Military.com: Lawmaker Wants to Rename Fort Benning for New Medal of Honor Recipient Alwyn Cashe; Sen. Bob Dole Laid to Rest at Arlington National Cemetery with Full Military Honors; Biden Signs Bill to Honor WWII Ghost Army Soldiers and more ->
Task & Purpose: Boxer, grunt, flyboy: the wild life of the first Black American combat pilot You know you’ve made it when Ernest Hemingway models a character after you.; ISIS leader killed during US special operations raid in Syria ‘Last night’s operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield’; ‘A debt I can never repay’ — How Reddit is filling gaps in the military’s failing mental health care system “Some of you gave me your number and demanded that I text or call you. Your support and care helped push me through that dark time. I’m alive.”; ‘Situational awareness…is your best defense’ — Benghazi contractor Kris Paronto explains his everyday carry “Always smile and be happy and be blessed that we’re in the greatest country in the world.” And more ->
Eugene Jacques Bullard (October 9, 1895 – October 12, 1961), born Eugene James Bullard, was the first black American military pilot,[1][2] although Bullard flew for France not the United States. Bullard was one of the few black combat pilots during World War I, along with William Robinson Clarke, a Jamaican who flew for the Royal Flying Corps, Domenico Mondelli from Italy and Ahmet Ali Çelikten of the Ottoman Empire. Also a boxer and a jazz musician, he was called “L’Hirondelle noire” in French, “Black Swallow”.
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DoD: ‘King of Calypso’ Harry Belafonte Was WWII Sailor; Alaska Air National Guard rescues two hikers and more ->
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr., March 1, 1927) is an American singer, songwriter, activist, and actor. One of the most successful Jamaican-American pop stars, as he popularised the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.[1]
Belafonte is known for his recording of “The Banana Boat Song”, with its signature lyric “Day-O”. He has recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. He has also starred in several films, including Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).
Belafonte considered the actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson a mentor and was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. As he later recalled, “Paul Robeson had been my first great formative influence; you might say he gave me my backbone. Martin King was the second; he nourished my soul.”[2] Throughout his career, Belafonte has been an advocate for political and humanitarian causes, such as the Anti-Apartheid Movement and USA for Africa. Since 1987, he has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.[3] He was a vocal critic of the policies of the George W. Bush presidential administrations. Belafonte acts as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues.[4]
Belafonte has won three Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy Award,[5] and a Tony Award. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Center Honors. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994. In 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards.[6]
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