a very challenging time.”
Even in the backdrop of The Great Depression, Mr. and Mrs. Gregg were firm in teaching their children the importance of education, proper conduct, and personal responsibility.
“With both of my parents, they were very responsible, very caring and set high standards for all of the children,” said Gregg, “and since they were very loving, they were no-nonsense about us living up to the standards they had set for us.”
Amid those standards, Gregg said he and his siblings were expected to help with the farm and attend school. He remembered feeding hogs, chickens, and cows before walking three miles to classes taking place in a wooden, three-room structure.
“The white children had a consolidated, very modern brick school and were provided with bus transportation from their homes,” remembered Gregg. “It was a different situation based on race at that time.”
A year after Ethel’s passing, Arthur and Edward were permitted to live with an older brother and his family at their Newport News, Virginia, home. The brother was one of three who migrated north looking for opportunities that did not exist in Florence County. Upon his arrival, Gregg found a vibrant city with modern conveniences he was not accustomed to.
After graduation from high school, Gregg briefly served in the US Merchant Marine and studied at the Chicago College of Medical Technology before enlisting in the US Army. He is a 1965 graduate of Saint Benedict College in Atchison, Kansas, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. He also completed the Executive Program in National Security at Harvard University.
“He’s what I call a man’s man in that he takes responsibility for his actions and holds himself accountable, just like he does everyone else,” said retired Maj. Gen. Hawthorne L. Proctor, the first African American Quartermaster General. “When he wakes up in the morning, he is expecting to perform to the best of his ability.”
When Gregg moved to Newport News, he was in for a different world. He moved there in 1941 and it was the first time he had lived in a house with indoor plumbing, electrical power, telephone and paved streets and sidewalks.
He worked two jobs while attending the segregated Huntington High School. On Sunday afternoon drives they happened to drive by Fort Monroe, and he saw uniformed personnel moving about the city. These were troops defending the nation during World War II.
Fort Monroe is a former military installation in Hampton, Virginia at Old Point Comfort. It is located on the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula.
While living in Newport News, Gregg worked two jobs while attending the segregated Huntington High School. During Sunday afternoon drives to nearby Fort Monroe with his family, he took note of the varied uniformed personnel moving about the city heavily contributing to the nation’s defense during World War II.
“It had a powerful impression on me,” said Gregg, noting most of the military troops he saw were Black. “Two things I noticed: first, the young men were well-dressed — their uniforms fitted properly and were properly maintained — and second, their personal conduct was very responsible. You just had to admire them.”
Gregg’s young eyes also observed rare sightings of Black officers belonging to a military separated along color lines.
Gregg was interested in college, but costs were a giant obstacle. CCMT offered a program where students could take daytime and evening classes as they earned a certificate in six months. He graduated in December 1945. His plan was to open a clinical laboratory and serve the Black community.
He was employed by Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. He was admonished tht he would be confined to the laboratory and would be confined to only Black patients. He felt it was demeaning and submitted his resignation.
Because of the looming draft he received parental permission and enlisted in the Army as a soldier in 1946. After getting orders to West Germany, he hoped to land a laboratory technician position. After arriving he was told there were no medical facilities operated by the United States Army staffed with Black soldiers.
President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 integrating the military in 1948. In practice, however, it took time and effort. The Army did not become fully integrated until 1954.
While Jim Crow had once again wedged itself between Gregg and opportunity, others emerged at the same West German location. One came in the form of the 3511th Quartermaster Transportation Truck Company, a Black unit to which he was assigned in lieu of losing the lab tech position and one with “outstanding leaders.”
“They supported me becoming supply sergeant of that unit,” said Gregg, remembering he was “comfortable and proud” as a member of the company and the Quartermaster Corps.
The truck company assignment — which some might view as a consolation — became the anchor for a stellar career in logistics. Gregg went on to attain the rank of staff sergeant at the age of 18 — and after returning to the states in 1949 — completed officer candidate school when he was 22.
One year later, Gregg became an instructor at Fort Lee’s Quartermaster Leadership School, which was the forerunner of today’s noncommissioned officer academy. By 1966, he commanded one of the largest battalions in Vietnam and earned the Meritorious Unit Citation.
Progressing in rank, Gregg became a general officer in 1972, earned a second star in 1976 and three-star in 1977. He was subsequently named director of logistics, Joint Chiefs of Staff, becoming the first Black to reach Lieutenant General in the United States Army.
Gregg reached the general officer ranks in 1972 and earned a second star in 1976. Pinning his third star in 1977, Gregg was subsequently named director of logistics, Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the first African American to reach lieutenant general in the U.S. Army.
Gregg completed his career as chief, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Department of the Army. At that time, he was the branch’s highest-ranking Black at the time of his retirement in 1981.
Gregg finished his career as chief, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Department of the Army. He was the branch’s highest-ranking minority at the time of his retirement in 1981.
It is important to note that the retirement ceremony was in Fort Lee’s officers club. It is important because the blatant racism that existed in the military prevented Gregg from being able to enter the club when he became an officer in 1950.
This is in keeping where prisoners of war were able to enter places where those dedicated soldiers who had sworn allegiance to America were denied entrance. This included on base and off base locations. Jim Crow was everywhere. These soldiers were treated as second class citizens both on base and off, yet America claims equal treatment for all. Hypocrisy in action.
When Gregg took command in late 1965, the battalion lacked personnel and equipment, and thus, was not deployment ready. Through much work, it readied itself in a few months, deployed on time and conducted its mission accordingly.
“We became a battalion of 18 companies, eight detachments, 3,600 officers and men,” he said, earlier noting the unit acquired several other elements. “It was four-times the normal battalion size, and I’ll tell you, those young people worked their fannies off to build a logistical base and provide logistical support to our forces in Vietnam. I was so proud of them.”
Gregg’s success in Vietnam propelled him down a path to further advancement and eventually the Army War College, a qualifier for promotion to general officer.
“I’ve had big jobs, but I still look upon the command of that battalion in Vietnam as the most significant point in my career,” he said.
Today we see progress that has come because of the determination of soldiers and others who faced daily challenges due to the color of their skin. Yes, we have made progress, but we still have a long way to go. Equality has to be in the heart of people for it to be true.
We now pay tribute to a well deserving American! Introducing Fort Gregg-Adams. Next post in the series pays to the -Adams, Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams, a very deserving Black woman.
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Lieutenant General Adams p2
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US Army Post Name Changes Coming in 2024 | Confederate Names Are Out
After some controversial back and forths, it looks like there with be nine US Army installations that will undergo a name change no later than January 1st, 2024. This motion was a dictated move by congress, who tasked a “name change commission” to figure out how to best go out these changes. Let me know what you think about this information!
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Podcast – Free (also shows one of the benefits of being an Audible member
The Fort Lee Podcast
Fort Gregg-Adams (Author)
Located in Central Virginia, we are home to the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) and serve as a focused training installation for military supply, subsistence, maintenance, munitions, transportation and more. Army Logistics University, the U.S. Army Quartermaster School, the U.S. Army Ordnance School and the U.S. Army Transportation School are all located at Fort Lee.
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Fort Gregg Adams: Unveiling The Astonishing Redesign
The Army installation formerly known as Fort Lee became, Fort Gregg-Adams during a, historic redesignation ceremony held at the Gregg-Adams
Club April 27, 2023, becoming the first Army installation named for Black military members.
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Book
You may sample the books simply by clicking on the link before you decide if it is for you.
Black Officer in a Buffalo Soldier Regiment: The Military Career of Charles Young
An unheralded military hero, Charles Young (1864–1922) was the third black graduate of West Point, the first African American national park superintendent, the first black U.S. military attaché, the first African American officer to command a Regular Army regiment, and the highest-ranking black officer in the Regular Army until his death. Black Officer in a Buffalo Soldier Regiment tells the story of the man who—willingly or not—served as a standard-bearer for his race in the officer corps for nearly thirty years, and who, if not for racial prejudice, would have become the first African American general.
Brian G. Shellum describes how, during his remarkable army career, Young was shuffled among the few assignments deemed suitable for a black officer in a white man’s army—the Buffalo Soldier regiments, an African American college, and diplomatic posts in black republics such as Liberia. Nonetheless, he used his experience to establish himself as an exceptional cavalry officer. He was a colonel on the eve of the United States’ entry into World War I, when serious medical problems and racial intolerance denied him command and ended his career. Shellum’s book seeks to restore a hero to the ranks of military history; at the same time, it informs our understanding of the role of race in the history of the American military.
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Fort Lee renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in honor of Black military officers
A historic and deserved honor for two Black military officers after the Department of Defense moved to rename the former Fort Lee Army base.
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Book
America’s First Black General: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., 1880-1970 (Modern War Studies)
Throughout an illustrious career that spanned the half-century from the Spanish-American War through World War II, Benjamin O. Davis proved that determination and diplomacy could overcome the barriers raised by racial bigotry.
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Today there are as many as 10,000 Black officers in the army. In Davis’s day there weren’t more than two or three. As Marvin Fletcher’s admiring but balanced portrait shows, this enormous change owes not a little to the persistent efforts and quiet dignity of Benjamin O. Davis. Davis helped “lay the foundation for the integration of the armed forces, the first major break in the wall of segregated America.”
Born into the Black middle class of Washington, D.C., Davis maintained a lifelong love for the military, despite the debilitating effects of the army’s segregation policies. Such policies repeatedly denied Davis promotions and meant ” safe assignments”—Liberia, Tuskegee Institute, Wilberforce University—designed to keep him from commanding white troops. It took thirty years from his enlistment until his promotion to colonel, and another decade before he became America’s first Black general
Promoted to brigadier general at the start of World War II, Davis headed a special section that monitored Black military units at home and overseas, investigated an increasing number of racial disturbances, and bolstered the black soldier’s morale. He was largely responsible for persuading the Army to try a limited form of integration. The success of that effort led to a federal mandate for the integration of the entire American armed forces.
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AUSA 2017 LTG Arthur J. Gregg – Leadership Award Presentation
Fort Gregg-Adams: Retired Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg reflects on historic military career
You can play this video simply by clicking on the link and warching on YouTube
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Book
Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry Regiment in Korea Kindle Edition
Black Soldier, White Army is a powerful, unvarnished account of the experiences of the African American 24th Infantry regiment, which was stigmatized for its deficiencies while its accomplishments passed largely into oblivion. William T. Bowers, William M. Hammond, and George L. MacGarrigle reveal that the 24th suffered from a virulent racial prejudice that ate incessantly at the bonds of unit cohesion and that hindered the emergence of effective leadership. The story takes its place in a growing body of literature that details the service of African Americans to their nation. It offers profound lessons for study and reflection by unit leaders in today’s Army.
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Black Army Officer Denied? Wait Till You See the Club’s New Name!
In 1950, newly commissioned 2nd Lt. Arthur J. Gregg was forbidden to step foot inside, the whites-only officer’s club here.
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We have seen a small step towards the development of a significant role model that has been omitted by our history books. We are aware of the difficulties of growing up Black in America, but this overlooks the importance of positive role models. While there is a big fuss about teaching anything non-White, the horror of my life has been the absence of positive Black role models that tell me “You too can do that!”