Posted on 01/20/2006 3:15:20 PM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — The path to saving the black officers club on Fort Huachuca is getting smoother, according to a man leading an effort to protect it.
Harlan Bradford, chairman of the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers’ project to save the World War II facility, also said his organization is hoping Building 66050 will be designated one of “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
He said the building being listed would be a great help in saving the facility.
Last year, SWABS tried to have the building listed as one of “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places” but did not make it.
“We were told we were close,” Bradford said.
The building was the only club specifically constructed for black officers during World War II, when America’s armed forces were segregated. A number of black stars visited the fort and performed at the club.
Bradford said a check for $10,700 also was sent to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers to process a lease for the abandoned structure, which initially was scheduled to be demolished.
The Corps of Engineers is waiting on some additional information from fort officials and it is hoped by the end of the year the lease will be in hand so work on the structure can begin, he said.
“We are hoping to have access to the building by the end of the year,” he said.
But there is no resting this year because progress must continue, said Bradford, who is the association’s chairman of the Mountain View Black Officers Rehabilitation Project.
With the help of some University on Arizona departments, the group is looking for a general management plan that will include business, marketing and fund-raising, Bradford said.
The UA College of Architecture also has graduate students preparing a rendering and elevation documents.
“Progress made in the past two years has been phenomenal,” he said. “We will focus on fund-raising in 2006.”
There will be an area telethon on June 6, and the group’s third annual gala will be held Sept. 23. The organization is hoping to get a major sponsor for this year’s gala, Bradford said.
The organization’s members know they have a long road ahead to make the building structurally sound and to determine the best use of the facility, he said.
The history of the black soldiers will be an integral part of the story the group wants to tell, Bradford said. Once the lease is secured and renovations are made, memorabilia will be placed in the structure.
This week, SWABS President Tom Stoney Sr. was presented a 34-star American flag.
Frank Callegari, who said black soldiers have served the United States during and after segregation, gave the flag.
The significance of the 34-star flag is that this was the number of states during the Civil War, including those that seceded from the Uniton, he said.
Stoney said the flag will have a place of honor once the building is restored.
Bradford said he wants people to put off how the building looks now, and imagine what it will look like once it is restored.
“It was Albert Einstein who said, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge,’ and what we need is more imagination,” he said.
PING!!!
was presented a 34-star American flag...the flag will have a place of honor once the building is restored."
And here I would have thought that the country would have been flying a 48 star flag when the building was built.
Oh, wait. This may explain it:
‘Imagination is more important than knowledge,’
"....the flag is one of many 34-star designs used during the Civil War."
I do believe that the Civil War is when Blacks began to serve this country in the military.....perfectly fitting to use this flag for that reason, IMO.
Buffalo Soldiers first fought during the Civil War. In case you haven't read a history book recently, the Civil War happened BEFORE World War II.
There were black soldiers fighting for the American cause during the Revolutionary War.
http://www.americanrevolution.org/blk.html
BTTT
Not really.
While there were Black units in the northern forces (Blacks in the south, until near the end of the war tended to be integrated with the white troops), the designation "Buffalo Soldier" did not arise until they served in the Indian Wars. The Buffalo Soldiers are more specifically the 9th and 10th Calvary Regiments. (Not organized until 1866).
Those units fought in the Spanish American war under the command of General "Fighting Joe" Wheeler.
The Buffalo Soldier designation can also be applied to two infantry regiments (24th and 25th) also constituted after the War Between the States.
Getting to the specifics of this story. Of course, there would have been no use for an officers club for blacks during the 38 star flag days, as the army didn't allow "Colored" officers at that time. The 9th and 10th were rolled into the 2nd Calvary Div. in 1942, and that unit was stationed at Fort Huachuca, along with a number of other Black units. By that point, there had long been Black officers, and that's when the building in question was constructed.
So, as I stated, a building built in the 1940s has nothing to do with the WBTS.
BTTT
Passing strange.
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